I AM CHAOS
(previously: Strange Attractors)
1767224 ©
Logline: A probability predictor that is 99% accurate leads a young man to riches—then his chances of surviving another day are less than 4%.
Our hero is Larry Lapace, a disenchanted young man who works in the mailroom of his Uncle’s stock firm and lives for punk rock and video games. But after visiting his father in a sanitarium, he can suddenly see in his mind’s eye the probability of success for every action he takes. Graphs, bars, and plots are superimposed on screen, but only visible to Larry.
This technology, which his father stole and secretly passed to him, is called the Axiom, and the aliens who brought it to Earth want it back or their invasion plans will be scuttled. These aliens don’t come here by way of spaceship or teleportation—they psychically possess humans from afar, and it’s a random process. So they take control of two humans: Durance is a broken down pro wrestler from Baton Rouge, and Camden is a black poet and literary scholar. Their mission to retrieve the Axiom is time critical—the longer they stay embodied the more prevalent their host personalities become, which provides a little comic relief to their rampage of death and destruction.
On the run, Larry’s living-for-the-moment mentality, his immaturity and lack of foresight, leads to several of his friends getting killed and him being apprehended by Durance and Camden. He learns of the world’s impending doom, and after escaping, realizes for the first time in his life that he needs to make a plan. So he finds his ex-girlfriend Ashley. She’s a kick-boxer for whom he still has feelings and the most together person he knows. A couple big action scenes ensue as they flee to the think tank that Larry’s father worked at, which is ground zero for the imminent invasion.
By the end, Larry has gained enough insight into his selfishness and lack of foresight to foil the invasion plan. He knows the aliens might be mentally advanced, but they utterly lack emotional intelligence, so he plants in the Axiom a few inescapably strong sentiments that the human minds they have invaded cannot escape. However, Larry is ultimately presented with a deeper dilemma; Ashley has been killed, but her consciousness is stored in the Axiom. She can be restored but the Axiom will cease to exist and Larry will not only lose his Midas touch, but might die in the process. He chooses to revive her over himself. Larry survives as well.
The final twist ending reveals that parts of the alien consciousness may have survived after all.
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