Genre: Action/Spy
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writer: D.R. Cobb
Based on the video game series
Cast: Tom Cruise, Laurence Fishburne, Karen Gillan, Mark Strong, Amaury Nolasco, Tadanobu Asano, Damian Lewis, Vincent Cassel, Miraj Grbić, Shin Koyamada, Joey King
Plot: China and North Korea are unhappy with Japan's new Information Self-Defense Force as they believe it violates Article 9 of the post World War II constitution, which restricts Japan from possessing any armed military force capable of striking outside its own borders. China and North Korea set up a blockade in the Yellow Sea and the United States is forced to respond, as per their agreement with Japan following World War II. They send their most advanced ship, the USS Clarence E. Walsh, into the Yellow Sea hoping China and North Korea will back down.
Meanwhile across the world, Sam Fisher (Tom Cruise) is sent by Third Echelon director Irving Lambert (Laurence Fishburne) into Peru to rescue a computer programmer who worked on reverse engineering the Masse Kernels. Sam Fisher is dispatched to a lighthouse off the coast of Peru. He infiltrates via zodiac to find and rescue the programmer who has been captured by a Peruvian revolutionary group known as 'The People's Voice', led by Hugo Lacerda (Amaury Nolasco). It is revealed that the programmer was kidnapped by Lacerda so his knowledge of Philip Masse's information warfare algorithms could be obtained. Sam discovers that Lacerda was hired by a third party for the kidnapping and his group have been paid in advanced weaponry and equipment, beyond that of usual terrorists. When Fisher locates the programmer it is too late, as he discovers he has been tortured to death by Lacerda's thugs. Fisher is also sent to assassinate Lacerda as a target of opportunity. While on site Fisher locates the information that was extracted from Morgenholt concerning the Masse Kernels, which Anna Grimsdottir (Karen Gillan) remotely deletes. Sam then learns after interrogating a guard that Lacerda has left the area aboard a ship called the Maria Narcissa, which has suspected involvement in illegal arms trade. Extracting from the top of the lighthouse, Fisher quickly regroups as he and his support team move to intercept the Maria Narcissa out at sea.
After leaving the lighthouse, Sam sneaks aboard the Maria Narcissa to assassinate Hugo Lacerda. He locates more of the weapons crates, which new field runner William Redding (Damian Lewis) suspects may being used to pay off Lacerda's debts to other organizations. Fisher is ordered to place tracking devices on them, in an attempt to uncover any network of terrorists. He then moves to scan the bill of lading on the shipment of arms that he discovers is on board the ship. Grimsdottir tracks the shipment to a bank in Panama. He later delves deeper into the vessel to locate and finally assassinates Lacerda, who is protected by a pair of unidentified mercenaries. After completing his objectives, Sam extracts the vessel via a lifeboat, before being picked up via helicopter by Redding.
Sam is immediately sent to Panama to track down the lead that was uncovered on the Maria Narcissa. Lambert comments to Grimsdottir that this is the second time that Fisher has been at this particular bank, as he was part of a CIA team that raided the bank for Noriega's drug money in 1989. In order to disguise the true intent of the job, Fisher is instructed to rob the bank as well as retrieving any critical information regarding the Masse Kernels. While in the bank Sam discovers that a man named Abrahim Zherkezhi (Vincent Cassel) is involved in the plot. Using a flash drive prepared by Grimsdottir, Fisher also uploads several fake emails to various computers on site to make the robbery look like an inside job. Once inside the bank, Sam successfully enters the vault to look for more traces of the Masse Kernels. After retrieving info from the vault computer, Echelon discovers a 512-bit encryption with connections to an unknown person named Dvorak. Sam then steals $50,000,000 worth of French government bonds, successfully covering the intelligence operation with a guise of a bank robbery.
Japan and the Eastern Seaboard suddenly witness a simultaneously black out. Though the source and reasons for it are unclear, Lambert and Grimsdottir immediately recognize it as an information warfare attack. Shortly after, the I-SDF sends a message to Third Echelon indicating their suspicion that China and North Korea might be responsible for the black outs. After discovering his involvement in Panama, Lambert orders Sam to head to Abrahim Zherkezhi's penthouse in New York City to investigate a possible lead on the black outs. Sam sneaks past numerous men of the National Guard, who have been deployed to maintain stability in the area during the blackout, and infiltrates the penthouse, only to find it heavily guarded by the same mercenaries who defended Lacerda. Upon interrogation of a guard, Sam learns that the mercenaries are in fact employees of Displace International - a private military corporation run by Douglas Shetland (Mark Strong), an old friend and former brother-in-arms of Sam. The guard also informs Fisher that they were assigned by Displace's Director of VIP Protection Milan Nedich (Miraj Grbić).
As he moves through the penthouse Fisher taps the security cameras spread around the area. Arriving at another worn-down apartment joined to the penthouse across a roof, Sam discovers that 'Dvorak' is in fact an infinite state machine. An output stack from Dvorak reveals that the Masse Kernels were being run recursively through Dvorak in order to incrementally increase the algorithm's accuracy. With these new leads, Sam is sent to infiltrate Displace International in an attempt to determine if they are working in conjunction with Zherkezhi or if he's acting alone.
Sam infiltrates Displace International to understand the true intentions of the company and more specifically, those of Milan Nedich. Lambert orders Sam to not kill anyone as Displace International has many very substantial private security contracts with the Pentagon around the globe. In order to retrieve the critical information necessary, Sam has to access Displace's mainframe supercomputer deep in Displace's offices. After dropping into the main server room, Grimsdottir attempts to remotely access the information only to find that a Displace employee has already deleted all traces of compromising information from this computer. The login-alias points to Milan Nedich. Lambert states that Sam should check his office on the upper floor of the building for further information.
As Sam retreats from the server room, the black out ends and power is restored. En route to Nedich's office Sam overhears a conversation that reveals Milan Nedich is actually Milos Nowak, an infamous Bosnian War criminal. Sam then breaks into Nedich's office where information on his computer reveals Zherkhezi is being hidden at a safe house in Hokkaido, Japan. Sam extracts with the information through the fire exit.
As Sam drinks in a hotel bar, Doug Shetland arrives and offers Sam a job with Displace. After refusing his offer, the two have a brief conversation regarding Nedich. Sam advises Shetland to cut loose his dirty employee, but Shetland says he cannot do so. He suggests that if Sam has any evidence against Nedich to bring it to him and he will help bring him in, but he won't send his employee up the river just because Sam says so. As the two are talking, a news report shows the USS Walsh, currently stationed in the Yellow Sea to ease tensions between Japan and the countries blockading it, being destroyed by a North Korean anti-ship missile.
Following on from this, Sam embarks on a mission to infiltrate the hideout that Abrahim Zherkhezi is being held at in order to kidnap him and assassinate Nedich. Sam locates Nedich, who confesses that Shetland is in fact, the mastermind behind the operation. He assassinates Nedich and then begins to prepare to kidnap Zherkhezi from the area when Shetland arrives. Shetland murders Zherkhezi in cold blood to prevent any information on the situation being leaked. Sam takes chase in an attempt to catch Shetland but fails, causing Shetland to go underground and drop off Third Echelon's radar.
Although capturing Shetland seems to be the logical course to discover the truth behind the incident, there is urgent need to dispel tensions in the region after the sinking of the USS Walsh. If a war erupts, it will see the United States along with Japan and South Korea engaging North Korea, who would be actively supported by China and elements of the old Soviet Union. A conflict of such a scale would erupt into World War III, so Third Echelon quickly inserts Fisher into a missile battery located in North Korea, which was responsible for firing the missile that sank the USS Walsh. Sam infiltrates and discovers that the attack was intentionally launched, but not by North Korea. Sam then taps into the launcher's system BIOS where Grimsdottir and the team manage to trace the attack no further than Seoul, South Korea. Before leaving, North Korea declares war and invades South Korea along the demilitarized zone, in a pre-emptive strike, due to a now paranoid North Korean leadership. Another missile is launched from the battery and Sam scrambles to disable it before it hits another US target, the USS Ronald Reagan.
After Sam finished disabling the missile, he exfiltrates the battery and quickly deploys to Seoul, South Korea's capital, in order to trace the true source of the attack. He makes his way through the war ravaged city, finally arriving at the South Korean data trunk where the information is stored and retrieves the relevant files. Sam then heads to the roof and uploads the data to a passing jet via secured encrypted point-to-point laser transmission. He completes the uploading but the jet is shot down by a surface-to-air missile. To ensure that the data does not fall into North Korean hands, Sam is required to move to the crash site to laser designate the wreckage for an US Air Force airstrike. Before doing so, Sam safely moves the unconscious pilots to safety. He finally extracts from Seoul via Black Hawk helicopter with Redding.
Douglas Shetland finally reappears on Third Echelon's radar in Japan. He is located at a bathhouse owned by a criminal organization known as the 'Red Nishin' and it is suspected that he is meeting with someone important in order for him to risk breaking his cover. In order to discover who exactly he is meeting and exactly what he is doing with the Masse Kernels, Fisher must infiltrate on site. As Sam moves through the building he discovers that Shetland's men have converged on the area. Fisher discovers that Shetland is apparently meeting at the back of the bathhouse with members of the Red Nishin. He also sees a pair of I-SDF assault soldiers, whose presence raises his curiosity, seeing as both the I-SDF and Third Echelon were supposedly working together. Lambert suspects that the Red Nishin may have sold Shetland out to the I-SDF.
Working his way to the appointed meeting place, Fisher hides in a vent overlooking the steam room and uses the microphone to pick up on the conversation between Douglas Shetland and Kaneda (Shin Koyamada), an I-SDF official, revealing that Japanese Admiral Otomo (Tadanobu Asano) and the I-SDF are Shetland's partners. It is Kaneda's intention to purchase the information warfare algorithms from Shetland, but not his intention to pay for them. A gunfight breaks out between the Displace soldiers and the I-SDF. Shetland manages to flee as the only remaining survivor. Sam chases after Shetland, confronting him on the roof. A Mexican standoff ensues, with Shetland explaining his "Chaos Theory". He explains that throughout his life as a soldier nothing has changed. Shetland intended to instigate a World War and profit as a leading private military corporation in the US in an attempt to usurp the U.S. as the world's superpower. As Shetland explains this to Sam he instills in him the values of "Honor, courage, and fidelity" and explains that he knows Fisher "understands these things more than any government". Shetland says that because of these values, Fisher won't shoot his old friend and comrade. Sam lowers his weapon and Shetland takes it as an opportunity to get the drop on Fisher. Sam quickly prevents the attack, stabbing Shetland in the stomach and throws him from the rooftop.
Sam's final task is to stop Admiral Otomo from using the Masse Kernels that he acquired from Shetland. Sam infiltrates the I-SDF headquarters in Japan. He makes his way into the building before finding US hostages, he rescues them before going to find Admiral Otomo. Sam enters an area of the building where top secret meetings are held, in which Sam enters a vent to pick up the meeting through his microphone. There it is revealed that Otomo is attempting to manipulate the Japanese government by forcing the I-SDF to repeal the post-war constitution under his threat of launching a North Korean ballistic missile via the Masse Kernels algorithms acquired from Shetland, on an unspecified Japanese city if necessary, hence justifying the demand for repeal. Lambert gives Sam the "Fifth Freedom" - the approval to break any law necessary to uphold order - to stop Admiral Otomo. Lambert also orders Sam to bring Otomo in alive, that he may admit his responsibility in attempting to start war between the U.S. and the North Koreans. If it is revealed that the crisis is the work of a rogue Japanese officer instead of any country, all governments involved will stand down and the crisis will end. Sam enters an elevator where it takes him deep within the building to an underwater area. He then makes his way to find the servers containing the algorithms and destroy them before Otomo can launch the North Korean missile, and then evades all the I-SDF guards, finally making it into Otomo's office. Instead of giving up, Otomo performs seppuku, but Fisher saves his life. They extract through the ocean via blowing up the window.
As Admiral Otomo stands trial before the United Nations, the President makes a speech thanking Third Echelon, though of course he does not use the name, referring to them only as the "unsung heroes of the intelligence community". Fisher watches the news report with his dauther Sarah (Joey King), unable to tell her his role in the events.
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