The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

The Mortal Instruments is the first book of many other series by Cassandra Clare. It's seen as fitting into the genre of vampires, werewolves and the unknown.
The movie begins in New York, with Clary Fray (Lily Collins) drawing a particular symbol. As she leaves for poetry gig, her mum, Jocelyn Fray (Lena Headey) saw the symbol and worries. Her friend, Luke (Aidan Turner) advise that it is time to tell Clary the truth.
As Clary and her best friend, Simon (Robert Sheehan), passed by a club, she saw the symbol on the club but no one else saw it. As they are in the club, she saw a guy murdered. She freaks out and leaves. Next morning as she woke up, she saw that her bedroom was filled with the symbol that she drawn...drawing in her sleep. She goes to the coffee shop and asked Simon what is it. Her mum, at home, is visited by the bad guys. She fights them off as they seek the cup (all powerful cup). Her mum tries to call Clary, but Clary ignores the call. She tries to call Simon and Simon ignores the call too. After picking up the phone call, finally, Jocelyn warns Clary to not come home and find Luke. Clary panics and rush home to find her mum missing and a dog waiting for her. The dog shape-shifts into an ugly beast and attacks her. She lights the stove and 'BOOM!', the kitchen explodes, dog explodes into pieces and she is shielded by the door..hmm...the dog revives itself and is killed by Jace Wayland, a shadowhunter. Shadowhunters are those who hunt demons on Earth. And is revealed that Clary is a shadowhunter too, like her mother. Jace is drawn by Clary.
Clary meets Madame Dorothea, her downstairs neighbour, and asked about her mum whereabouts. Madame Dorothea asks Clary to pick a tarot card and reveal that Valentine is after the Mortal Cup (Mortal Instruments? hmm...Mortals). The cup was given by the Angel Raziel, with his blood to whosoever drinks from the cup will be half-angel.
They head off to find Luke. Luke is captured by Valentine's bad guys (Pangborn and Blackwell). And as you know it, just as Jace picks up the cage, Clary trips on a vase and it alerts the bad guys. They fight and are able to escape. Outside, as Simon awaits, policemen came and is killed by Jace. Simon freaks out and said, 'you killed a policeman' repeatedly.
The trio returns to the institute. The institute used to house the shadowhunters. In the institute, Simon and Clary are introduced to Isabelle, Alec and Hodge. Hodge is the older shadowhunter that is cursed to remain in the institute. He tells the story of Valentine, who use to be a shadowhunter. Then he turned around and wanted to use the Mortal Cup to control the shadowhunters and demons. But failed. As Jocelyn steals the cup and run away.
The next part is where we encounter the title of the movie, 'City of Bones'. Jace brings Clary to the City of Bones, where shadowhunters are laid to rest. The Silent Brothers help Clary to regain her memory that are protected. But failed. As it is revealed that the one who put the block on her memories is Magnus Bane, a warlock or sorcerer.
Magnus Bane reveals that he was the one that block the memories of Clary and also buys the paintings that Jocelyn drew, to support her. Simon gets kidnapped by vampires. They go on a hunt to find him. At this part, we see that any religion will help the shadowhunters. In the church, they have stored their weapons and the symbol that Clary drew is on the markings on the floor. As they rescue Simon, a pack of werewolves intervene and help them. Werewolves have a truce with shadowhunters. It's kind of like, any religion or beasts that is not in favour of demons, will help the shadowhunters.
As they return to the institute, Clary notice that there was a vampire bite on Simon's shoulder. It could lead to revealing Simon to turn into a vampire (which is the case in the next series). Clary gets warned from Alec to stay out of the institute. And Clary says that Alec is in love with Jace (awkward!). Clary goes to see Jace playing the piano and reveals Bach to be a shadowhunter. At the same time, Clary falls for Jace. They kiss at the greenhouse to celebrate Clary's birthday. Then the sprinklers went off, they rush back to the room and are about to kiss when Simon interrupts. Then Jace said that it was Clary that wanted to kiss him and bring him to the room. At this point of the movie, I find it awkward. As much of a romance scene that is inserted into the movie, this part was awkward. Jace wants to kiss, then tells the girl it was her fault, and said she wants to bring him to her room, taking off his shirt...awkward!
Simon, broken hearted, went off. And all of a sudden, the next scene is Clary calmly drinking tea and reading about runes (writings or words of the shadowhunters). As she puts the cup back on the table, she realises the cup is imprinted into the book. She sees it to be 2D, then puts her hand into the book and pulled out the cup of tea. She realises that the cup is actually back in her apartment in the tarot card. They head back to the apartment to see Madame Dorothea. Alec and Isabelle uses some metal/iron fillings. Like the science experiment you do with iron and magnet on a paper. Alec and Isabelle use it to detect demons. As they thought the demon to be in Clary's apartment, it wasn't. In Madame Dorothea's apartment, Jace plays a song by Bach (it is said Bach was a shadowhunter that puts into his music piece, the music note, when played, that will help shadowhunters reveal demons. As demons don't like Bach's music. They get annoyed and change form.) Who knew, music was a cover for a demon detector. As Madame Dorothea is revealed to be a demon, replacing the real Madame Dorothea, they fight. And Alec gets wounded. Simon comes along to the apartment, as he receives a text saying Clary was in the apartment. Simon sees Clary trap in the apartment and rushes to save her by fighting the demon (now that's fighting for someone you love!).
They head back to the institute to treat Alec. Gives the cup to Hodge. Hodge is revealed to betrayed them by giving the cup to Valentine. Clary escapes to Luke, using the portal. The portal is said to teleport you to any place you think of. Luke calls his friends to help. Valentine opens a portal to summon the demons. Valentine reveals to Jace that he and Clary are siblings to trick him to join his cause. Then Simon and Isabelle found out that Jocelyn is actually kept in the basement of the institute. Simon tells Clary. Magnus appears to heal Alec (Magnus was eyeing Alec at Magnus' place). As Clary returns, demons appear at the basement. She draws a rune on her palm and the demons freezes. The demons slowly reanimate and the werewolves fight them off. Most of them are killed, except Luke, whom kill Pangborn.
In the library, Jace helps Valentine. However, then he turns against Valentine. And they fight. Simon and Isabelle fights the demons to close the portal (on the roof). Hodge helps them as he realises that he was wrong to betray them. Clary then appears at the portal (in the library) with a fake cup (seen earlier in the film). She convinces Valentine to take the cup and pushes him into the portal. As we think it is over, Valentine pulls Clary into the portal but is saved by Jace.
At the hospital, Luke, Clary and Simon looks after Jocelyn to recover. Simon is told that he will find someone (he did, in the upcoming series. But I think Simon could be Clary's brother at this point of the movie...but her real brother is...). Anyways, Clary returns home. Fixes the apartment with a rune written on her hand. Jace comes and invites her to join the shadowhunters. He tells her that he doesn't believe that she is his sister. And there's a love connection going on between them (like a Korean drama!). And they set off on Jace's bike.
The movie was ok. I like the story line but not the acting. I heard Alex Pettyfer was supposed to play the lead role. It wouldn't be good. We'll give this new guy a shot. Acting wasn't the best for this movie.

 

Arrow

Arrow is from the DC Comics crime-fighter, Green Arrow. This series revolves around billionaire playboy, Oliver Queen, played by Stephen Amell. After surviving being stranded on an island after the shipwrecked, Oliver returns to Starling City. While on the island, he learns the art of shooting arrows, fighting and also some tricks.
Upon returning, he faces an old love, whom he was dating her sister. Laurel, Oliver's old flame, sister passed away on the boat that Oliver was in that shipwrecked. Laurel and her dad blames Oliver. Throughout the series, we see deceit, romance, action and all those superhero stories for an exciting series. There are some hint of Green Arrow's story, such as his future sidekick Speedy, or Black Canary, and other links to Green Arrow, including Merlyn, Green Arrow's archenemy. In the series, he is known more as The Vigilante. There is some indication of Green Arrow. For some fans, the wait for 'hints' of superheroes is a must. The first episode shows Stephen Amell working out especially climbing with the steel rod at the factory, which was a craze of women. Perhaps, it was the first time we see such workout on screen.

The movie is entering its second season and the first season has been great. I hope that it will be as great as Smallville (even though Smallville has its down time, still a great series).

Pacific Rim

This is a cool movie. Great effects, especially when you watch in 3D. It's directed by Guillermo del Toro and stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and others. Kaiju in Japanese means 'giant monster. Jaegers in German means 'hunter'. That's the opening of Pacific Rim.
The movie introduces Kaijus and Jaegers. Kaijus, instead of aliens coming from outer space, are actually coming through a tear in the Pacific floor, or Pacific Rim. It is like a wormhole, or the Breach, for the Kaiju to enter earth. After few attacks, the world came together to pull all resources to create the Jaeger Programme. Gigantic robots built to fight the Kaijus. Jaegers are controlled by humans. However, it must be piloted by two. Two humans that are link or compatible. Their brains are link or they go through a neuron handshake. When 2 becomes 1. Most of which are siblings, twins/triplets or father and son. The Kaijus are rated on 1 being easy and 4 being big and strong. Towards the end, we meet a level 5 Kaiju, bigger and stronger.
Stacker Pentecost deploys the Gipsy Danger on a mission. However, brothers, Raleigh and Yancy Becket, disobeyed orders in order to save a few fishermen. Yancy gets killed and Raleigh blames himself and leads his life by being a wielder at construction sites.
As the world faces more Kaiju attacks, governments build walls to protect them. However, in the news, Australia's wall or Anti-Kaiju walls gets destroyed but gets killed by Jaeger Striker Eureka, piloted by Australian dad and son, Herc and Chuck Hansen. Pentecost arrives at the construction site to recruit Raleigh back. He's the only one that can pilot the Mark 3 Jaeger, the Gipsy Danger, restored. They gather at the Shatterdome, the last stand, especially that the governments pull out the funding for the programme. Here, we meet the Crimson Typhoon (Mark 4), piloted by the Wei triplet, Chinese, with their signature move, the Thundercloud Formation. What is this formation? 3 arms! It has a Chinese touch, 'Thundercloud!' and with the triplet brothers that plays basketball. We also meet the Russian's Cherno Alpha, Mark 1. It has the 'Chernobyl' name to it. And to join the party, the Striker Eureka, Mark 5, fastest Jaeger still standing.
The plan? Go to the tear in the ocean where the Kaiju are appearing, place a nuclear bomb to collapse the bridge or wormhole. Striker will deliver the bomb while the rest providing protection. However, Raleigh has to partner with someone. He chooses Mako Mori, the one involved with the restoration of the Gipsy Danger, due to their compatibility. However, Pentecost rejects. They did a test run. Raleigh and Mako had their neuron handshake. Raleigh realises that Pentecost was the one that saved Mako during a Kaiju attack. And because Mako is emotionally unstable, Pentecost fears she can't control and drifts away into the neuron handshake. Enter the drift is when their brains are link. Raleigh learns that Pentecost piloted a Jaeger by himself before. Those who pilot a Jaeger alone will suffer side effects due to the mental load (left and right brain of the Jaeger). Only Pentecost and Raleigh have ever piloted the Jaeger alone and survived. Another run by Pentecost into a Jaeger would kill him.
Dr. Newton Geiszler and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb studies the Kaiju. As Dr. Hermann studies the occurrences and estimates how many Kaijus are entering and at what speed they will be appearing, Dr. Newton believes that he can link up his brain and one of the Kaiju's brain. He did. And he learned about the Kaiju and requires more information. He goes to Chau, black market dealer for Kaiju remains. Dr. Newt needs a fresh brain in order to drift again. However, two Kaijus appear in Hong Kong. Somehow they can sense where Dr. Newt is. So the Jaegers come to the rescue. Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon gets attack. The Kaiju evolves and defeats them. Especially Kaiju can now ooze acid-like substance, Both Jaegers are destroyed, including the pilot. Striker comes to the rescue but the Kaiju can emit some sort of disruption wave. All electronic devices shuts down. However, Gipsy Danger is nuclear-powered. Gipsy Danger kills the Kaijus. One scene was when we found out Kaiju can fly. It has evolved! However, Gipsy Danger, too, has evolved, with a sword in its arms, killing the Kaiju as it is lifted up to the atmosphere.
As Dr. Newt and Chau harvest the Kaiju parts, one of it is pregnant and a little Kaiju appears and kills those around. However, the funny part, the baby Kaiju died due to strangulation of the umbilical cord around the neck. But not before swallowing Chau up. Dr. Hermann and Dr. Newton link their brain to the Kaiju. They learned the Kaiju are harvested by another alien to take over earth. The aliens send in Kaiju to scout earth, destroy its inhabitants and rule or take over earth so that they can enter the Breach and inhabit it themselves. So this means, the plan to nuke the Breach will not cause the wormhole to collapse. It won't work.
Striker and Gipsy enter the sea heading to the Breach. Striker now is piloted by Chuck Hansen and Pentecost, due to Herc's injured hand from the previous battle at Hong Kong. The Breach is guarded by Kaijus. Kaijus attack the Jaegers.  At this point, a level 5 Kaiju appears. Biggest and strongest. Striker sacrifices itself by blowing up the nuke. We see Chuck humbled, he was previously all high and mighty. As Striker is blown up, it gives Gipsy a chance to enter the Breach. However, only a Kaiju can enter the Breach. Gipsy attacks one of the, still alive, Kaiju and goes through the Breach into the alien place. As oxygen is running out, Raleigh ejects Mako into the escape pod, he can't self destruct automatically, so he has to do it manually, and escapes on the pod. Gipsy Danger detonates, destroying the alien home world. Raleigh and Mako escapes the wormhole before it collapse completely. They are rescued.
This movie is said to be like Ultraman or Transformers. However, it isn't. Especially, given the fact that the Jaeger is way bigger than the Transformers and Jaegers are controlled by humans, instead of an alien being using human as host for Ultraman. Still, Ultraman and Transformers are great in their movies too.
This movie is cool in its effects and I've seen it twice, so far!

TRON : Legacy

TRON Legacy is a sequel to the 1982 film, TRON. The story tells of Flynn, who now has a son, Sam. Sam grew up without a dad. One day, he stumbles upon the game his dad created, TRON and was digitize into the world of TRON. And he meets his dad, rivals, a gal and they all are in search to find a way out of TRON into the real world. As CLU (Codified Likeness Utility) is revealed in the likeness of Flynn, it is soon known that CLU is the baddie. CLU was built as to manage the digital realm. Tron was built as the security programme created by Alan. The disc on the back of each characters is their identify disc that contains all information of who they are. And the discs are use as a weapon. However, Flynn's disc is the main disc that contains all information and the key to escaping through the portal. Kinda like the master key to everything in digital realm. In one scene, as Quorra's hand was cut off (which makes you wonder, other programms will be derezzed (or killed, eliminated, deresolve) when they get cut off, but how come Quorra's hand is the only casualty), anyways, in one scene, we see Flynn opening the disc and playing around with some settings. Kinda like fixing the DNA of Quorra. As to CLU's objective was to create perfection, CLU soon realises that the ISOs (Isomorphic Algorithm) were imperfect of the digital realm. Hence, CLU destroys the ISOs. Flynn however, was in awe that there were ISOs appearing, to discover more as it may answer the questions of religion, science, and medicine. Soon CLU believes that Flynn isn't perfect, hence decides to eliminate Flynn. But CLU is stopped by Tron, which we see is about to be killed. As Sam is sucked into the game, after escaping CLU, he finds Quorra, an ISO that is looked after the Flynn. As they find a way to escape, through the portal, they encounter battles with CLU and his army, including his right hand man, or programme. Towards the end, we see the right hand man actually being Tron that was reprogramme by CLU to be bad. Tron soon turn good and dives into CLU's ship to give time to Sam, Quorra and Flynn to escape. However, CLU catches up with them at the portal. Flynn sacrifices himself in order to save Sam and Quorra. Sam and Quorra escaped into the real world. And Quorra's dream of feeling the sun's ray was fulfilled when Sam brought her on his bike in the morning as the sun rises.

Watching this movie, I would say it would fit for those into the cyber or gaming world. It would take some time to understand the lingo. However, for Flynn’s character, his lingo sticks with the ‘hey dude’ era because he has been trapped in TRON all this while. The effects for the film is cool and if only we had a stick that can be transformed into a vehicle of sorts.

However, after watching TRON Legacy, I went on to watch the original TRON (1982) and it was cool in the ’80 era days. Watching the 1982 version made me want to say the word ‘psychedelic’. There are similarities between both movies, example: When Flynn enters through the big door, he said ‘That’s a big door’, this was similar when Sam sneak into the office. Even though a short insertion of such, it was part of the essence of the first to the second movie. Besides that, of course visual effects was a huge difference. The technology they had in 1982 compared to 2010 was visually impossible to miss. Example: the cardboard-like suit to the computer-generated suit, and the light effects of the light cycle.

Overall, the movie’s main attraction for me was the visual effects and I would love to see a sequel.

Sanctum

Sanctum is a movie directed by James Cameron. The movie is about a group of people led by a cave explorer specialist / master diver. However, they got trapped. And the whole story would revolve around finding a way out and in the process every person’s life is revealed, disputes happen and people die.

The movie starts off introducing each character and straight to the cave exploration bit. Character development wise was average. The stars of the movie was the one bringing the movie to stand out but apart from that, take them out and the movie may fail. The great thing about the movie are the effects from James Cameron, as we may remember from Titanic. As the movie moves on, it couldn't be worse than having flash floods in the cave. The cave begins to flood, the storm worsen, and chances of escaping the cave became difficult. For the ending, it was, like, what? that’s the ending? Only one person escaped; the son. He found an opening, reached the beach and people nearby is seen coming to his rescue.

If you’re into body parts being chopped off, bones poking out of the body, people falling off from high places while seeing their body hit against rocks and sound of bones cracking, then you can enjoy the movie. For me, it was kind of gory. Why? Because the movie really shows you what happen in any accidents that happened. Eww…Every new place they find in the caves will only end up with someone dying. I guess perhaps that’s why they call it ‘Sanctum’, which means sacred place.

As the movie is in 3D, that really brings the effects to life. You’ll be watching it feeling chills down your spine when something sudden happen or even feel breathless when they dive under water. 3D movies are getting popular with new movies coming up.

Man Of Steel

One of the most anticipated movie of 2013. Superman, or rather, Man of Steel. This is the first movie that does not use 'Superman' as its title. But we all know 'Man of Steel' refers to the guy in the red cape. This movie stars Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent/Kal-El, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Russell Crowe as Jor-El and many other stars.
This movie is a fresh take on the Superman film series as it looks into introducing Superman in a new limelight. I would say, Man of Steel may seem new but it kept the essence of the Man of Steel. Like Zack Snyder, the director, wanted Superman to keep the essence of who he is.
Here are a few info of the film (spoilers ahead!):

1. Superman's vulnerability to Kryptonite (pieces of his home world, Krypton, that crash landed to earth). As in the comics, it is widely known that Superman gets weak with Kryptonite around. In Man of Steel, we don't see Kryptonites but the essence of Kryptonite is there, when the Man of Steel was introduced to his home world's atmosphere in General Zod's ship, the Man of Steel became weak. General Zod and his team are in a Kryptonite ship that regulates the atmosphere in the ship to suit them. In one scene, we see Man of Steel coughing, it shows the human side of him because he has been growing up in earth's atmosphere, hence, he has become adaptable.
2. Perry White isn't white. Laurence Fishburne plays a good Perry White. As the head of Daily Planet, I'm sure you would have to be firm yet considerate.
3. Pete Ross, the boy that Clark saved. When Clark was young, he was in a bus that feel off the bridge and he had to save everyone. One of them was Pete Ross. Pete Ross, is Clark's good friend, who later married Lana Lang (Clark's love interest in high school). In Smallville, Pete Ross was the best friend of Clark.
4. Man of Steel has the essence of intelligence. In comics, Man of Steel gets all his knowledge from his father through the fortress of solitude (Superman's hiding place on earth, sometimes said to be in the Arctic, or Antarctic) through crystals (kinda like USB drives) containing all the knowledge of Krypton and Earth prepared by his father. In the movie, he was smart to understand and explain the plan to destroy General Zod and his team, by creating a black hole using the hyper-drive of the ship.
5. 'S' on his chest means hope on his world. On earth, it's still an 'S'. That's why the first scene to call him 'Superman' was one of the soldiers on the phone. "That's what they are calling him".
6. There's a sign 'LexCorp'. LexCorp is the company of Lex Luthor. This was seen in the battle between Superman and General Zod, when General Zod kicked a tanker towards Superman. Could it be an introduction to Lex Luthor in the next sequel? Because in this movie, Superman have yet to become the quirky reporter at the Daily Planet, not until the end of the movie.
7. There's a sign 'Wayne Enterprise'. Wayne Entreprise is Bruce Wayne's company. Bruce Wayne is Batman. The sign was seen when one of the satellite was destroyed.
8. The Man of Steel kills. In the end, Superman had to decide between his race or the human race. The scene was General Zod, after quickly picking up his super-abilities, about to kill a group of humans. So Superman, twisted Zod's neck. Superman screamed as a sign of remorse of not having anyone else from his race and "if only Zod understands". All of his team was already sucked into the phantom zone / black hole.
9. You'll see Clark carrying Lois' bags when she arrived at the Arctic.
10. His identify was quickly known by Lois Lane. Talk about a good reporter. Even though some knows his identify, but they would keep it a secret for what he has done for them. Kinda like Spiderman, when his masks was revealed on the train when he was saving people on the train.

The movie starts as similar to the introduction of Superman in other movies. It has more emphasis of Krypton and his race. Jor-El speaks to the council to save Krypton and give him the codex (containing Krypton's genetic codex). Krypton faces a threat similar to Earth, the natural resources are depleting. General Zod comes in to declare mutiny towards the council for not preserving Krypton as it should be. Jor-El is captured and returns to his home. He quickly goes to retrieve the codex and infuse it into his son, Kal-El. Zod comes and kills Jor-El. Enough time to release the pod containing Kal-El. The council captures Zod and his team and imprison them in the phantom zone, while Krypton blows up.

On earth, Clark grows up but with the frustration of restraining to not use his powers and learning to control new abilities. He grows up working odd jobs. One of the odd jobs was to help carry stuff at the Arctic. He found that the research being done at the Arctic was an alien ship which was a Kryptonian ship. On the ship, as his 'S' crystal seems to fit into the ship's panel, Jor-El consciousness appears and teaches him the answers he seeks. Lois, as a reporter would do, follows this man in the night into the ship. And later wrote the story and pass to Perry. Perry rejects the news. Lois sends it through a blogger. But after finding out the real identify of Superman, she retracts the news from Perry. Perry sense she knows who the hero is.

General Zod arrives on earth after searching endlessly for Kal-El. Superman gives himself up to save earth. And Lois Lane is also brought to Zod's Kryptonian ship, which he modified after escaping the phantom zone (when Krypton blew up, it destroyed the device keeping them in the phantom zone, thus, releasing them). On the ship, Lois escapes with the help of Jor-El, telling her where to go, when to shoot and how to defeat Zod and his team. However, Zod wanted to take earth's resources and change its atmosphere into Krypton's atmosphere by using a gigantic drill or 'world engine'. And Zod wanted to find the codex to rebuild Krypton. He believes the codex is in Superman's ship. When they found out where Superman's ship was, they came to the Kent's farm and about to attack Martha Kent when Superman appears. And so, the fight scenes begin. Starting with Faora and another tall crew against Superman at Smallville. Superman defeats Faora, convincing to the humans that he come in peace. He's the good guy.

As they learn how to defeat Zod, Superman heads over to the world engine to destroy it. Of course, there was a self-defense mechanism that attacked Superman while surviving because the atmosphere around the world engine was Krypton's, which Superman is not used to...*cough, cough*. After destroying it, and the army (Christopher Meloni's character died an honourable death sacrificing himself) send in Superman's ship to interrupt the hyper-drive and creating the black hole, Zod was still alive. Zod soon learn to control his new abilities on earth, tells Superman that he is a trained military person who have make it his point to control himself and learn fast in any situation.

They fight, drop into the train station, Zod uses his heat vision to convince Superman to decide, Krypton's race or human race. Superman twist Zod's neck and screams. As the city rebuilds, we see everyone going back to normal. The army sends drones to find out where Superman lives, but gets destroyed by Superman. And, finally, we see a new reporter at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent.

After Earth

After Earth is a movie by M. Night Shyamalan starring father-son; Will Smith and Jaden Smith. It is basically a story about human beings forced to leave earth a thousand years after environmental cataclysmic events. One day a military father and his son crash landed on Earth. In this movie, it is also a story of a son proving to his father that he can be a soldier just like his father.
The story begins a thousand years after the environmental cataclysmic event. The Ranger Corps, headed by General Cypher Raige, fights the Skrel, an alien race who wants to conquer the Nova Prime. Nova Prime is the new world for humans. Cypher, in the fight with Ursas, Skrel's secret weapon to kill the humans, teaches 'ghosting' to the new Rangers. However, Cypher's son, Kitai, was not a pride of his due to his recklessness.  His sister, Senshi, was killed by an Ursa. Due to this, Kitai keeps training to prove his worth.
On a mission together, their ship crash landed on a Class-1 quarantined planet, known as Earth. Cypher and Kitai are trapped on Earth. Cypher encounters injuries to his legs causing him immobility. So it's up to Kitai to find a backup beacon that was part of the ship.
As Kitai embarks on his journey, he encounters wild animals. Kitai's weapon, Cutlass (long pointy stick like a javelin). As Cypher told his son, "Everything on this planet has evolved to kill humans.". In one incident, Kitai is attacked and his capsules (for oxygen) are damaged. Cypher accepting the reality, asked Kitai to abort mission and return back. However, Kitai ignores his orders because Kitai still feels that his father sees him as a disappointment. So, Kitai charges on with his mission. He is, then, captured by a condor when he skydives from a mountaintop (there's a scene in the trailer). In the condor's nest, Kitai encounters a group of tigers coming after the next. He defended the nest but still the eggs were destroyed. However, the condor understand Kitai's effort. In one scene, Kitai fell asleep on the raft he made to cross the river, Kitai had a dream of his sister, Senshi, whom assured Kitai it isn't his fault. As Kitai awakes, Earth experiences another thermal shift (it happens once in awhile throughout the movie. Thermal shift causes the temperature to drop). As he tries to survive the thermal shift, the condor returns to save him but it died in the process.
Kitai finally finds the backup beacon along with a weapon, communicator and more capsules. Kitai also finds that the ship was carrying Ursa that was meant to train the Rangers. But because the ship crashes, the Ursa escapes and kills all the crew. Kitai tries to activate the beacon but couldn't (there wasn't any signal). So Kitai had to go to the nearby volcano. He is attacked by the escaped Ursa. Kitai remembered his father's instructions and his sister's words. He 'ghost' himself and kills the Ursa.
It ends with Kitai launches beacon, Cypher respects Kitai, and both return to Nova Prime.
Throughout the movie, it explores a father-son relationship. It's a new take in father-son relationship-type-movie in a futuristic scene. It was average for a futuristic movie but wasn't the best especially coming from a director that has been seen to have taken a turn in making sold out movies. Shyamalan, in his early directing years, made good-thought-provoking movies, but nowadays, you'll probably think twice before watching his movies. Actors, however, were A-list actors but reports says that this movie was not the best for them.
Anyways, here's the trailer: