Equilibrium is a 2002 science fiction/action film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer. It stars Christian Bale as John Preston, a high-ranking enforcement officer in a future dystopia in which all forms of emotional expression are illegal, and citizens are forced to take daily injections of drugs to suppress their emotions. After accidentally missing one such injection Preston begins to experience emotion; he begins to question his own morality and to moderate his actions, while attempting to remain undetected by the suspicious society in which he lives. Ultimately he is compelled to aid a resistance movement in the overthrow of the regime, using combat skills gained as a law-enforcement officer. Equilibrium contains plot elements from both Fahrenheit 451 (in this case, the destruction of works of art in pursuit of utopia) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (a post-World War III nation overseen by a Big Brother-esque figure).