Epoch (2001)

Cast:

David "Firestarter is the greatest movie ever...." Keith is Mason Rand
Stephanie Niznik is Dr. KC Czaban
Craig "Can't forget Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" Wasson is Hudson
Brian "Doctor Mordrid wan't a rip-off of Dr Strange" Thompson is Captain Tower
James "Why doesn't Will Smith help out a guy from his TV show?" Avery is Dr Solomon
James "Lo-Pan from Big Trouble in Little China" Hong is Ambassador Po
Ryan O'Neal is Allen Lysander

What the box says:

They call it Torus! It's a massive, towering, three hundred story alien structure mysteriously hovering over the Earth, creating catastrophic earthquake and global panic.

David Keith (Behind Enemy Lines) is Mason Rand, a top-secret weapons specialist, whose job is to unlock the secrets of the four billion year old enigma. Solving the puzzle of the secret doorway, he enters a catacomb of power where men are vaporized, machines dominate, and the strange secrets of Earth's ancient history are revealed.

Is it the doomsday bomb, an advanced alien life force, or the source of all power in the Universe? One thing's for sure, our only hope of survival is to take on the terror of Epoch.

Plot:

4 billion B.C. ago, a giant comet crashes into the Earth.

In Bhutan, parents mourn their dead son. Suddenly, lighting rages across the sky. The parents see some enormous artifact appear in the sky nearby. The boy rushes to be by his parents. The boy isn’t dead anymore.

The artifact emits an energy cloud.

In Mexico, Mason Rand visits a doctor. Mason has a year at most to live. The doctor tries to get Mason to accept his lot in life.

Day 1, KC Czabon receives some negative medical results. She learns that massive power blackouts are occurring around the world.

In Washington D.C., the secret committee is having a briefing. They are unsure of anything about the artifact in Bhutan but want to keep it secret. A research team is being assembled with military backup is being assembled. Dr Czabon is to lead the team. Mason Rand is going to be picked up for the team.

Mason’s car has broken down. A number of tough looking thugs stop to check the car. Wiseass David Keith ensues. These guys don’t appreciate Mason’s humor and thrash him. A helicopter lands just before Mason is to be given a few more openings in his body.

On a plane, Mason is singing George Jones in front of the soldiers. He spots Dr Czabon who works for the NSA. Mason has been practically drafted and not told anything. Apparently, Mason is some sort of mechanical empath able to instinctively understand weapons.

They fly by the artifact.

Very intimidating CG effects. After landing, KC and Mason are stopped by the military. There are a large number of monks around looking at the artifact. Mason starts to realize the artifact is using the Earth’s gravity as a counterbalance to float.

Later, Mason goes over all the data about the artifact.

Day 2, Mason is wakened by Dr Solomon. Mason meets the resurrected kid.

KC needs to find a way inside the artifact that’s been dubbed the Torus.

The soldiers are keeping the monks at a distance. Obviously, these aren’t any Shaolin monks or we’d be seeing some sweet kung fu justice.

The mobile command center moves beside the Torus. Mason is worried the troops will cause problems.

2 Chinese Migs fly by the Torus.

Czabon’s boss, Lysander, is told of the Chinese jets flying by the Torus. The plane carrying Lysander also has a small metal cased bomb with a radiation warning on the sign.

The research team tries to open the Torus. Mason has 2 robotic arms align a set of 9 holes on the side of the artifact to represent the planetary alignment of the solar system. Nothing happens. Captain Tower wants to try to blow their way inside. Mason has the arms turn the combination counter clockwise which opens the Torus.

Captain Tower wants to send a probe in first then a second probe. Mason wants to go in now. The Migs are returning.

The troops and Czabon and Mason enter the Torus. Mason takes his gas mask off and starts gagging. Can you guess that was a joke? KC orders for Mason to be taken out. Captain Tower and the troops plumb further into the mysterious depths.

Mason is in the mobile command center when KC chews him out. Yes, they are definitely going to be romantically entangled by the end of the movie. The Migs fly over the Torus.

KC updates Lysander. He orders her to take Mason back in the Torus. She won’t take him back in until everything is all clear.

The troops are searching. In a scene very reminiscent of the Aliens video monitoring scene, the troops find numerous large spheres. Mason can’t interpret anything at distance. The troops head further inwards.

The Migs open fire on the Torus as they pass over it.

KC loses contact with the troops.

An energy whip from the Torus destroys the over flying Migs.

Inside the artifact, the troops see energy spheres approach them. Captain Tower orders his men to hold their fire. That’s another Aliens rip-off.

Dude, this wasn't in Aliens. The troops are disoriented. A sphere takes one of the troops away.

In Washington, the committee learns the artifact destroyed 2 Chinese fighter planes. Unfortunately, American has no evidence to prove the Torus shot the fighter planes down.

Lysander is told of the fighter planes destruction.

Captain Tower and the troops return to the mobile command. He gets angry when Mason announces the Torus attacked when threatened.

Mason contacts Lysander to convince him to let the team in the artifact without the military.

Briggs, the disappeared troop, awakens in a white room when an energy sphere flies at him.

Mason and KC search inside the Torus.

The soldiers are guarding the perimeter around the planes when they find the fighter pilots. They were resurrected like the boy.

A news report has the Chinese claim the US shot down 2 civilian planes. The committee is still working.

Soldiers strengthen the perimeter. Lysander arrives and sees Chinese soldiers parachute nearby.

In the Torus, Mason and KC are approached by the energy sphere. It flies away leaving Briggs.

Ambassdor Po meets with Mr. Hudson, the committee member. The Chinese want access to the Torus. Total access or they’ll destroy it. Po is angry that Hudson wants authorization from the President.

In the sick bay, Mason wants Dr. Solomon to check if he has Lou Gehrig’s disease. He has a year to live. Mason doesn’t feel any of the pain. Captain Tower arrives to check on Briggs.

Masson is clean, free of disease. He starts suckin’ KC’s face to celebrate when Lysander arrives. Mason explains how the Torus cured him. The artifact can reconstitute DNA. It could have created life on Earth. Lysander wants the Torus shut down or controlled. If the Torus can’t be controlled, it will be destroyed.

The Chinese arrive at the perimeter of the Torus. The Chinese scientist is greeted by Lysander who warns him about staying out. The scientist ignores and is shot. A Mexican standoff occurs. Dr Solomon rushes to treat him. The bullet wound heals itself. The Chinese pilots are returned to the Chinese. The scientist can’t believe he is alive.

Captain Tower is religious and. Mason and he discuss the Torus. Tower is sure that God isn’t behind the artifact.

Mason and KC head back inside as Lysander watches from the command center. The transmission is lost. Our intrepid duo heads on. The energy sphere takes them to the White Room. A holographic representation of the evolution of Earth is being played. Mason thinks the artifact will reterraform the Earth as various CG animation ensues.

The Torus emits a giant cloud. Mason and KC awaken inside the artifact and head for the command center.

The cloud is spreading over the entire world. In 90 hours, the world will entirely be covered. Crop failures and a new Ice Age will happen rapidly afterwards. The President orders the committee to go to PHASE 2.

Lysander is told about the cloud cover. Mason explains reterraforming. The Torus wipes out the previous chain of life. Mason has a gut feeling that the cloud is being emitted because of al the military presence.

Mason learns that PHASE 2 is about to plant a tactical nuke in the Torus. Well, if he can’t convince the military to disobey the nuke order, he’ll do stop it himself. Colonel orders him to be held. Captain Tower lets Mason and KC get away.

Lysander wants the disarm codes from the Colonel.

As Mason and KC head to the Torus, he’ll have to disarm the nuke himself.

In Washington, Ambassador Po is chewing out Hudson for nuking the Torus. Po has 24 minutes to get the Chinese troops away from the artifact in Bhutan.

Mason and KC find the nuke. Several troops catch them.

Po contacts China.

Colonel refuses to even delay the explosion. Captain Tower has a gun on the Colonel. With the proximity of the Torus, Colonel can stop the nuke or die. Lysander orders the troops to evacuate the area. Colonel claims the nuke can’t be disarmed.

In the artifact, the energy sphere comes closer to Mason and KC.

In Washington, Po claims there will be a reckoning about all of this later.

In the White Room, Mason is working on the nuke.

Near the artifact, Captain Tower realizes the Colonel can’t disarm the nuke. He lets him go on the last transport. Tower and Lysander stay behind.

Mason is still working on the nuke. Less than a minute before the detonation, he’s done all he can do.

Various characters are waiting pensively.

Mason decides a little sucky-face is in order with KC in the last seconds before the blast.

The nuke explodes but implodes. The Torus begins to fall apart. KC and Mason manage to get away before the artifact completely collapses.

They run off as the Torus disincorporates.

Lysander and Tower watch.

The remains of the Torus turn into a CG energy squid and flies away.

4 months later, Mason is lecturing on the Torus reterraforming. He is asked why the artifact stopped. The only theory Mason has is while he and Dr. Czabon were disarming the nuke, the Torus revaluated humanity.

He sees KC walk in as the lecture is over. They haven’t seen each other since the Torus was destroyed. KC reveals before the Torus that she was positively infertile. However, she is now with child. The Torus healed her…

A comet crashes into another planet.

What I say:

This movie sounds a lot like Cube. I’m going to try to go for the sci-fi geek hat trick. I think it sounds like Greg Bear’s Eon or Brian Lumley's novel non vampire novel House of Doors. A mysterious object appears and a group explores it. They discover that the alien artifact may be responsible for life on Earth as we know it. Alien intervention sounds like Yoda telling you to lay off the booze. If you see any green muppets in a bar, you might have a drinking problem or be in the Star Wars cantina. Alien intervention has been in sci-fi from the Arisians from E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman novels to Gary Seven and Isis in the old school Star Trek series to the black monolith that inspired monkeys to grunt and kill each other with bones in 2001: Space Odyssey.

This was a low budget Sci-Fi channel movie. The effects were the typical kind you’d expect not high quality computer generated effects. The cast helps get past the CG. I am surprised they were able to get a cast like this. It isn’t an A-list. Most are little more than glorified cameos. However, David Keith, James Hong, Ryan O’Neal, James Avery, and Brian Thompson are no group to sneeze at.

David Keith is probably just a hair too well known for him to be claimed as a character name like Tim Thomerson. Unfortunately, David doesn't have the slightly deranged cult following of Bruce Campbell. Lets see is if I can keep from derailing this paragraph. David Keith's Mason Rand just comes across as a wiseass that enjoys needling people. They never really explain if his incurable disease has got him to be as fatalistic and anti-militaristic.

How exactly do you become a top secret weapons expert? David Keith starts blathering on how parts of the artifact could work. What is difference between him and a guy with a physics degree with an open mind about advanced technology? Typically, a movie that features a technologically superior object will have the "It can't be. It isn't possible." One of the reasons I brought up is the story sounds a lot like the movie. The main character also has an innate ability to understand machines, in essence, a mechanical empath. That was the term Brian Lumley used. David Keith never really does anything but just guess what the device is doing.

Stephanie Niznik is Dr. KC Czaban. She has to have one of those generic science doctorates. The kind of doctorate that comes from a cereal box. She was only appointed because she worked for the generic government agency. I don't remember her saying anything vaguely scientific even any technobabble. Did she actually do anything that moved the plot along? It seems she was just more there for the obligatory love interest.

Brian Thompson is Captain Tower. At first, we see him as the typical shoot first ask questions later military officer. In fact, they have to put in a confrontation between him and David Keith after the soldier was taken by the energy sphere. In fact, with abrasive as David is at this point, you can sympathize with Tower wanting to clean his clock. However, later, they actually portray Tower as a Christian. Normally, religious people are portrayed in most movies as wackos. It is quite a change to have a tough man of action with faith. A lot of movies have to have their characters as too good to even acknowledge something greater than themselves.

Normally, we get Rose McGowan's grandmother in Devil in the Flesh or Carrie's mother in Carrie as the movie model Christian. If they have a higher survival rate than a cop who is a day away from retiring, I'd be surprised. I'm not sure who is to blame for thinking having a character quote a Bible verse and have them be psychotic is a typical Christian. Some of the other B-movie sites seem to revel in whenever they can attack a religion. I try to keep from going very much into my personal life for various reasons. Who really wants to know about me when they're reading a review with the word "ninja" in the title?

I really think the ending ruined a lot about this movie. It has far too much of deus ex machina vibe. The nuke wasn’t disarmed. It exploded but implodes and everything is fine. Any giant alien artifact capable of reanimating the dead, curing fatal diseases, teleportation, or generating immensely powerful energy beams. Anything that powerful should be able to shrug off a tactical nuclear detonation. However, there isn’t any real reason why it stopped reterraforming Terra. I am wondering why the ending for Kevin Smith's Dogma got its ending stolen, too.

After the fall of communism, who will be our next big enemy? Russia has been the ennemy long enough. What other big communist countries are there in the world? China, it is time to make movies with China oppposing the US. The entire movie has the Chinese government wanting to investigate the Torus which is in a bordering country and complaining about the US being involved. I guess the hypocracy of wanting an outside country to leave the artifact alone so another outside country can investigate it is too deep to see. I also have a problem when Ambassador Po throws a fit when a US official wants to get the President's approval. Didn't the buck stop around the President or thereabouts?

The notion of Earth being reterraformed before is sort of mentioned as if the audience isn’t supposed to think about it. Granted, a movie that doesn’t acknowledge the extinction of the dinosaurs must be credited. The extinction of the dinosuars wasn't mentioned as when the Torus was activated before. If the artifact every so often checked to see how the species are progressing, why did the previous mass extinctions occur? Humanity was on the brink of being exterminated due to all the military activity around the artifact. So what did the previous species get wiped out?

Most of these movies with a group of explorers are always setup. Seeing the soldiers in the Torus, I almost expected to hear Bill Paxton scream about “how they’re all around us man…”Aliens can’t be ignored when you have troops in a dark eerie place. Don’t the energy spheres seem a bit like the aliens in Abyss? Quite a few James Cameron references in this movie.

Quotable Dialogue
"The local nomads have observed the dead brought back to life."
"You guys like George Jones?"
"I'm not paid to think."
"We're going back in this time without the G.I.Joes."
"Please have some noodles."
"Your mistress is at your house. She's talkin to your wife."
Morals of the Story
Lightning reanimates the dead.
Mexico isn't a place with many George Jones fans.
It is easy to avoid talking to the President on the phone.
If you can't understand a giant mysterious object, you better nuke it.
Flying energy spheres are immune to bullets.