Evolution (2001 Film)

''Evolution'' is a 2001 American comic science fiction film directed by Ivan Reitman. It stars David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Julianne Moore, and Ted Levine. It was released by DreamWorks Pictures in the United States and by Columbia Pictures internationally. The plot of the film follows college professor Ira Kane (Duchovny) and geologist Harry Block (Jones), who investigate a large meteor crash in Arizona. They discover that the meteor harbors extra-terrestrial lifeforms, which are evolving very quickly into large, diverse and outlandish creatures.

''Evolution'' was based on a story by Don Jakoby, who originally wrote it as a serious science fiction horror thriller film, until director Reitman hired David Diamond and David Weissman to re-write much of the script into a comedy which Don liked. Shooting took place from October 19, 2000 to February 7, 2001 in California and Page, Arizona, with an $80 million budget, and the film was released in the United States on June 8, 2001. The film grossed $98.4 million internationally. A short-lived animated series, '' Alienators: Evolution Continues'', loosely based on the film, was broadcast months after the film was released.

Plot

A large meteor crashes in the barren Arizona desert late at night, which aspiring firefighter Wayne Grey witnesses. The next day, science professors Ira Kane and Harry Block from nearby Glen Canyon Community College investigate the crash site, discovering the meteor has landed in a large cave and 'bleeds' a strange blue liquid when scraped. They quickly learn that the meteor harbors extra-terrestrial nitrogen-based microorganisms that condense millions of years of evolution within a matter of hours: the next day, the microscopic organisms have evolved into asexual fungi and flatworms that cannot yet breathe oxygen, and aquatic life the day after that.

After the U.S. Army soon seals off the site, Ira and Harry ask Brigadier General Russell Woodman, Ira's former boss, and the clumsy Dr. Allison Reed, senior researcher in epidemiology at the CDC, to aid in their research, but their efforts fail when two weeks later, Ira goes to court to be allowed to be part of the federal investigation. When Allison questions him as a witness, he reveals that he was discharged from the army in the summer of 1997 after an experiment in May of that year, in which he developed an anthrax vaccine and administered it to nearly 140,000 soldiers. This resulted in terrible consequences, which led to his dismissal from his position as a top-level researcher at USAMRIID. Upon returning to the lab, Ira and Harry discover that Woodman has stolen their research, forcing them to infiltrate the base in disguise to get another meteor sample. They discover that the caverns now harbor an alien rainforest teeming with tropical plant and animal life, including flying insects and carnivorous plant-life. That night, a large reptilian creature fatally mauls the owner of a local country club where Wayne works, and the next day a dog-sized frog-like animal attacks two elderly ladies in their home. Ira, Harry and Wayne find a valley behind the home filled with suffocating dragon-like creatures, which they theorize cannot yet breathe oxygen and are escaping from the meteor site through the local caverns. However, a newly-born dragon quickly adapts to the earth's oxygen and terrorizes a shopping mall before the trio gun it down.

With the media becoming increasingly aware of the alien attacks, Governor Lewis visits the site demanding answers, furious at not being informed earlier about the situation. Allison believes that the aliens will engulf the United States in two months, and Woodman suggests a napalm strike to destroy the meteor's contents and the surrounding town. Though Lewis opposes bombing the community, primate-like creatures suddenly attack the base and wound several members, persuading him to approve Woodman's napalm strike. Disgusted, Allison quits the CDC and joins Ira's crew. Ira later realizes that intense heat triggers the aliens' DNA and that the initial impact to Earth activated its evolution. Woodman ignores Allison's pleas and the town begins evacuating for the impending bombing strike. Looking at the positions of nitrogen and carbon on the periodic table on the back of Allison's T-shirt, Ira theorizes that selenium might be as toxic to the aliens as arsenic is to Earth's carbon life. Rather surprisingly, two of his dumbest students, Deke and Danny Donald, recall that selenium sulfide

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases