Story
UltraViolet takes place in the late 21st century, in the years following a global pandemic of a blood-borne, highly infectious disease known as hemoglophagia. Those afflicted with the disease are referred to as "hemophages", and have many super-human attributes similar to those of the vampires of legend. After the media began actually referring to carriers of the disease as "vampires" to increase ratings, superstition and fear began to rule the population. Using fear of the contagious disease to seize power and keep the population in check, a militant medical establishment known as the Arch-Ministry takes control of the government and begins rounding up and exterminating all infected citizens.
The hero of the film is Violet Song jat Shariff (Milla Jovovich), a young woman who was infected with hemophagia, in the process losing both her husband and her unborn child. Violet is now an emotionally dead killing machine, a member of an underground resistance movement of hemophages waging a guerilla war against the Arch-Ministry and its megalomaniacal, mysophobic leader, Vice-Cardinal Ferdinand Daxus (Nick Chinlund).
Infiltrating a government laboratory, Violet steals a weapon developed by the Arch-Ministry to exterminate all hemophages on the planet, only to discover the "weapon" is a child named "Six" (Cameron Bright), a young clone of Daxus (sixth out of a series of eight).
Violet's fellow hemophages attempt to kill Six, believing that his body contains cultured antigens developed to exterminate all hemophages. Violet breaks ranks with the hemophages and flees with the boy, believing that a cure for the disease can be reverse-engineered from his tissues. On the run from both the government and the hemophages, Violet's only ally is Garth (William Fichtner), a hemophage scientist who is secretly in love with Violet.
At first Violet seems to regard the somewhat catatonic Six as merely a lab sample, but as Six begins to show increasing signs of personality a bond begins to form between the two.
Violet ultimately learns from Daxus that the disease in Six's body is designed not to kill hemophages, but rather to kill humans. With the hemophages nearly exterminated, the Arch-Ministry needs a new threat to "protect" the population from so that they can maintain their hold on power. Daxus plans to infect the world with the antigen, then control the population by selectively distributing the only cure.
Both Violet and Six are dying from their respective ailments, so rather than fight a futile battle against Daxus, Violet takes Six to a playground where the two spend the last few moments of their lives in an idyllic setting.
However, Garth manages to bring Violet back from the dead because of his feelings for her, and she ultimately launches a final assault against the Arch-Ministry's headquarters to retrieve Six's body. Her skills are awe-inspiring; she is barely slowed by the hundreds of faceless soldiers Daxus sends to kill her. After slaughtering her way through his private army, Violet finally confronts the dictator in his sanctum.
At first her victory seems sure, as she easily neutralizes Daxus' intital attack with a handheld flamethrower by extinguishing its pilot light with a spray of her own blood and deflecting the stream of fuel with her sword. However, Daxus draws a sword of his own and matches Violet blow-for-blow in a vicious duel; he is also a hemophage. Daxus, smirking, explains himself-he was one of the original lab technicians researching the hemophage virus, and after an accidental exposure, used the enhancements he gained from the disease in his rise to power. He then shutters the windows, plunging the room into darkness-although he lacks Violet's strength, Violet lacks his excellent night vision. He inflicts several wounds on his enemy before Violet ignites her fuel-soaked sword upon the stone floor, evening the odds once more. Violet and Daxus then duel once more with flaming swords. Finally, Violet manages to set him on fire with his own discarded flamethrower and finishes her enemy by slicing him in half.
In the end, Six is brought back to life, and Violet reveals that he was resurrected with one of Violet's tears, containing the hemoglophagic virus (which immunizes him from Daxus' anti-human virus). Six himself reveals that he knows the cure for hemoglophagia, which can save Violet's life. The two of them drive off into the sunset. Violet states that she is uncertain if she will die from her wounds or her terminal-stage hemoglophagia, but that evil-doers had better beware if she does not.
Fictional technologies and concepts
Hemoglophagia
Hemoglophagia, otherwise known as the Hemoglophagic Virus or HGV, is a blood disease (possibly comes from the Greek word "αιμοφαγία", meaning blood eating). It was once a rare pathogen allegedly responsible for historical accounts of vampires, but was then modified through genetic engineering by the U.S government as part of a project to create superhuman soldiers. These modifications also made the disease far more contagious, and it soon escaped into the general populace, where the media labeled its carriers "vampires", whipping the tragedy into a constant atmosphere of superstition and fear. To help suppress the fact that the quarantine procedures are actually a witch hunt, the authorities have discouraged the use of the term vampire in favor of labeling carriers of the disease Hemophages. However, there can be no doubt that the authorities are engaged in a witch hunt; in the opening scene a detective cuts his finger on a Hemophage fang and is immediately executed by his partner.
Hemophages are biochemically affected by the disease in different ways and to different degrees, resulting in a remarkably wide range of abilities. Some of the abilities exhibited by hemophages are:
- Increased strength, speed and stamina. This could be the result of an increased level of natural hormones similar to anabolic steroids, as well as altered epinephrine (adrenalin) and norepinephrine levels. As the latter would produce an aggravated fight-flight response, this could be the reason for the hair-trigger temper of the more combat-oriented Hemophages.
- A rare few such as Garth develop enhanced intelligence, perhaps by increasing the number of neuronal synapses through brain cortex and parenchyma.
- A similar process may be responsible for the seemingly common phenomenon of enhanced senses. Violet, for example, has extremely sensitive hearing, shown to great effect during her duel with the Blood Chinois atop a skyscraper. This may be caused by the increase of the neurotransmitter load at the synaptic cleft. In the book, she also develops an enhanced sense of smell, which lets her smell the cologne and sweat of Daxus far away.
- As seen in the L.L.D.D. inspection room, hemophages seem to have a faster pulse and respiration capability which is higher than that of a human.
- One important plot point is that many hemophages have an inconveniently high sensitivity to light, accompanied by equally keen night vision. This forces them to wear heavily-tinted sunglasses in areas with vast amounts of light. In extreme cases, victims have to wear clothes and headgear that covers every bit of their skin. Violet only converted with mild photokemia, which enables her to move about more freely. Unfortunately, this, in turn, cripples her night vision.
However, every hemophage exhibits the following two enhancements:
- Massively increased density of bone and dentin throughout the body results in slightly elongated canines, the cliched 'fangs'. These canines are slightly elongated, but certainly not the wolflike teeth of legend.
- An accelerated metabolism that speeds healing. When cut, a hemophage's body automatically begins repairing the wound at a microcellular level.
Although the disease has many benefits, it has two side effects: one inconvenient, one devastating:
- Hemophagia cripples the body's ability to regenerate blood cells. As a result, Hemophages are pale and anemic, and they require frequent blood transfusions to stay alive.
- All the increased cellular activity takes an unwanted toll on the carrier's body. With their metabolisms speeding along at unprecedented rates, the victims of Hemophagia have a drastically shortened lifespan. Even with the aforementioned frequent transfusions, the longest an infected individual has officially survived is 12 years. The one unofficial exception is Ferdinand Daxus. Daxus, who was infected early on, had, up to his final duel with Violet, survived a lot longer than 12 years. This was possibly due in part to his germaphobic habits, although it is more likely that he used his intimate knowledge of the HGV virus as stated in the film, and later, increasingly unlimited access to blood and blood products, along with medical resources, to prolong his life. An alternative explanation that has been put forward for his unique long-term survival is that he had discovered a cure for HGV, or at least for its more terminal effects. This is based in part on remarks made by Six after his revival that he knows the cure that can save Violet-it was discussed often in the lab he was grown in.
The government, also known as the Arch-Ministry, uses the above traits to identify hemophages from the general human population. However, the 'fangs' can be filed down periodically and drugs known as meta-suppressants can be used to temporarily suppress the accelerated metabolism. Hemophage warriors use meta-suppressants to allow them to appear human when they go on covert missions that are likely to require them to undergo close inspection by security personnel and/or systems. For example, Violet first uses the meta-suppressants when entering the Laboratories for Latter Day Defense (L.L.D.D.). After exiting the inner vault with the briefcase, she injects herself with a second drug that clears the suppressants from her body. If used over an extended period of time, the body of individuals suppressing their blood characteristics through use of meta-suppresents begin to react with the drugs, which may induce vomiting, shaking, and/or other symptoms not shown in the film.
Gun Kata
Violet uses Gun Kata, a fictional martial art combining statistical analysis and gunplay, to fight many adversaries at the same time, even when vastly outnumbered. Kurt Wimmer also uses this style of fighting in his 2002 film Equilibrium.
In the movie only Hemophages use Gun Kata, this follows Wimmers interpretation of the technique; In Equilibrium the Grammaton Clerics train from childhood to utilize the art. As the events of UltraViolet only span a single generation as opposed to the decades-stable post-apocalyptic society of Libria, it is possible that Hemophage reflexes and stamina are necessary to perform Violet's version of the techniques.
While the scenes using Gun Kata are shorter than those in Equilibrium, critics have commented that the sequences appear more realistic and less mechanical than those used by Cleric John Preston. Other critics have taken issue with the editing, saying it damages the believability of the scenes.
Dimensional compression
Sometimes referred to as Flat-Space technology, dimensional compression is used to store objects in a pocket dimension. Simple objects are stored/retrieved and more complex ones systematically deconstructed/reconstructed in a flow of sparkling lights. A significant number of items can be stored for easy retrieval without burdening the user with either weight or size. The technology mainly takes the form of easily overlooked wristbands, although one-inch scabbards holding 42-inch swords are also seen. Handguns, knife-gun hybrids, and ammunition are also hidden in this manner (the bullets flying from the wristbands into the magazines on command).
The technology is also used to create habitable pocket dimensions, such as the briefcase/backpack used to transport the ten year old Six and the semi trailer with the internal dimensions of a warehouse (containing Garth's research lab and armory).
Dimensional compression is the basis of one of the light hearted scenes in the movie. A security scanner checks Violet, saying "Number of weapons found:", pauses shortly as Violet's weapons are displayed, and finishes "many".
During the final battle, Daxus pulls out a flamethrower and a sword from nowhere. This might be a result of editing, but judging by the size of Violet's pocket dimension, Daxus's ring might be one.
Gravity leveling
levelers are devices about the size of combination locks that redirect (rather than nullify or reduce) gravity, enabling a person to stand and manoeuvre on walls, or even ceilings. Violet uses her personal gravity leveler to ambush a squad of guards, firing on them from within a ceiling air vent. Her motorcycle is also equipped with one of these devices, enabling her to engage in a firefight with a helicopter gunship by driving up the side of a high-rise building.
Precisely how this technology functions is unknown. However, visual CGI scenes from the film seem to indicate that the internal systems of the device produce an extremely high density material that produces its own gravitational pull greater than that of Earth, thus redirecting the effective 'down' direction for the object it is installed in. How this device works without severely unbalancing Earth's orbit is unknown.
Printed phone
In the film a roadside machine prints Violet a phone. The paper device has the ability to produce holographic images when attached to an extra peripheral. This technology has a basis in reality. In the early 21st century inkjet printer companies such as Epson demonstrated their ability to create functional circuit boards with printer technology.[2]
General technology level of fictional universe?
There is some confusion as to how widespread these technologies are within Violet's world. The introductory comic on the official website refers to both Dimensional Compression and Gravity Leveling as Garth's personal inventions. However, investigators in the opening scene of the movie are surprised to find flat-space technology in the enemy's possession, and Six is transported in his own personal flat-space zone. Later, police forces are equally surprised by Violet's possession of a gravity leveler.
Perhaps the best compromise between these two sources of information is that Hemophage scientists belonging to the resistance developed these technologies with the help of their enhanced abilities, which were then confiscated during raids. However, the government had difficulty reverse-engineering the technology. Now that the extermination programme is nearly complete, most of these scientists are dead, therefore all of these technologies are extremely rare.
This is stated explicitly in a conversation between security personnel at the lab where Violet acquires Six.
| “ | Violet somersaults onto the ceiling and shoots a group of guards from above "How did she do that?!" | ” |
An alternate possibility is that while the scientific basis for such devices has been established, practical devices that work outside a laboratory are still extremely rare, with Garth's devices being among the first practical examples.
My inspiration: I like the theme of this movie which is changing from time to time depend on the developing of the movie. overall, this is a great movie that express a lot through color theme.
No comments:
Post a Comment