A young gene researcher, Ilona, is kidnapped in a future Paris. Police Captain Karas and his team are in charge of finding her.
Paris, 2054: a dark motion-captured world of shadows and right angles. Ilona Tasuiev, a brilliant young scientist, is kidnapped, and her employer, Avalon, a major health and beauty corporation, wants her found. Karas, a jaded police captain, is assigned to find her, fast. He seeks help from her sister, Bislane, and they are soon uncovering identify theft, missing files, and hints that something back in 2006 may explain what's going on. Ilona's mentor, Avalon's vice president, a Japanese researcher, an underworld boss, and Bislane's drug connection all figure in the mix. So does an attraction between Karas and Bislane. What's behind the kidnapping? Who's the victim?—<[email protected]>
Paris, 2042: a dark Rotoscope world of shadows and right angles.The film opens in a future Paris with scenes establishing the kidnapping of 22-year-old scientist Ilona Tasuiev (Romola Garai), who works for the mega-corporation Avalon. Ilona was trying to procure something from a drug dealer named Dmitri (Breffni McKenna). Her sister Bislane finds her in a nightclub, saves her from Dmitri. Ilona tells Bislane to attend office more. On her way back home, Ilona is kidnapped.
The focus transitions to police captain Barthélémy Karas (Daniel Craig) (a jaded police captain), as he defuses a hostage situation by killing the hostage-takers (the hostage was in danger, and he was under orders not to proceed). Afterwards Karas is given the job of solving the mystery surrounding Ilona's disappearance. Karas assembles a team, who quickly figure out that the kidnapper weighed 140 pounds and ate a lot of junk food (sounds like a teenager)Karas begins by contacting Dr. Jonas Muller (Ian Holm), a former Avalon scientist familiar with her.
Muller had been working to cure Progeria, a genetic condition (associated with premature aging) which affected his brother. Muller worked for Avalon as their top scientist but left after he failed to find a cure and his brother died (Ilona was carrying forward his work at Avalon). He took up new work at a free clinic. Muller tells Karas that "No one ever leaves Avalon", throwing the corporation under suspicion. Muller was the first to call the police, 34 mins after she was late for work (She moonlighted at the free clinic from time to time).
Karas visits Paul Dellenbach (Jonathan Pryce), one of Avalon's CEOs and questions him about Ilona. On suggesting he may have been sleeping with her, Dellenbach replies "I sleep with my wife, I sleep with my secretary, I even sleep with my sister-in-law, but I would never sleep with one of my researchers". Dellenbach wants Ilona found, alive.
Bislane meets Dmitri, who says that he didn't kidnap Ilona. Ilona wanted Dmitri to steal a notebook with some research notes, and Dmitri didn't give it to her since she didn't make the last payment yet. Karas meets Bislane who tells him that Ilona was 13 when she started working for Avalon. Dellenbach changed her and made her confident, arrogant. She admired Muller.Dmitri is killed by 2 invisible goons. Bislane calls Karas to the scene where Dmitri was found, hanging. Bislane tells Karas about the research notebook that Dmitri had.
After following a series of dead ends, control tells Karas they are tailing Illona's car through Paris. Eventually he captures the driver after a chase which ends at the Eiffel Tower. The man turns out to be a henchman of Nusrat Farfella (Kevork Malikyan), an Arab Muslim mobster and a childhood friend of Karas. The police captain returns the criminal to Farfella who in return gives him security footage of Illona's kidnapping; it shows her car being stolen by an incredibly old man. Through facial recognition, they find a match to one Igor Void, but the man is already dead. The man was cremated 10 yrs ago and Dr Muller signed off on his death.
Meanwhile, Dellenbach has the research notes that were stolen and were taken back from Dmitri. Karas goes to Muller's home and finds him under attack from 3 invisible goons. Karas he able to save Muller, but he escapes. Karas identifies one of the goons as Dellenbach's man. Karas is convinced Muller is behind the kidnapping as he forged the IDs for Igor. And it was his notes from 2006 that went missing and Ilona wanted it.
Karas asks Ilona's sister, Bislane (Catherine McCormack), who works for Avalon, to break into the company's Archives to discover what Muller was researching. Bislane discovers that a Dr. Nakata worked with Muller in a quest to find a cure for Progeria. But they destroyed all evidence of their work when some of the children they were testing on started to mutate. Karas and Bislane then escape because accessing the closed file has alerted Avalon security. Karas has to rescue Bislane from inside the building.
Later Karas opens up to Bislane and tells her that he and Farfella were raised in the Casbah where they worked with gangs. After a drug run went wrong, they ended up in a holding cell. Farfella escaped but Karas was left to the mercy of the other gang. Karas puts Bislane under false arrest to protect her from Avalon. Meanwhile, Ilona is shown confined in a cyber ball which is being controlled by the old man.
Karas meets Dr Nakata, who is now 93 years old. He reveals that Ilona met Nakata an yr back to understand where they had failed in their work. Nakata explains that the goal of their research was immortality. That night Nakata is killed by one of Dellenbach's goons.
Eventually Muller meets Karas. He explains that he took Ilona because through her research she has discovered the secret to eternal life (as he himself did 40 years ago); but knowing what the consequences would be if Avalon acquired such knowledge, he kidnapped her. Muller begs Karas not to let Ilona go, as she wants to use this knowledge for her personal gain.
Karas tries to encourage the old scientist to hand himself in, but Muller is mistakenly shot by a police marksman. Karas then deduces that the mysterious old man is Muller's younger brother (Through the scars on his body, as a result of the Progenia treatments) (Muller stole the identity of people who died at his clinic so his brother could remain anonymous) (for 40 years, the brother has been stuck in the body of a sick boy): now immortal but trapped in an elderly body.Bislane wants Karas to save Ilona somehow.
Karas calls on Farfella who hides Bislane from Avalon while also getting a fake passport for Ilona. However, the mega-corporation's security is also closing in on the Parisian sewer where Ilona is being held captive (Karas's friend had identified Muller's brother entering the sewer via a subway station and was kidnapped by Avalon). After a short battle, Karas is mortally wounded rescuing Ilona. However, she refuses to take the fake passport to start a new life. Instead, she tells Karas she wants immortality by giving her discovery to Avalon. Reluctantly Karas shoots her in the back as she walks back towards Avalon security. CEO Dellenbach watches all this happen through a live feed from one of his men's helmet camera.
As Karas lies dying, he imagines himself apologizing to Bislane for killing her sister, for which she forgives him. The film closes with Muller's little brother living as a tramp, throwing his picture of him and his brother into a burning bin. The final scene shows an advert for Avalon with an old woman becoming young again saying, "With Avalon, I know I'm beautiful and I'm going to stay that way."
