Zero Hour
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action/Thriller
Director: Yann Demange
Writers: Chad Taylor & Matt Parker
Cast: Jack Reynor, Rosamund Pike, Idris Elba, Carey Mulligan, Gemma Chan, Rob Brydon, Viveik Kalra, Kingsley Ben-Adir
Plot: In London, England, Liam (Jack Reynor) begins his morning routine looking perpetually tired. He puts on his uniform for his construction job, which the men in his family did before him. He receives a text from a friend that asks if he has told his boss yet that he is quitting. Liam decides to not answer it. On the ride to work, he mindlessly swipes through his dating app without much luck. He finally lands on a girl whose biography catches his eye and we see him crack a smile for the first time in the day. However, the joy is only momentary as he realizes that she has yet to swipe either way on him.
He arrives at the stop for where his work is but he doesn't get off. He watches through the window as his co-workers and boss move farther away in the distance. Instead, he exits the train when he reaches a stop that is close to a nearby busy bridge. He takes off his construction gear one by one as he nears the bridge. On his way, he texts his parents and tells them that he loves them. He walks along the pedestrian walkway, which is not too busy at this time of the morning. Liam reaches the middle and looks over the edge at the water down below. He climbs atop the side barrier, takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes. His moment of silence is interrupted by a car stopping on the bridge but it is too late to turn back now. "Wait!" is heard as his feet leave the platform. He feels a sudden force of resistance as two hands reach out from over the ledge and pull him up by his jacket. He turns around to see a figure get back into their red car and drive off, but he isn't able to get a good look at the person.
Liam walks back into town, confused by the mysterious figure that just saved him from a rash decision. He begins to notice numbers counting down above the heads of the other pedestrians around him, like some sort of countdown. Liam rubs his eyes, but the numbers don't go away. He goes into a convenience store to grab a drink. He notices that the countdown above the head of the clerk only has 21 days, 4 hours and 32 minutes left. Liam asks the clerk if they're sick, and the clerk nods his head and asks how Liam could possibly have guessed. Liam quickly leaves the shop and begins quickly walking down the street.
We cut to the red car driving down the street. Inside, the driver (Kingsley Ben-Adir) looks a bit panicked and is trying to observe any pedestrian he passes by on the street. They look normal and this gives him some peace. He checks the rear-view mirror, takes a deep breath and turns on the radio as he instructs his car to call his wife. However, a beat later, the driver is violently jolted as his car is rammed from behind by black truck. Despite the damage to his car, the driver speeds up and attempts to outrun the truck - prompting a chase through the streets of London. Given that the car is smaller, it is able to maneuver better the traffic better and thus it builds a lead. As he circles around, the car actually returns to the bridge where Liam was saved (with the black truck approaching from behind). However, the damage caused by the initial collision caused the red car’s back tyre to spin out and the car makes a hard turn to the side of the bridge.
As the car plummets over and into the water, the black truck continues down the road (with barely a scratch on it). Inside, Jasper (Idris Elba) checks back in his rearview mirror to see that the red car has totally gone under. He makes a call to Mona (Gemma Chan) and tells her that the target has been eliminated. He asks for an update on her side of things and she tells Jasper that she has eyes on the target.
Liam is still walking down the street, bewildered by the numbers counting down. As he looks around, most people have years left on their countdown. He then notices a woman, Ava (Rosamund Pike), with only 15 seconds left on her clock. Ava goes to cross the street while talking on her phone. Liam notices a bus speeding toward her. He calls out for her to watch out, but she doesn't respond. Liam rushes out into the street and yanks Ava out of the path of the bus at the last second. As he lays on the side of the street next to a startled Ava, he notices that her countdown is gone. He looks around at a small crowd of people that have gathered around them and doesn't see any numbers counting down. As Liam and Ava get to their feet, Ava demands to know what he did to her. Confused by her lack of appreciation, he tells her that he saved her life. Ava says that she does appreciate that, but wants to know why there are numbers counting down over everyone's heads now.
Over coffee, Liam explains to Ava that a stranger saved his life just that morning and he then started seeing the numbers. She asks what they mean, and Liam says that he thinks they're a countdown of how long until the person dies because he saw Ava's time almost run out before he saved her from the bus. Ava asks if Liam can still see the numbers, but he shakes his head no and says that he must have passed the ability on to her somehow when he saved her. Ava surveys the café, in awe of all of the information she is seeing. She then checks her watch and find that it is later than she thought. She says she needs to be getting home as her son's birthday is tomorrow and she has to help her husband get ready for that. Liam is a bit surprised by this and asks if she is not more curious about what this power means. She tells him of course she's interested but she's got a life to live. She can't just drop everything. Liam stays silent for a moment, realizing that he doesn't have that many things that he is committed to in life. As Ava stands up, she notices someone sitting by the door that has no number above their heads. She lets Liam know of this anomaly before heading for the door. Liam looks on in disappointment.
As Ava passes the person, we get a glimpse of their face and see that it is Mona from earlier. After they briefly make eye contact, Mona quickly looks down. Ava leaves the café and Mona is not far behind. Liam notices this and follows out, a few paces behind. Ava heads down to the St. Pancras underground station to board her train. Liam follows from afar as he sees that Mona boards right behind Ava. Not able to make it to their car in time, he gets on the one behind. Mona communicates with Jasper and tells him to track her location (to meet her up top). Ava, meanwhile, is unaware as she is overwhelmed by the amount of numbers she is seeing at once. She puts her sunglasses on and bows her head, in an attempt to tune it out. On his train, Liam is navigating through the packed train, trying to make his way to the front.
The train reaches the next stop and Liam gets off and then onto Ava's train. He tries to find her but it is difficult at first. By the time he does, the train reaches Ava’s stop and she gets off. Mona and Liam follow. Amongst the busy crowd, Mona is ready to grab Ava from behind but before she can, Liam shouts Ava’s name. He lies and tells her that she left something behind and he was going to return it. Under his breath, he whispers “no numbers” and Ava turns to see that Mona has been following. Mona kicks into gear as Liam tells Ava to go to the emergency staircase. They enter through that door and head up the tight spiral staircase, although Ava’s heels slow her down. Mona is able to catch up and get ahold of Ava’s ankle, pulling her down. Liam turns back and gains momentum by running down the stairs and kicks Mona - knocking her down a few. Throughout the chase, the ability switches back and forth between Ava and Liam. This gives Liam enough time to help Ava up and resume their race to the top. Mona closes the gap just as the two reach the doorway. Ava hails the first taxi she sees and Liam joins her. By the time Mona reaches the top, she has lost them. She does find Jasper’s truck waiting for her and he shows immediate frustration when she tells him they got away.
After saving Ava from Mona at the train station, Liam notices that he no longer sees the numbers. When he mentions this, Ava tells him that she sees them again. She realizes that means Mona was going to kill her. Liam tells Ava that he knows someone who may be able to identify the people after them. Ava comments that she just wants to go home, but she is terrified of the idea of being able to see when her husband and children will die. She laments not knowing anything about the ability or where it came from or even why there are people trying to kill them now. Liam tells her that he has an idea.
Liam and Ava arrive at a small suburban home. Liam leads Ava around back to a staircase leading to a basement where Vijay (Viveik Kalra) is playing video games. His character dies and he curses the 7-year-old boy in Korea who defeated him. Liam announces his presence and asks for his help. Vijay hacks into the train station security camera system and finds an image of Mona attacking Ava. Vijay explains that the corrupt English government uses a very detailed facial recognition system on all its citizens, so he can just use that system to match the attacker with a name. He hits a brickwall though when it turns out that the woman's record is redacted, with only the words Hourglass Organization visible. Ava asks what Hourglass is, so Vijay does some more digging and finds an address for them - that of an abandoned psychiatric hospital. Liam thanks him for his help, while Ava tells him to enjoy the 60 years he has left on Earth.
As Liam and Ava leave, she tells him that she needs to go home before they go to the address. Liam asks if she is worried that it will bring those people who are following them to her house. She responds that the last day has had her contemplating mortality more than ever and she needs to see her family because she doesn't know how long she has left. Liam promises that they will make it through this alive. They arrive at Ava's home and, inside, her husband Steve (Rob Brydon) is in the kitchen preparing a birthday cake. Ava knocks on the door and her two young kids perk up and seem to sense that is their mom. They rush to the door but Steve tells them to wait until he gets there. When he arrives, he finds that he can't open the door as the camera revolves to reveal Ava pulling on the knob to resist. She talks through the door and tells them that she cannot come inside at the moment. Steve asks what kind of game she is playing and she holds back to tears as she says she can't explain. She says that work will keep her busy throughout the night but promises to be home for the birthday party tomorrow. The kids say they want to hug their mom as tears roll down her cheeks. She decides to open the door while closing her eyes and kneels down to give them hugs and a kiss on the forehead. She tells them all that she'll be home soon, turns around, and opens her eyes.
Liam and Ava arrive at the location of the supposedly abandoned psychiatric hospital. Liam notices that a security camera is following them as they walk toward the entrance. They are surprised to find that the front doors of the asylum are unlocked. Inside, the building is dilapidated and filthy. They walk down a hallway where Ava notices that numbers spray painted on the walls are getting smaller as they make their way further into the building. They follow the numbers until they get to a room marked 00:00. When they enter the room, they find a feral-looking woman (Carey Mulligan). Ava whispers to Liam that she doesn’t have any numbers above her head. The woman introduces herself as Patient Zero, telling them that she was the first to have the ability they find themselves afflicted by. Liam and Ava demand to know why they have it and how to get rid of it for good. The woman explains that it was all started by Hourglass when they took over this hospital - where she was a patient - and began using the patients as guinea pigs for their experiments. Somehow the organization found a way to tap into the human brain to reveal information in the world around them, like when others will die.
Liam confirms with her that the ability is then passed on when you alter someone’s time. Patient Zero confirms this but is interrupted by the sound of tires screeching outside. Her eyes light up and grow angry as she asks Ava and Liam if they brought “them” here. Thinking they set her up, she punches her hand through a nearby window and then picks up a sharp piece of glass. She quickly moves towards Ava but Liam leaps in front of her, taking a stab in the stomach. He falls to the ground as Ava promises they are here to help, not hurt her. They’ve been afflicted just like her. Patient Zero shakes her head and says that they don’t understand the things that were done to her. She once escaped found freedom and rid herself of the ability but they tracked her down. And now they’ve never stopped testing.
Jasper and Mona enter and try to de-escalate. Mona whispers to him that this is their chance: all of their loose ends in one room. Ava looks down to Liam and finds that he only has an hour left to live. Jasper tries to talk Patient Zero down, saying that if she never escaped in the first place then none of this would have happened. After a moment of calm, Patient Zero lunges at Ava with the glass heading towards her neck. In a split second, Jasper fires his drawn gun and shoots Patient Zero in the head. Upon her death, a shocked Ava looks around and realizes that she doesn’t see the numbers anymore. She rushes to Liam to give him aid while Jasper starts to look around worryingly. Mona asks him what is wrong before she realizes that he can now see the numbers. He begins to shake his head no but she says that she must do her job, even if he’s her superior. Jasper leaps out the window as Mona follows suit to go track him down. Ava immediately calls 999 to get Liam medical help quickly.
At the hospital, Liam is in a bed but in good spirits as him and Ava chat. Liam receives a call from his parents, who ask if everything is alright. They say they were worried and have been trying to get ahold of him ever since he sent that worrying message the day before. He is in tears and says that he will be okay. He says that he really does love them and his life and his purpose here on Earth, even if he never realized that until now. They tell him that they are leaving now to come see him and they say their goodbyes.
A moment later, a nurse arrives and says that they have visitors. Ava’s husband Steve walks in with their children behind them. They share an emotional reunion as she hugs them and wishes her son a teary happy birthday. Steve asks if she OK and she lets out an exhausted sigh, saying that it is a long story. She motions to the TV that is showing a BBC news report about Hourglass and Patient Zero. She then introduces them to Liam, who she describes as her “guardian angel, multiple times over”.
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