After Third World War, government of the dystopian city-state Libria has eliminated war by suppressing all human emotion. Artifacts from the old world, like paintings, wallpapers, antiquities, music, films, books and all joyfull things in life are destroyed and the population is required to take sedatives. John Preston (Christian Bale), a man trained to locate and arrest those guilty of feeling emotions, finds himself abandoning the drug and experiencing outlawed feelings. As he struggles to contain his feelings from everyone, John finds himself drawn into a sinister world of double-crossings and lies which ultimately changes the repressed society forever.

I am astonished with the connection between this film and the real life Third-Reich, alias Nazi's ideology in the near futuristic world. Almost the same with Aeon Flux, which human being is trying to defend themselves against government suppression, the film dug deeper than the usual good versus evil. The most important thing about this movie is not the government, but rather than the power of choice and emotion within ourselves; emotion that defines us as human being, not just a breathing living creature. In this film, emotion is depicted as an evil thing; if human can feel love, anger,sad and even happiness -- all those basic emotion -- then human being is attracted to things that eventually lead them to destruction. It's a debatable subject and thus a bit controversial. We aren't allowed to feel anything, except breathing, eating and shitting. John Lennon said, "Imagine there's no religion, no self-possesion, living in harmony..."  But to be denied to our basic instincts is not possible. You cannot read books, you cannot paint, you cannot smile, you cannot, love...are the most horrible things that humans could do. Sure, you will not feel other things like hatred, sadness, murder... but that's not natural, isn't it?

This is a highly underrated movie; even the studio and producers had no faith in it and didn't allocate more money for it which is an absolute shame. I like the performances in this movie, especially from Christian Bale. His character is so confused with the whole thing when his comrade (Sean Bean) and his wife are punished to death and he doesn't feel anything....not until he actually experience what emotion is. The part when he tries to save a puppy, made my housemate and I 'awwww'-ing. Heheh. He truly pulls of the range from cold, emotionless and stone faced, to experiencing emotions for the first time. The subtleties in his performance are outstanding. The plot is thought provoking and executed well. The movie is not without its faults though. The limitations of the budget are noticeably clear in certain scenes and the narrative walks a thin line between powerful and heavy-handed at points. But these limitations are proof that movies don't need an enormous budget or a lavishly illustrated plot to be good and enjoyable. Even the occasional cheesiness of the soundtrack stands as a testament to the movie's humble resignation as an action movie seeking to stand out.

Ratings: 6.5/10