 |
(2003)
|
(2003)
Written by Brad Mirman (Body of Evidence, Resurrection, Highlander III), ABSOLON features a stellar cast including Christopher Lambert (Resurrection, Highlander I, II and III), Ron Perlman (Blade II, Alien Resurrection), Lou Diamond Phillips (The Big Hit, Stand and Deliver, La Bamba) and Kelly Brook (TV's "Smallville").
Making his feature film directorial debut at the age of 26 is the multi-talented David Barto. He recently worked as assistant director and second unit director on Blade II and before that he headed the production design department at the Spanish company Filmax, run by one of Europe's most visionary producers Julio Fernandez.
Says David Barto, "ABSOLON will be a film of my generation, a cross between Blade Runner and Twelve Monkeys."
Plot Summary
The year is 2007 and the earth is a planet in survival mode ravaged by Neurological Degeneration Syndrome (NDS), a relentless, devastating disease. Its source is a mystery virus unleashed on the world by mankind's destruction of rainforests, and it has wiped out half of humanity.
There is no cure but the drug Absolon which, when taken daily, arrests the progress of the disease. There is however, one crucial, cruel detail: Absolon is made from a plant found one place and one place only: the rainforest. Thanks to man's short-sighted near-annihilation of this precious ecosystem (a carelessness responsible for the disease in the first place), the limited production of Absolon gives life-and-death meaning to the term supply and demand. Only those who can afford it will survive.
When a scientist, who is believed to have found a cure for NDS, is murdered, detective Norman Scot (Christopher Lambert) is assigned to the case. He learns that, in order for the new drug to work, it must have a human host and be taken in two parts, enabling the blood to produce anti-toxins, which then can be cultured. This would make Absolon obsolete and ruin the world's largest company, United Pharmaceutical, run by Alex Murchison (Ron Perlman).
With the only remaining sample of the cure secretly slipped into his tea, Scot is forced on the run with the mysterious and beautiful Claire (Kelly Brook).
Christopher Lambert (Scot) and Kelly Brook (Claire)
Detective Scot wakes up the next morning to a horrible discovery: his body shows all the signs of NDS. Claire, fills in the missing pieces: his tea was spiked with the remaining dosage of the new drug. Over the course of the next 3 days his blood chemistry will be transformed. He is, in effect, humanity's final hope, it's last and only chance for a cure. To save not only his own life, but the fate of mankind, he must put his trust into the hands of a stranger.
He now has three days to find the second part of the drug, and so begins a deadly game of cat and mouse, a game in which the stakes are no less than our very survival as a species, as the powers-that-be attempt to destroy Scot and the cure which he carries in his body.
Lou Diamond Phillips plays the ruthless henchman Walters who is sent to destroy Scot and the cure hidden in his body.A modern Three Days of the Condor ABSOLON is an action packed adventure where nothing is exactly as it seems.
With a 7 million US budget, ABSOLON is a GFT Entertainment (Canada) /Studio Eight (UK) co-production, distributed worldwide by Hannibal Pictures and in Canada by Alliance Atlantis. The film is produced by Gary Howsam, Jamie Brown and Richard Rionda Del Castro. The creative team includes director of photography Unax Mendia (The City Of No Limits, El Gran Marciano), production designer Tim Boyd (Resurrection, Trial of a Serial Killer) and costume designer Judith England (Robocop: Prime Directives, Airborne).
Ron Perlman as Alex Murchison... the powerful and ruthless Head of United Pharmaceutical, who issues threats and orders executions, with one main objective: to protect his company at all costs, and eliminate any threat to its most valuable commodity - ABSOLON.
He's completely confident of his success
But all of a sudden his ineffectual commands are falling on deaf ears....
Behind the Scenes
The DVD of ABSOLON included behind-the-scenes footage and a few short interviews with the actors. When asked about the subject matter of the film, Ron explained the problem was that the [NDS] virus was so tenacious that Absolon became much more than it was intended to be, which was simply a medication, but it became a way of life.
Discussing his role in the film Ron said, "I play a character called Alex Murchison, who is a very rich, very powerful man. He runs a drug company and Absolon is the drug. I'm the man with the key to the safe that unlocks the thing, so I'm kind of the straw that stirs the drink."
* * *
DVD courtesy of Helen Chavez
Official Site: Hannibal Pictures
Movies
