Crooked Table Podcast: ‘Equilibrium’ (featuring Jon Cohorn)

Christian Bale might have played the Dark Knight for director Christopher Nolan. But his real superpower as an actor is his ability to play cold, emotionally detached characters such as American Psycho‘s Patrick Bateman. And building off of that iconic performance, Equilibrium thrusts Bale full-on into dystopian sci-fi. But, y’know, with “gunkata.”

Returning guest Jon Cohorn previously brought the gun-toting martial arts of John Wick and the underrated sci-fi of Event Horizon to the Table. Now he combines the two with writer-director Kurt Wimmer’s 2002 film Equilibrium. And for a film most moviegoers have never even heard of, it has a hell of a lot of relevance to today’s world.

SYNOPSIS

In a futuristic world, a regime has eliminated war by suppressing emotions. Books, art, and music are strictly forbidden, and feeling is a crime punishable by death. Cleric John Preston (Christian Bale) is a top-ranking government agent responsible for destroying those who resist these rules. When he misses a dose of Prozium — a mind-altering drug that hinders emotion — Preston, who has been trained to enforce strict laws of the new regime, suddenly becomes the only one capable of overthrowing it.