Plot Summary

Set in a near-future world that has narrowly survived the devastation of World War III, Equilibrium portrays a rigid totalitarian regime determined to preserve peace by eliminating the root cause of human conflict: emotion. In this controlled society, art, music, and all forms of emotional expression are strictly forbidden, and even the slightest emotional response is punishable by death.

To enforce this order, citizens are required to take a daily drug called Prozium, which suppresses feelings and individuality. The state’s most feared enforcers are elite lawmen known as Clerics, trained to identify and execute those who defy the system by experiencing emotion.

John Preston (Christian Bale), one of the regime’s highest-ranking Clerics, is a model servant of the state, responsible for hunting down and eliminating “sense offenders.” However, when Preston accidentally stops taking Prozium, he begins to experience emotions for the first time in his life. This awakening forces him to confront the moral emptiness of the system he once defended and sets him on a dangerous path that could destabilize the very foundation of the regime.