|
"Unlike previous trailers of the film which rapidly cut back
and forth between images and characters, Square displayed roughly
fifteen minutes of mostly contiguous picture. The first section was
the longest, seemingly set near the beginning of the film, and
revolved around Dr. Aki Ross's search for "spirits" in a
desolate wasteland patrolled by translucent alien monsters.
"The
sequence begins as Dr. Ross (Ming Na Wen) descends into urban ruins
from an air transport. Clearly, this is our world, and some sort of
cataclysmic event has occurred, leaving buildings damaged but
standing, and cars littering the street. Ross activates a wrist
computer, which locates a single lone weed in the ruins. Ross begins
work on extracting the weed with complex equipment, but is soon
interrupted by troops demanding an explanation for what she is
doing. Ross continues her work undaunted, and the troops soon have
bigger concerns - translucent, glowing aliens start to attack. These
creatures are initially invisible to the naked eye, but can be
detected with sensors and begin to show themselves as they are hit
with weapons fire.
"Ross
finishes collecting the plant, and the entire group begins a
retreat. They are successful in returning to the ship, at which
point the troops remove their concealing armor: the officer in
charge of the troops is Grey Edwards (Alex Baldwin), who Dr. Ross
clearly has some sort of history with.
"We
then move to a base on Manhattan Island - a huge barrier surrounds a
good chunk of the island, but the rest is wasteland, like the rest
of the world. Dr. Ross is instructed to read a diary passage by her
mentor, Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland), regarding the true nature of
the human spirit. Sid suggests that their work is misunderstood and
dangerous, and instructs Ross to destroy her notes - everything
should be kept in her head.
"Dr.
Ross, again aided by Grey and his crew, out on another quest for one
of the eight spirits - this time the object is in the pack of a dead
soldier, located in the desert. Aki acquires the object, and the
team again retreats, but a soldier is killed by an alien: some form
of energy is removed from his body by an alien, and devoured. When
Dr. Ross returns to the air transport, soldiers attempt to put her
under custody. Grey's team puts down the mutiny, but Aki is shot in
the process. A medical scan reveals that she contains some form of
unknown alien energy herself.
"A
complex escape sequence ensues, as the air transport evades a huge
alien by flying through ruins. The ship returns to Manhattan, where
Sid tries to save Aki's life - at this point, he tells us, she has
only six of the eight spirits within her, and the seventh must be
immediately implanted. Sid convinces Grey that Aki needs help to
stabilize her during the implant procedure. He puts Grey to sleep,
and Grey finds himself on the surface of an alien world with Aki, a
place she says she's been dreaming about for months.
"We
then view a brief sequence in General Hein (James Woods') office,
where the general is informed that Aki has evaded capture, thanks to
Grey. Hein says that both Dr. Ross and Grey must now be captured.
"Lastly,
the film cuts to a burning hangar, where an alien is attacking as
Aki tries to escape in an air transport. Grey says he'll hold the
creature off while Aki escapes, at the cost of his own life, but Aki
waits until Grey can board, and Aki, Grey, and Sid escape the
Manhattan complex." |
