The Fifth Element: Sacrific One, Save Billions

     The Fifth Elementis a 1990s movie with great visual and political images that give a great example of how society may be in the future.

     In 1914, the extraterrestrials known as Mondoshawans arrive at an ancient Egyptian temple and collect the only weapon capable of defeating the Great Evil which appears every five thousand years. The weapon consists of four stones, representing the four elements, and a sarcophagus that contains a Fifth Element in the form of a human, which combines the power of the other four elements into a "Divine Light" that can stop the Great Evil. They give a key to their human contact, a priest, and instruct him to pass it on to future generations.

     In 2263, the Great Evil appears in the form of a giant ball of black fire and destroys a terrestrial battleship. As the Mondoshawans return to Earth, they are ambushed by the shape-shifting Mangalores, hired by the industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg who was hired by the Great Evil itself to dispose of the element stones. The Mondoshawan's spacecraft is destroyed and the only thing Earth scientists could recover was the hand of the Fifth Element, which they use to create a humanoid woman, known as "Leeloo". Terrified of her unfamiliar surroundings, she escapes and jumps off a ledge to land in the flying taxicab of Korben Dallas, a former major in the special forces.

Dallas delivers Leeloo to the current priest of the Mondoshawan key, Vito Cornelius and his apprentice, David, whereupon Cornelius learns that the four Element stones were entrusted to Diva Plavalaguna, an opera singer. Because the Mangalores failed to obtain the stones, Zorg kills them, but their compatriots attempt to obtain the Elements for themselves. General Munro, Dallas' former superior, re-enlists Dallas and orders him to travel undercover, as a radio contest winner, to meet the Diva on a luxury cruise in space. The publicity of the contest attracts the Mangalores and Zorg to the space liner as well. Dallas takes Leeloo with him, while Cornelius instructs David to prepare the temple and stows away aboard the vessel.

      This movie has tons of visuals, some of the scenes have lots of futuristic machines, weapons and even has aliens. Society has had the ability to make contact with aliens and now live together in harmony. Society seems organized and everyone seems to understand what they have to do and what they can and can not do. People seem to have there own religions and even adopted the religions of alien species and with that are afraid of the larger threat that wants to destroy the entire race. 
     The main issue is that one woman is the last element  that needs to be sacrificed in order to save the society. The problem is that the main character can not decide whether he wants to sacrifice the one he love or save the the world. Could any normal person be able to accept the fact that sacrificing a human life and be ok with that? Or would a mans emotions get the best of him and not do it? Movie unfortunately put a person in that kind of scenario and capture that emotional impact of the character in in a deep struggle.
      The Fifth Element has amazing visuals and an interesting plot that can both inspire and attract people to its glory. With a large enough budget anyone can make a film that can look as cool as this one.

Vanquish: My Toy is Better Than Yours

     Vanquish is a robo-tech apocalyptic hyper awesome game with flashy scenery. If futuristic is the topic this game is full of it and it does it in a way that can make a person go "wow". Vanquish takes place in the near future where planet Earth's human population has grown so rapidly that nations of people around the globe are fighting for the scarce available resources. The United States of America has attempted to alleviate its own energy problems by launching an O'Neil Space Station space station harboring a solar energy-driven generator to provide them with an alternative source of fuel from the sun. However, the government of the Russian Federation on Earth has been overthrown in a coop de'tat by ultra-naturalist forces calling themselves the Order of the Russian Star. Russian forces capture this space station and divert its harvested solar energy into a blast wave that devastates San Francisco, aiming to force the U.S. into a total and unconditional surrender. The main antagonist, known as Victor Zaitsev, demands that the American government surrender or he will choose New York City as his next target. The President of the United States of America, Elizabeth Winters, refuses to back down in the face of such a threat. Instead, she takes Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Burns, a decorated war veteran, and puts him in charge of a newly-commissioned task force called Bravo Company. This team consists of several space-faring special forces, veteran Marines, and the remnants of the defending U.S. forces on board the space station. On top of that, she also gives them the game's protagonist and playable character, Sam Gideon. Sam is a researcher equipped with an Augmented Reaction Suit, a cutting-edge mechanical suit outfitted with a vast array of functions (similar to MEGAMAN), including jet boosters attached to both arms and legs. He is armed with an experimental Battlefield Logic ADaptable Electronic Weapons System (BLADE), which is capable of scanning any existing weapon and then transforming into a perfect replica of that weapon. Its ability to store three scans at a time means that at any given time the BLADE can shape shift between three completely different guns.

      A lot to take in right. The design of the game is amazing the city on the station is wonderful full of flashing light and a beautiful lighting. There is always something crazy happening within the background, with flying cars huge explosions, and a lot of giant robots. Because Russia has only sent in robots to fight against the Americans, the Americans are not prepared for the fight but Sams suit is by far the most powerful thing made. Russia has the bigger machines but America has the stronger ones. 

     The government plays a huge role protecting an making sure that they can stop the threat of the enemy. Society is also in grave danger and in order for them to live the government must protect the station and the people without risking another major attack. Its a scary thought to believe that this can happen in the near future but if now people were losing resources, and the situations were dire, a possibility for a WWIII would be imminent.

      Fast adrenaline and crazy action Vanquish is certainly a game worth looking at, and although the game could be to much at first the scenery can make anyone's mouth drop. Anyway who would not want to have the ability to beat up giant robots with ease.

Bicentennial Man: A Warm Heart in a Cold Shell

     The Bicentennial Man is a bio-futuristic movie that plays a twist on the circle of life. This movie was made in 1999 so the future in this movie, is our past. In the setting of the movie, it is 2005 and every house hold has a robot servant that does everything that the human master says, but a new model is made and this new robot will change the view of something that is living and something that is made to look alive.

     "Andrew" is the name of the new robot model and a family has purchased this robot to fit in with the nuclear family idea of their time. After unboxing this robot it tells the three main laws that robots must follow: Robots must follow there masters commands, Robots can not harm there human masters, and Robots can not be ordered to harm any other humans as a command. Andrew does his job well and his masters begin to grow emotional connection towards Andrew. Little do they know that Andrew is a robot that was designed to have artificial intelligence. Andrew begins to show this by his creativity, after breaking a little girls toy horse he makes her a new one out of wood. Andrew also begins to make new things by carving and even begins saying the things he carves is from dreams he has. The people that created him do not like this and wished to terminate Andrew but his owner stopped them since he was the lead designer and the one that actually created the artificial intelligence in Andrew. Andrew lived over his owners life and would live his life alone so Andrew went to find a way to live like a human. then the rest of the movie goes like Pinocchio, a robot wishing to become a real boy.

     The idea that a robot that should not have any emotions, can have ideas and creativity is a scary thought.especially when in our society we depend so much on technology. Especially when most people would wish to live forever and be immortal but a robot with  that ability would give that up just so he can live like a human. Not to sound like humans are flawed or anything but a robot that is perfect has no worries of disease, death of natural causes and is excellent at everything it does, it is a twist that it would wish to be human. technology in this time is not very known to be much better that our own now, the most advance thing that have is Andrew and the servant robots. Although the design of Andrew is very futuristic and seems smooth and not as mechanical as most images of robots we imagine.

     There is a point where the higher counsel refuses to accept Andrew because he is a robot. Andrew eventually finds a way to become human in every way and falls in love, has a family and eventually changes the minds of man. If this were to happen in our time I do not believe they would be so light on this subject. Especially fear, if robots were to ever rebel would a flawed being like man be able to defeat a perfect machine? What if a robot like Andrew appear, would people be willing to accept that, and the thought of making humans from scratch, we would be playing God and destroy the circle of life. 

     There are many questions we could ask but in the end Andrew touched the hearts of people. If a person was to ever have connection with a machine that was similar to a human, would we be out of our minds or human. Although there is a chance to give a robot human qualities, there can be a fine line between starting a new generation in technology and playing God.

Gears of War: Survival of our Species

          Gears of War is a futuristic game that is in a post apocalyptic setting where humans fight against the forces of the Locust, monsters, that threaten to eradicate the human race. This game has amazing visuals and a great cast of characters that each play an important role in the story of this fascinating world. the game tells a story about the government and how it misleads the people and sacrifices hundreds of lives to save humanity but instead make it into a dystopia.

           The human race has been attacked by a mysterious threat called the locust, human like monsters that have lived in the center of the earth for millions of years. The locust have risen from the center of the planet to reclaim their rightful place as the dominant species. The only thing stopping these monsters is the earths final defense force, the COG. The COG is a united force of military. The technology in this world is very advanced from present day. The humans only had one weapon called "the hammer of dawn", which was a cannon from space that was used to eradicate all the locust. Using the weapon killed millions of lives and unfortunately killed humans as well. The locust never died there were more under the earth and the wars continued and cities were in rubble and the COG still fights against the locust to defend the human race.

          The humans in this game are all very muscular and large. Most of the characters are soldiers of the COG and they all have a background to represent themselves. The weapons they use are very advance and a bit savage for humans to be using, especially since the main weapon of choice is called a "lancer" and the weapon has a chainsaw attached to it. The images in the games are very gray and brown with hardly any color. The scenery in the game is usually very ghostly and lifeless due to the eradication of humans. The locust are very strange monsters with human like appearances they can be very deceiving. Although others are mutated and are ruthless in combat.

          The citizens int his world are hidden throughout most of this story. They have lost trust in the Government, because of the large sacrifice using the "hammer of dawn". Even in the present people are skeptics about what the government may do to protect their country. Even now the military is trying to create weapons that can better chances of victory. The characters in the game can also be relatable since they all lost loved ones and they all fight for the people they love.

          Gears of War is a very compelling game that has great artwork and a fantastic atmosphere. Although the game is very violent there is actually a book based on the game that can be equally as good. Gears of War is a must in apocalyptic story and with characters that will tare the heart strings. Love or hate Gears of War will make anyone love this amazing world.