Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
Director: Patty Jenkins
Writer: Seth Overton
Based on the video game series
Cast: Alicia Vikander, Lupita Nyong'o, Tom Hardy, Steve Buscemi, Fatima Ptacek, Ken Watanabe, Will Yun Lee, Jennifer Garner, Mickey Rourke, Henry Cavill
Plot: The Citadel - heart of Galactic civilization and center of communication for political interactions between the various races that inhibit the galaxy. Flying cars move around like ants in the sky. On the ground, citizens of this gigantic space station wander through artificial parks. Upon the central ring, diplomats enter the Presidium of the Citadel, where the offices and embassies of all galactic races are situated. From here, the five arms of the Citadel on which the Wards area is built upon, can be seen in the distance.
A C-Sec police van carrying an unidentified group of suspects moves through traffic. It flies past Shepard's statue which the Council previously raised in his honour. It finally stops at the Main Courthouse. The group is handcuffed and escorted inside by C-Sec officers.
In the courtroom, the handcuffed suspects rise as the judge enters. They are Tali (Lupita N'Yongo), Liara (Alicia Vikanderr), Garrus (Tom Hardy) and Gillian (Fatima Ptcacek).
"You stand accused of conspiring against the interests of the Council and assassination of a Council official. How do you plead against these charges?"
3 WEEKS EARLIER
Location: Lair of the Shadow Broker
Liara, Tali and Garrus arrive at the secret lair of the Shadow Broker, in order to retrieve the Geth virus that would help them defeat the Geth occupying Tali's homeland. An indistinguishable shadowy figure is seen following them. A henchman invites them to the hallway. They are told that the Shadow Broker is currently in a meeting with a human diplomat and that it might take a while.
Suddenly, they hear two loud consecutive blasts. The henchmen run towards the Shadow Broker's office and Liara, Tali and Garrus decide to follow them. When they arrive at the office, they see that The Shadow Broker is being held at gunpoint by Gillian. The girl followed Liara and her group to the lair of the Shadow Broker and then infiltrated his office in order to ask for information on the Cerberus facility where her sister is held. However, the sight of a little girl holding the most dangerous entity in the galaxy at gunpoint is not what's most shocking. The most shocking thing is that the previously unseen Shadow Broker (Steve Buscemi) is just a frail, old Salarian of small stature, with a whiny and trembling voice.
"Objection, your honor! I don't see how my appearance is relevant to all of this. The fact of the matter is, I invited a beloved Council diplomat into my home and these insolents assaulted me in exchange for information and wouldn't take no for an answer. I think the Councilman was collateral damage. It was probably the little girl who did it, in her blind quest for revenge."
Gillian was indeed furious. She was separated from her father at a school for gifted biotic children who turned out to be a Cerberus experiment facility, she found out she had a sister she had never met who had been held captive in a Cerberus facility her whole life and her mentor and only friend Hendel Mitra was killed by the Drell assassin Thane Krios.
Garrus tries to reason with Gillian, telling her that the Shadow Broker is of no use dead. Liara enters the office and as soon as he sees her, the Salarian calls off his henchmen. His demeanor suddenly changes and he agrees to cooperate. He gives Liara the Geth virus, but tells her that only one man knows how to upload it into the geths' system. His best mercenary and right hand, the no-nonsense human bounty hunter Zaeed Massani (Mickey Rourke). He also gives them a map of all the Cerberus facilities that conduct biotic experiments and one of his ships. It becomes apparent to Garrus and Tali that the Shadow Broker must owe a lot to Liara, given his sudden shift of attitude.
As the group leaves the premises, the Shadow Broker is called by one of his henchmen in a hurry. The henchman shows him that the diplomat he was about to meet had been assassinated. He asks if they should deal with it, but the Broker tells them to call the police instead.
Tali lets out a chuckle. "Pardon my quarian, your honor, but this is bullshit. This man sent us on a suicide mission with a faulty geth virus. His so-called mercenary tech expert was only there to confirm our demise. Had his plan worked, we would have been the perfect scapegoats for this assassination. Ones that couldn't defend themselves."
2 WEEKS EARLIER
Location: Ranoch - Tali's homeland
Liara, Tali and Zaeed arrive on planet Ranoch. Zaaed tells them they must infiltrate a communication tower in order to spread the virus to all Geth on the planet. As expected, they are attacked by a group of Geth, but less than the resistance they had expected on this mission. As a matter of fact, most of the planet seems deserted.
Tali walks through the rubble. She remembers the building that used to stand there, a tall impressive structure. Or maybe it only seemed that way at the time, since she was so little when the Geth rebelled and took over her homeworld. She comes to the sudden realization that she spent most of her childhood on a Quarian migrant fleet. That she never experienced all the customs and traditions in a Quarian's life.
For instance, it was customary for Quarians that reached young adulthood to go on a Pilgrimage - to leave their home planet on a quest given by their Elders (based on their skills and social status). Failing the quest was allowed, but there was a degree of social stigma for Quarians that did not complete their Pilgrimage. The ones that went and never returned are memorialized in a mausoleum, which Tali recognizes in the distance.
This moment of contemplation is interrupted when a larger group of Geth approach. Tali, Liara and Zaeed pick up the pace and outrun the Geth to the communication tower. However, the Geth virus does not work and the three of them must once again fight off the Geth androids. Two Geth corner Liara into a corner, but Zaeed shoots one of them, rips off his arm and beats the other one with it.
The Shadow Broker frowns. "Zaeed? There to confirm your demise? Did he not help you fight off the geth at the communication tower? Your theory doesn't fit the facts. And where was the Turian all this time? Given the tumultuous history between the human and Turian race, given the fact that tensions still exist between these two races even today, I think Garrus is as good of a suspect as any. Would you not agree, your honor?"
Liara intervenes. "Objection, your honor. Conjecture!"
Garrus steps in to tell his side of the story.
4 DAYS EARLIER
Location: Unknown Cerberus Facility
Garrus and Gillian walk past fallen Cerberus henchmen. They use a key-card to enter the solitary room. Here, Gillian finally sees her sister.
"I'm sorry but I'm a bit confused. I feel like there are some details missing from this story." The Shadow Broker interrupts.
Dr. Jiro Toshiwa (Ken Watanabe) sits at his office. A bullet-like biotic blast pierces through his skull. Garrus and Gillian take a key-card from him. They fight off Cerberus henchmen as they arrive to the solitary room. Here, Gillian finally sees her sister. Her file says she is codenamed "Jack" (Jennifer Garner). They look nothing alike, but Gillian recognizes her by the pain in her eyes. The same pain she has felt many times as a Cerberus captive.
After they explain everything to her, the three of them prepare to leave the facility when they are attacked, to their surprise by a group of Geth androids. With a single blast, Jack nearly disintegrates all of them. Gillian and Garrus are shocked by her power. Going through Dr. Toshiwa's files, they find out that the Illusive Man did indeed retrieve the Geth virus and that Zaeed is in fact an undercover agent working for him. The Illusive Man had been using the Geth from Tali's homeland as slaves in order to work on a project called "The Ark". The remaining ones which Tali, Liara and Zaeed encountered were ones that managed to rewrite their source code and became immune to the virus.
The sound of sarcastic clapping echoes from the hallway, as Kai Lee (Will Yun Lee) walks past the disintegrated Geth. He injures Garrus with a biotic blast. Gillian and Jack team up and fight him off. Jack is obviously stronger, but Gillian gives him the final blow, a blast so powerful it decapitates him. Jack smiles at Gillian.
"Heartwarming as this tale of two psychopaths murdering a man in cold blood may be, I still don't buy it. In the beginning, when the little girl had me at gunpoint and you heard the blast, you said that the three of you rushed to my office. However, you later said that my demeanor only changed as soon as Liara entered the office. So you did not in fact rushed to the office at the same time. Liara joined you moments after. What did she do in this time she was away?"
Zaeed steps forward. "Your honor, I plead guilty. The two blasts you heard were not coming from the Shadow Broker's office, but from the room the diplomat was in. Shot him twice. One in the back and one in the head, at the Illusive Man's orders."
Liara steps forward as well. "As for me, the reason I stayed behind is that I received an important call from someone."
The judge finds Zaeed guilty of killing the diplomat and gives him the death penalty. After giving him the sentence, the Shadow Broker asks Liara who was the call she received from. Moments before she can finish her thought, none other than Shepard (Henry Cavill) enters the courtroom. He tells everyone that he is authorized by the Council to render the proceedings of the court null and void. He warns them that he received a message from his home planet, Earth, and that the Reapers have arrived.
The team, including Jack and Zaeed, regroup at the Normandy ship. Gillian is shocked to see Thane there. Tali tells everyone that the migrant fleet returned to Ranoch, and in exchange, the Elders sent all the eligible quarians, including her, on a common Pilgrimage: to help Shepard defend the galaxy against the Reapers.
Meanwhile, Liara and Shepard share an intimate moment in his quarters. As they lay in his bed, Liara reveals to him that she had been in fact responsible for the killing of the diplomat the entire time. Even more shockingly, she had taken over the actual Shadow Broker's organization months after Shepard died. The Salarian was just a front. When she found out that the diplomat had information that would have led to another war between humans and Turians, she decided to assassinate him so that all the races could focus their forces on the Reaper threat. She concludes that this war has changed her, made her ruthless. Shepard tells her that war changes everyone, and that her sacrifice of a single diplomat might have saved billions of people. She is still not convinced she did the right thing.
Days after the Normandy left the Citadel, an alarm is heard through the entire space station, warning every civilian to retreat to safety. The five arms of the Citadel close, forming a defensive fortress. A Reaper ship is seen approaching.
The war has begun.
No comments:
Post a Comment