Genre: Action/Superhero/Sci-Fi
Director: Alex Garland
Writer: Dwight Gallo
Based on Marvel Comics characters
Cast: Jamie Dornan, Toby Stephens, Rebecca Ferguson, David Morrissey, Millie Bobby Brown, David Oyelowo, Jessie Buckley, John Travolta, Diana Silvers, Freida Pinto, Josh Lawson, Laura Fraser, Ariana DeBose, Mike Myers
Plot:
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Kavito Rao (Freida Pinto) is in an operating theater at the headquarters of BeneTech Industries. A scale-covered mutant is strapped to an operating table in the room. William Stryker (John Travolta) watches from an observation booth as Rao injects the mutant with the “Hope Serum”. Soon after the injection, the scales on the young mutant begin to dissipate. Through an intercom, Stryker congratulates Rao on her fine work on the serum.
North Salem, New York.
Department H chief James Hudson (Mike Myers) arrives at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. He is greeted by Charles Xavier (Toby Stephens) and his protege Jean Grey (Jessie Buckley). Hudson says that he understands Xavier has a device that can locate any mutant on the globe. Xavier explains that is a bit of an over-simplification, but that with his abilities he can use his Cerebro device to locate and communicate with other mutants. Hudson asks Xavier to use the device to locate one of his agents: Wolverine. Jean mentions that Wolverine was with them when they fought the terrorist Magneto and that he never emerged from the battle in the end. Hudson says Wolverine is an especially hard man to kill and asks Xavier to try his device anyway. Xavier agrees and the three make their way to the basement level of the mansion and to a large round room. Xavier places a large helmet on and activates Cerebro. Xavier tells Hudson that he is unable to locate Wolverine. Hudson is ready to write off Wolverine as ‘killed in action’, but Xavier suspects it is a little more complicated than that - he has a sense of Wolverine, but cannot find a way into the mind to locate him.
Stryker and Rao hold a press conference where they explain their intent and the reason for developing the Hope serum to cure mutant conditions. Rao calmly states that during her research, she found that the mutant acted more like a virus than a more traditional genetic evolutionary step. She believes that the serum will and should remain completely optional for those with the mutant gene virus as some have more dangers to themselves than others. Stryker then cuts in and tells the cameras and press corps that he has a story to tell them. Years earlier when he was an Army colonel, Stryker had returned home from a tour of duty and learned that his young son was a mutant. At first Stryker listened to the so-called experts who assured him that his son was not a danger - that is until his son Jason’s powers continued becoming stronger, growing into the ability to induce crippling fear into others by making them live their own worst nightmares. One day Stryker returned home from the Army base to find that his wife had killed herself over having to live with the constant fright Jason was making her live with. Stryker looks directly into the cameras and insists that his wife would still be alive today if the Hope Serum had existed then.
Kitty Pryde (Millie Bobby Brown) is watching the press conference with some other mutant students in the living area of the mansion until Scott Summers/Cyclops (Jamie Dornan) enters and turns off the television. Kitty asks why he shut it off, but Cyclops clearly does not want to discuss the matter. As soon as Cyclops leaves the room, Kitty turns the television back on but the press conference has ended. Cyclops walks down to the underground hangar where Hank McCoy/Beast (David Oyelowo) is working on the jet’s stealth systems. Cyclops asks what they are going to do about this so-called “cure”.
Rogue (Diana Silvers) enters the X-Mansion for the first time as Jean gives her a tour of the facilities. She overhears some of the other students gossiping about the Hope Serum, causing Rogue to lower her head. She admits to Jean that she came very close to taking the cure because of how hard her mutation is for her. Jean assures Rogue that the Xavier Institute is a safe place for mutations of all kinds and that no one will judge or disparage her due to the gifts she has been given. Rogue comments that she’d never really thought of the ability to suck the life and power from people as a gift. Jean tells Rogue that she believes that all mutants are blessed with abilities, she just needs to figure out how to do some good with hers. As Jean shows Rogue her room, Rogue thanks her for talking to her.
The Blackbird hovers above the BeneTech Headquarters in Washington, utilizing its new and improved stealth mode - which Beast assures the team can remain undetected by even the most advanced radar technology. Cyclops, Beast and Kitty Pryde are all lowered onto the rooftop, while Jean stays behind in the jet to oversee the operation. She telepathically reminds the team to try to avoid detection while obtaining a sample of the Hope Serum. Cyclops and Beast hold Kitty’s hands and she uses her abilities to phase through a security door and into the main stairwell of the facility. When they reach the hallway outside of the laboratory, the X-Men accidentally trigger an alarm. Stryker’s head of security, Benjamin Ord (Josh Lawson), and his men open fire on the team. Cyclops tells Beast and Kitty to hurry and steal the sample while he holds them off by shooting several blasts of energy from his visor. Kitty and Beast make their way into the lab and steal a vial of the Hope serum. With the mission accomplished, the three mutants make their way back up the stairwell and into the waiting Blackbird. Ord chases them all the way up the stairs and fires a tracking device into the jet.
Back at the X-Mansion, Beast tries to analyze the serum, but even though he is well-versed in genetics, the compound is highly unique unlike anything he’s ever seen before. Beast then suggests Xavier contact world-renowned geneticist and former flame Moira MacTaggert. Xavier is a bit wary of contacting her, but Beast convinces him by saying that she’s the only person he thinks could break down the serum and potentially counteract it if needed.
Trenton, New Jersey.
Magneto (David Morrissey) floats above an abandoned Depression-era train yard. Scraps of metal rotate around his body. Mystique (Rebecca Ferguson) interrupts his calm, reminding him that he wanted to see her. He lowers back to the ground and the chunks of metal debris fall to the ground around him, narrowly missing Mystique. Magneto tells Mystique that he wants her to bring the doctor behind the mutant extermination serum, Dr. Rao, to him for a bit of a talk. Mystique expresses some reservations as she believes Stryker and his goons will have tight security around her and the facility. Magneto doesn’t want to hear any excuses, and tells her to take Tempest with her. Mystique knocks on the door of one of the countless abandoned trains in the area. Tempest (Ariana DeBose) flies out of the train with insect-like wings.
Outside of the BeneTech headquarters in Washington, Mystique tells Tempest to wait outside until she is ready to make her way out. Tempest asks how she will know when to help, and Mystique assures her she’ll know when it happens. Walking toward the building, Mystique transforms into Benjamin Ord and walks right past the security checkpoints in the building lobby. She calmly walks through the building all the way to Rao’s lab. Mystique/Ord tells Rao that they have received threats against her life and he needs to evacuate Rao from the building immediately. While leading Rao out of the building exit, they run into the real Ord, who promptly opens fire and radios to all security to converge on his location. Mystique reverts back to her blue-skinned self and hides behind a pillar. Tempest flies into the fray. She spits acid at Ord and his men, melting their weapons. Mystique and Tempest then make their way away from the headquarters with Rao captive.
Muir Island, Scotland.
The Blackbird lands on the grassy knolls outside of the isolated Muir Island Research Center, located on a small island off the northern coast of Scotland. Beast and Xavier exit the jet and make their way into the facility. When they arrive in the office of Dr. Moira MacTaggert (Laura Fraser), she is pleasantly surprised to see them both after so long. After their greetings, she asks what brings them across the Atlantic. Xavier tells her that they were hoping she could have a look at the Hope Serum and explain how it works and if there is a way to reverse its effects.
With the leaders of the X-Men away, Stryker and Ord prepare an assault on the Xavier Institute from woods nearby. They believe that those responsible for the kidnapping of Dr. Rao must be there after having tracked the Blackbird there. Ord leads a strike team into the building - with each soldier equipped with several syringes filled with the Hope Serum. The strike team fires several flash-bang grenades into the building before ramming their way inside. Ord quickly grabs hold of a student and injects them with the cure. Hearing screams, Jean, Rogue and Kitty jump into action. Jean uses her telekinesis to hurl objects at the soldiers. Jean tells Kitty to lead the younger students away from the action and toward a secret fallout shelter. Kitty says she doesn’t know where that is. Jean tells her that she only knows about it from reading Xavier’s mind during her tour of the facility as a youth and telepathically tells Kitty the way there. Kitty and some students are cornered by a few soldiers. Rogue emerges and takes off her trademark gloves. She touches the soldiers, sapping their energy. Kitty thanks her, then phases through a wall with the kids holding her hands. Jean and Rogue then guide the rest of the students they can, some who have been forcibly cured by Ord and his men, to the shelter. He radios to Stryker, informing him that the targets have escaped, but that there is no sign of Rao. Stryker looks through the blueprints of the facility trying to find how they could have escaped. Unable to find one, Stryker tells Ord to burn the place down. Ord and his men set fire to the mansion before leaving. When they all reach the shelter, Jean does a head-count and realizes that they are missing some of the students.
Magneto questions Rao regarding the Hope Serum. She tries to refuse talking, but Magneto controls a small metal marble, sending it down her throat. When she gives an unsatisfactory answer, he moves the ball around inside her intestines, causing immense physical pain. She finally admits that such a serum was never her idea or intention - Stryker brought the idea to her. She wasn’t the first doctor to work on the serum, but she was the first to be able to crack the sequencing of the mutant gene in order to manipulate or disable it. She says that’s all the cure does - disable the mutant strain of DNA within the subject. Magneto asks her if she ever considered that maybe mutants were divinely meant to exist by some higher power - perhaps even as a means to exterminate the folly of humankind. Rao asks what Magneto means by that. He tells her that she has eliminated members of his kind, so he intends to eliminate members of hers - but she will come first. The metal marble then bursts from her body. Magneto leaves Rao to die.
Moira analyzes the Hope Serum in her lab and finds that it is a highly advanced form of gene therapy and manipulation. She expresses surprise that the government would ever authorize its use as it can seemingly be programmed to attack any specific gene sequence within human or mutant DNA. Beast asks if there is a way to undo the effects of the serum. Moira theorizes that if one could pinpoint where the gene damage was done by the serum, a gene booster could help undo the changes - though it could take years for the gene strands to fully correct. Xavier thanks Moira for her time and expertise, then asks her if she would be willing to work on the method to reverse the Hope Serum. She says she will, but that she will need more samples of the cure in order to do so. Beast assures her they will get her more.
When Xavier, Cyclops and Beast return to the institute, they find it burned to the ground. Jean telepathically communicates with Cyclops, telling him that she and others made it to the fallout shelter. Cyclops and Beast rush through the wreckage and uncover the hidden door from beneath a heap of rubble. Cyclops then runs down a long narrow passageway until he reaches the shelter. He gives Jean a kiss when he arrives and asks if everyone is alright. Jean tells him that Styker and his men kidnapped some of the students. Cyclops asks why they would have done that, and Jean says that she read Stryker’s mind and he appears to be under the impression that the X-Men were involved in the kidnapping of Dr. Rao. Beast mentions that it is a safe bet who actually did the deed.
At the train yard, Mystique asks Magneto what they are going to do about Rao’s body. He says to leave it as they will soon move to a new location where they can hopefully recruit more like-minded mutants for the cause. The Blackbird hovers above the train yard. Magneto, alarmed, tries to use his powers against the jet, but finds his mind and powers clouded. He then hears Xavier’s voice in his head asking him to turn Rao over to them. Magneto laughs and points out her dead body. The X-Men, consisting of Rogue, Cyclops, Kitty, Jean and Beast, descend from the jet while Xavier pilots it. Magneto is able to control his powers once again, but Xavier activates the new stealth system, hiding it from Magneto. Mystique gets behind a Gatling gun on the back of an old military train and opens fire on the heroes. Beast grabs a piece of large debris to block the gunfire. Magneto regains control of his power and begins hurling pieces of train track at the team. Cyclops tells the team to split up. Cyclops and Jean stay to fend off Mystique and Magneto, while Beast leads Rogue and Kitty away to investigate other areas of the train yard. Jean uses her power to make an energy shield to protect herself and Cyclops, who manages to disable Mystique’s weapon with a well-placed energy blast from his visor.
Beast, Rogue and Kitty are attacked by Tempest, who uses her acid to spit at them. Beast manages to block it, but is burned in the process. Kitty sneaks away against Beast’s advice. She manages to get behind her and hit her over the head. Rogue then places her hands upon Tempest to steal her powers. Insect-like wings suddenly grow from Rogue’s back. Kitty is impressed by Rogue’s powers. Rogue takes to the air and flies right at Mystique, knocking her out from her cover. The X-Men all surround Mystique and Magneto. Rogue spits acid, Cyclops fires lasers, Beast throws pieces of concrete, while Jean protects them with her powers. Magneto calls down to Mystique, telling her that they may have lost this particular battle but that they must live to continue to fight in the war. Mystique gives a nod and starts running. Magneto blocks the X-Men by placing trains in their path. Magneto and Mystique then make their escape.
Stryker and Ord sit in Stryker’s office at BeneTech watching a news report on Rao’s mysterious death. Stryker turns off the screen in disgust. Ord comments that there is enough cure to continue their mission for years. Suddenly they are surrounded by the entire X-Men team, who have phased into the office using Kitty’s powers. Xavier urges Stryker to end his operations against mutants. Stryker, feeling threatened, pulls a gun on the team. Xavier gets inside of Stryker’s mind and has him drop the gun. Ord then draws his gun, but he is quickly knocked out by a punch from Beast. Stryker says this isn’t over, but Xavier assures him that his involvement is. Xavier then wipes Styker’s mind - leaving him in a friendly, borderline-vegetative state. Beast asks if that wasn’t maybe a bit too much, but Xavier says that Stryker will eventually recover, but they will be ready for him then. Beast then heads into the lab. He takes a case of the Hope Serum to send to Moira before destroying the rest of the batches.
The entire team returns to the grounds of the Xavier Institute to begin cleaning up the debris in order to rebuild.
No comments:
Post a Comment