Genre: Action/Drama
Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Jacob Jones
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Chadwick Boseman, Nicholas Hoult, John Travolta, Michelle Rodriguez, John De Lancie, Gemma Arterton, Suki Waterhouse, Megan Fox, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Green
Plot: The year is 2026. Society has fallen apart in recent years due to an unprecedented level of violence thanks in large part to political discourse and rise in temperamental personalities. In order to combat this epidemic, a major TV station has commissioned a new series that plans to help educate the world on violence and why it should be halted at all costs. The trouble is, there doesn’t seem to be anyone willing to take charge.
In enters a mysterious, well established man known only as the Grand Master (John De Lancie) who expresses their interest in make this project a reality. His vision for the show proves to be so impressive, that not only is he given the job as host, but he is given full creative control over how the series should go. Something that delights him to no end.
In the months that follow, advertisement for the new series is placed and hype surrounding it grows in a record pace. And as this is going on, The Grand Master watches every audition tape he gets his hands out, trying to find the ‘perfect ten’ for his ‘mission’. He soon comes across a tape from someone named Jay Gilroy (Nicholas Hoult) and curiously watches it. His eyes intent on his performance.
A few days before the premiere of the show, Jay sits inside a plane alongside nine other contestants confused and nervous. He looks at them all with varying levels of concern, all focusing on a different game plan until he hears the voice of another contestant asking if he’s alright. He glances over and sees Omar Monsoon (Chadwick Boseman). Not willing to start off on the wrong path, he admits being a bit nervous. To which Omar bluntly tells him that he’ll be fine assuming he doesn’t die.
Meanwhile in another part of the plane, a very wimpy looking person obnoxiously brays on about how he’s the ultimate alpha male and how he is going to win much to the disturbance of the petite and quiet Raven Jones (Amandla Stenberg). Zach Owens (Tom Green) refuses to play along and accuses her of being a blowhard. Before the argument can get serious, a very attractive lady slowly walks by Raven and Zach, showing off her legs with a very short skirt and smiles at the two, introducing herself as Malerie Brown (Megan Fox).
With the two distracted by Malerie’s beauty, it gives Ashley Foxx (Gemma Arterton) and Gail Gannon (Suki Waterhouse) the opportunity to sit down and plan for the competition, with both parties impressed by the other’s strategies. The moment is soon interrupted as they all begin to hear shouting coming from the front of the plane. Kelsey Kingston (Michelle Rodriguez) is shown being restrained by the somewhat elderly Trevor Evans (John Travolta) as a confused yet unsurprised Samuel Davids (Dwayne Johnson) watches onward.
Jay hears the argument ensuing and goes to try and help break it up, but is told to back off by Kelsey, saying it is not of his business. Jay tries to get away from the others but is stopped by the menacing glare of Omar Monsoon who warns him to toughen up if he is going to win. Samuel sees this and tells Omar to back off from the kid. A fight seems destined to ensue, but Omar backs away for now, preferring to save his energy when the game ‘truly’ begins.
The two get away from the rest of the competition and take some time to get to know the other better. Samuel soon learns that Jay signed up for the show to help provide for his family, who had been going through some hard times with the declining stability of civilization. Samuel expresses sympathy to Jay’s plight and wishes his luck in the show. When asked about the incident with Kelsey, Samuel prefers not to answer.
The plane finally lands in the middle of a exotic, dusty, almost barren like savanna much to the intrigue of just about everyone. Zach continues to bray on about victory, grinding on the gears of the others. As the contestants continue to get themselves acquainted, they come across a floating cube shaped like a TV. The Grand Master appears on the set and welcomes the ten to Jahannamu Kubwa, infamously known as the most dangerous savanna on Earth for it’s noted hostile environment and wildlife.
The name of this game is revealed to be a game of survival, or AGOS for short. The Grand Master tells them that there will be no gimmicks, no immunity idols or alliances of any kind and that the show will continue to remain on the air until one person remains. The person who does will gets to make any wish they want, one that they promise will come true. He leaves them all to prepare and wishes them all luck in their journey.
As the cube mysteriously disappears, Zach Owens once again declares his ‘inevitable’ victory. Having had enough of his idiocy, Omar Monsoon knocks him out with a brutal punch causing him to land hard on his skull and instantly killing him. The others gasp in shock when they see this, causing him to glare at the others and storm off to plan his next assault.
Trevor, Jay and Samuel stay behind, watching the body of Zach Owens be taken away by a curious group of monkeys. Samuel and Trevor explain to Jay that this is the nature of this competition. The strong kill the weak so the strong can kill themselves. Jay fears this concept and worries about being next. Trevor and Samuel promise to stick behind Jay for now, noting that their physical capabilities could help protect him.
As the deal is made, Kelsey watches on in disdain and disappointment. She then walks off to find someone to take out and comes across Gail Gannon and Raven Jones, the latter being awfully interested in her look. It’s there Kelsey shows a different side to her and begins to form a bond with Raven Jones, finding her shyness and peaceful nature likable. Gail refuses to align with the two, finding it not her scene and goes off to hunt for some food.
Along the way, she comes across Malerie Brown who offers to come along with her. Gail doesn’t accept the offer at first, but Malerie proceeds to flirt with her and play with her emotions. With Gail convinced by Malerie (and the camera getting some...interesting shots), she reluctantly lets her go forth on their quest to find food.
Ashley Foxx is shown keeping her distance away from the others, trying to plan for the game. But her mind wanders off and she comes face to face with Omar Monsoon. Omar asks her what the game plan is for her, to which Ashley admits she is still trying to figure out. The effort is credited, but for someone who has claimed her IQ is 256, she should be able to have it immediately. Ashley tries not to snap at Omar, but finds her temper getting the best of her and slaps Omar. Omar takes her by the hand and throws her onto the ground, threatening to put an end to her if she dare crosses his path again.
Back with Malerie and Gail, Malerie finds herself extremely confused with the landscape and finds that she is bad at taking at punch. Gail manages to stop her from rambling though as they come across a pack of sleeping hyenas. Gail decides to put a plan in action to grab herself some delicious hyena for dinner and orders Malerie to stay away. Malerie finds this boring and while Gail is shown climbing a tree. Malerie begins to slowly make her way toward the hyenas, hips swaying and everything. When Gail roars from the top of a tree, the hyenas are awakened. But before they can run off to find a lion, Malerie screams out of fear, causing the hyenas to go after her instead.
Seeing this, Gail rushes over to help Malerie escape the onslaught of hyenas but it’s not use. They are outmatched and out powered by them and are taken away to be made their dinner. Something the Grand Master laments as he’s watching as a lot of viewers were liking Malerie. But not because of her toughness, but perhaps more because of her ‘assets’.
That night, Kelsey and Raven are shown talking strategy when Kesley sees Samuel and groans in disgust. She tells Raven that the two used to date before the show but warns her not to trust him because of how ‘fake’ he is. She cannot describe it to her, but it’s how she sees him. Raven finds it hard to believe, suggesting maybe the two could still be friends. Kelsey vehemently refuses the notion saying that he’d just blow her off.
As Samuel watches Kelsey and Raven talk about him, Jay notices his concerns and offers to hear him out. It’s learned that before the show, he and Kelsey dated. They seemed like the perfect couple together, he a well off, muscular bodybuilder, she a strong willed, confident business woman. They even agreed to sign up for the show together. But when advertising grew to like him more than her, she grew jealous.
As Trevor previously mentioned, it is the nature of the strong to turn their back on each other once the weak are gone. But Jay expresses hope that the two can connect again, something Samuel hopes for but has doubts.
Watching from the distance, Omar enters and berates the three for talking about love and romance and not focusing on the competition and pushes Jay around. Samuel valiantly defends Jay, but Omar prefers to go after the 'war veteran’ Trevor. The two go at it until Omar aims for the bad leg.
Trevor goes down hard, leaving him vulnerable to an onslaught set on by Omar Monsoon that leaves him a bloodied mess. Jay and Samuel manage to chase off Omar and proceed to look after their friend, worried about his condition. Trevor tries to stand up, but he’s too weak. This infuriates him as he is not knowing for being weak, as shown is his time in Vietnam and years later in Afghanistan. He tells the two to leave him be, confident he will recover quickly.
He ends up succumbing to his injuries minutes later.
Having succeeded in his mission, he collects a bounty of weapons from a mysterious ‘watcher’, being claimed by the Grand Master as a ‘reward’ for his actions. Ashley soon notices that the two are acting awfully friendly towards one another and proceeds to accuse Omar of cheating, something he denies of. The argument proceeds to wake up a family of snakes and they proceed to go after the two with little success. Ashley’s quick thinking and Omar’s combat skills prove too much for them, though a snake does bite Ashley in the arm.
She soon begins to see hallucinations of what her life was like, including being considered a child prodigy by all those around her. She wanders around, trapped in her fantasy. Leaving Omar by his lonesome to work on his manifesto.
The next day, Raven and Jay finally convince Samuel and Kelsey to talk things out, much to their reluctance and after an awkward introduction, Kelsey finally comes forth with her side of the story. At least, what she thinks is her side. Knowing how much fame would try to change Samuel (He was known to be a womanizer back in his day, loved the color of greed and would often take full credit for many of his accomplishments), she had to back out of the relationship first chance she could.
Samuel admits to these claims and apologizes for being that type of person. But says if there’s one thing he isn’t and accuses her of being a hypocrite. He may love the fame and fortune, but so does Kelsey. And whenever the spotlight wasn’t on her, she’d get irrationally jealous and lose any sense of tact she had. A tense back and forth occurs ending with an emotionally charged Kelsey confessing to being jealous of Samuel and how the advertising focused on him and not her and calling that the real reason why they broke up.
Calling her ego her biggest downfall, she saw how much they loved Samuel’s physique, wit and charm and how very few people noticed her mental capacity and her own skill set when it came to fighting. Jay watches on, glancing a tear stricken Kelsey with sympathy.
Their argument manages to awaken a sleeping group of elephants who surround the three. With Samuel giving her the go-ahead and her garnering some arrows from his backpack, she manages to defeat the lions with ease and is reluctantly welcomed into the group by him.
Raven, who has seen the whole thing breaks into a full blown panic attack concerning the others (excluding Omar and Ashley) and they all tend to her. From afar, Omar watches as he finalizes his plans and tends to his vast array of weapons. Sporting a psychotic grin, he gets his gun and shoots a bullet up in the air. No one knows where the sound came from or who shot what, but they all decide to call it a day and stay out of any violent activities.
That night, an unkempt Ashley hears Omar talking about a 'manifesto’ and a promise to 'spread the message’. She thinks of confronting him, but is too entrapped by the thought of her own demons to bother and sits on a rock to think about her life and how she got to this point. After a few seconds, she breaks into tears.
Early the next morning, a frightening discovery is made by Jay as Omar is shown leading a pack of lions carrying several explosions on their backs. Jay tries to confront him about this, but is blown off and pushed aside. When Jay gets up though, Omar takes it as a challenge and begins to threaten him further. But the final straw for Jay is when his wife and kids are dissed.
Feeling nothing but rage, Jay begins to pound away on Omar. The other contestants soon arrive trying to break things up, but the lions block the path. Kelsey and Raven spot a pathway to the fight and sneak across them and try to help Jay, but it appears he's doing okay for himself until in a last ditch effort, Omar motions for a lion to bite his hand.
Jay goes down hard and is taken away by Samuel, when asked who would be next: Kelsey volunteers to take Omar on. But with both lions and Omar working together, Kelsey is not only outmatched but beaten badly. Omar soon gets out a gun, aiming directly at her head when Raven's trembling voice begs for mercy, volunteering to die for her.
Omar takes the offer and shoots her three times. Once in the head, once in the leg and once in the heart. As Kelsey mourns her death and Samuel tends to Jay, Omar warns that the ‘final chapter’ of society's past will soon be written and heads off with his lions. Neither are sure what that means, but refuse to bother with it, tending to Jay's injury and learning about how deep his connection with his wife and kids really is.
The terror prevalent on the others, Samuel and Kelsey agree to put their differences aside so that they can put an end to Omar’s reign of terror and the two both tend to Jay's wounds.
Having seen it all from a distance and at this point devoid of sanity, the voices in Ashley's head begin to grow stronger, louder, harsher. They accuse her for her temper, inconsistency, arrogance and laziness. To them, the reason why she is not successful is because of her doing.
No longer able to take it, she frantically writes a note regarding Omar and heads off to an area populated with wildlife. Before she does anything else, Ashley prays to God before screaming out to the top of lungs.
Samuel, Kelsey and Jay hear this and rush off to find the disturbance. Along the way, they find Ashley's note and learn of how she was once a prodigy of science and how her future was undone by her own hubris. They also learn that Omar has been secretly working with The Grand Master and has garnered weapons from him in an attempt to portray his anti-violence message.
None of them are sure what to do next, but they all agree to prepare in case anything comes up. But away from the others, The Grand Master and Omar are shown having a chat about tonight, in which Omar promises that everything will go according to their plan.
The night comes and everything is fast asleep (Samuel and Kelsey are even shown huddling together) when they hear loud explosions go off all over the savanna. Concerned, they try to run across the land only to find that everything surrounding them has been engulfed in a ring of fire.
Jay spots Omar from atop a tree and he jumps his way to where they are. Omar considers his plan an absolute success and now sentences the three to death for destroying civilization. Jay refuses to let them go down so easily, demanding he bring his finest men with him. He does, sending in two lions who have become burning balls.
All hell breaks loose as the two sides go at it hard, Samuel and Kelsey taking on the lions and Jay and Omar going at it again. This time however, Jay refuses to fight, preferring to outsmart him at his own game. Whenever Omar goes for the offensive, Jay manages to find a way to dodge it.
Soon however, Jay makes a crucial mistake trying to jump in the air and is shot at the same place where he shot before. He tumbles to the ground, just near the flames. Omar steps forward at Jay, finally understanding his inner strength. But before Jay can die, he asks him why he planned all of this.
Omar reveals that he had grown up in a harsh environment back when civilization was stable, he had seen the wars that the gangs there fought and admitted to once being in them. That all changed when his father died, shot by his own son. Feeling remorse for what he did, he swore off violence completely and became a leading activist against the idea of violence. As time passed however, he realized that he could never spread his message by leading protests and rallies and decided the best way to do so is fight fire with fire. This he says is why the game exists, to teach society a lesson. A lesson on violence and how destroys homes, towns and cities. And now, it has destroyed another land. And Jay was a contributor to it.
Shaken at first, Jay lets on a powerful speech admitting that he went too far. Omar had crossed a line yes, but there was something he learned from his father when he was a little boy. Violence only creates more violence, the only way to fight violence is with compassion, mercy and peace. The speech touches the lions who cease their attacks on Kelsey and Samuel and go after Omar, who trips on Jay and falls into the ring of fire. The lions, Jay, Samuel and Kelsey watch as Omar burns to his death. The three celebrate the victory, but are soon interrupted by an upset Grand Master who demands the three continue the show. They refuse, no longer wanting any part of the game. Not even the million dollar prize is enough for them to reconsider.
Angered by this, The Grand Master forces the lion to attack the three. But at this point, they have been completely engulfed by the flames as well. The Grand Master then makes a final offer, he’ll let Samuel and Kelsey go free if Jay agrees to stay with the Grand Master where he lives (Monte Carlo) with his family. Jay refuses the deal, calling family and friends more important than a game of survival.
The Grand Master finally admits defeat and admits to his bias towards Omar. He decides there is only one thing he must and teleports his cube to the ring of fire where it turns off and is swallowed whole. A rescue helicopter is shown high in the air, garnering a ladder for the three survivors to climb up and escape the savanna. It’s learned inside the helicopter that Jay’s speech was so heartfelt and loved by the viewers, they called the network en masse to get the show cancelled. With the Grand Master out of the way, there was nothing stopping them from doing so.
With the announcement out of the way, Kelsey glances at Samuel. Feeling remorse for her actions in the past and wanting to start their relationship over again. Samuel also apologizes for how he acted and admits he now realizes how strong, talented and resilient she truly is. The two embrace, restarting their relationship. Jay, Samuel and Kelsey then look at the wreckage left in ‘Jahannamu Kubwa’ and realize now more than ever, they must work with the rest of society to rebuild the world and make it whole again.
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