Ubik
Genre: Sci-Fi/Drama
Director: Alex Garland
Writer: Rosie JoLove
Based on the novel by Philip K. Dick
Cast: Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Peyton Roi List, Lena Headey, Matt Smith, Clark Gregg, James Purefoy, Rafe Spall, John Gallagher Jr., Shannon Woodward
Plot: We begin by detailing the disappearance of the dangerous telepath S.
Dole Melipone. For Glen Runciter (James McAvoy), this causes a major problem, and he
visits his dead wife Ella (Lena Headey) at the Beloved Brethren Moratorium. She is in a
state of half-life, but through headphones, Glen can still talk to her.
He is just running through the problem when a young man called Jory
invades her body. Angry, Runciter goes to see the manager of the
Moratorium. The manager says there is nothing he can do.
Meanwhile
the debt-ridden technician, Joe Chip (Michael Fassbender), hears a knock at his apartment
door. It is the Runciter scout G.G Ashwood (Clark Gregg) and with him is a beautiful
young lady named Pat Conley (Peyton Roi List). Ashwood tells Joe that Pat possesses an
unusually strong anti-telepath ability, and Joe should assess her. With
Ashwood gone, Pat shows Joe a piece of paper proving he has already
tested and failed her. She has now created a different present and if
Joe passes, her she will help him get out of debt. On a test paper Joe
draws a symbol meaning dangerous. He tells Pat the symbol means
Runiciter should hire her immediately.
Runciter meets a woman
called Zoe Wirt (Shannon Woodward). Her boss, Shepard Howard, needs some anti-telepaths to
rid his company of psychics. Runciter leaves her for a few moments and
talks to his in-house psychic, Nina. She tells him Miss Wirt is lying
and she works for Stanton Mick (James Purefoy). This pleases Runciter, as he knows Mick
is a very rich man, and Joe stands to make a lot of money. Back in the
office, Miss Wirt says the job will take place on the planet Luna and
lays out the conditions.
For the contract, Runciter decides to
get together 11 anti-telepaths, including Pat Conley, plus himself and
Joe Chip. Runciter is in his office familiarizing himself with the group
when he suddenly finds himself outside an antique shop, looking at old
coins. When he returns to the room, he finds only Pat, Joe and G.G still
present. Even stranger, Pat and Joe are now married. Eventually, Pat
admits she is just showing them her capabilities and takes them back to
the original present.
The group leaves for Luna. Miss Wirt meets
them on their arrival and takes them to a conference room where Joe Chip
immediately starts taking a psi reading. Stanton Mick walks into the
room and tells Joe to stop before floating to the center of the room and
exploding. The blast kills Runciter. Joe and the others rush his body
back to the ship, put him in coldpac and fly him to a Moratorium in
Zurich.
On Al's (Matt Smith) advice, Joe stays at a hotel in Zurich and says
he will send Wendy Wright to keep him company. However, when Joe wakes
up in the morning, he is by himself. He goes to the phone to ring Al,
but all he can hear is Runciter's voice. There is a knock and Joe opens
the door to the Moratorium manager. The manager asks where Wendy Wright
is and Joe says she never came. Thinking this strange, the manager
searches the room. In the closet is Wendy's dead body.
Joe goes
back to the Runciter offices in New York. Here Al shows him that all the
coins and notes are now emblazoned with Runciter's profile. In
addition, they are buying coffee and cigarettes that are already years
old. Al and Joe decide to go to Baltimore to see if they can spend the
Runciter currency. In a shop in Baltimore, the cashier takes the money,
but the cigarettes they buy crumble in their hands. They go back into
the shop and look at some of the other goods. In a big box of
cigarettes, they find a note from Runciter. It tells them the situation
they are in is serious.
Back in New York, Joe and Al are stepping
into a lift when Al pulls Joe back. He says the elevator was not the
usual one, but looked about 50 years old. Joe tells Al the elevator was
normal and Al must be ill. In the bathroom they find another message
from Runciter. It says he did not die from the blast, but they did. Al
thinks he is dying the same way Wendy died, by regressing rapidly into
old age. He says he has no chance for survival, but Joe will still live
if he gets back with the others and stays with them.
Joe goes
back to the room where they had earlier left the others watching TV, but
no one is there. However, the television is still on and showing
Runciter's funeral in Des Moines. Joe switches the television off, but
it turns back on, this time Runciter's face appearing on the screen. He
is advertising a product called Ubik, a spray that works to reverse
deterioration. Suddenly Runciter begins to speak directly to Joe,
telling him his only chance of survival is finding Ubik. He says he sent
a sample to Joe's apartment.
When Joe gets back to his
apartment, everything has regressed to what looks like the 1950s. In his
post box, he finds a sample of Ubik, but instead of a spray can, it is
nothing but old-fashioned medicine. At this point Joe knows he needs to
get to Des Moines.
The funeral director Mr. Bliss picks Joe up
from an airfield in Des Moines and takes him to the funeral. Mr. Bliss
talks about Hitler, and Joe realizes it is now 1939. Joe is too late for
the funeral, but drives back to the hotel with the others. On the way, a
policeman stops them and hands Joe a ticket with a note from Runciter.
It states that Pat Conley is big trouble. At the hotel, Joe starts to
feel weak and Pat offers to escort him to his room. Joe refuses to take
the elevator because of what Al saw earlier and insists they take the
stairs instead. As he slowly makes his way, Pat taunts his efforts,
claiming Ray Hollis (John Gallgher Jr.) hired her to kill Runciter and his best
anti-telepaths. She leaves Joe outside his hotel room to die.
Joe
eventually manages to open his room door where he sees Runciter sitting
on a chair beside his bed. He sprays Joe with Ubik, restoring Joe's
health, though he admits it is only temporary, and Joe needs to find
more. Runciter goes onto say he is currently sitting in the Moratorium
and Joe, along with the others, is in half-life. He blames all the
problems on Pat, but when Joe questions him further Runciter admits he
is lying and does not know what is happening.
Don Denny (Rafe Spall) comes to
Joe's hotel room with a doctor. Joe tells him what Runciter said and
offers him the Ubik spray to restore his health. When Denny uses the
spray, he evaporates and a young boy called Jory replaces him. He says
he is a half-life that eats other people's energy so he can continue to
exist and control the half-life world. Joe tries to kill Jory, but it
proves impossible.
Joe takes a taxi to the Matador restaurant. On
the way, he sees a young lady walking down the road and tells the
driver to stop. The lady tells him she has nothing to do with Jory and
hands Joe a certificate that guarantees him a lifetime supply of Ubik.
She says her name is Ella Runciter. She is helping Joe because she is
passing onto another life and needs him to keep her husband company.
Joe
goes to a pharmacy to pick up his Ubik. However, the spray can has
regressed to a box of useless powder. Joe says he knows the pharmacist
is Jory and that he has spray cans in the shop. Jory appears, but Joe
still cannot get any spray. Outside the pharmacist, a woman approaches
him and hands him some Ubik, saying she works for the company, and Joe
summoned her when he refused to accept that there was no spray.
Back
in the Moratorium Mr. Runiciter tries in vain to find the manager, as
he wants to have a chat with Ella. Finally, a worker brings out her
casket. Runciter goes to hand him a tip, but on each of his coins is Joe
Chip's profile.
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