Movies - Ultraviolet

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	Movies - Ultraviolet

UltraViolet is a 2006 action film in the science fiction genre. It was released in North America on March 3, 2006 (after being pushed back a week from its original release date of February 24). The film was written and directed by Kurt Wimmer and produced by Screen Gems. It stars Milla Jovovich as Violet and Cameron Bright as Six.

Taglines:

Poster: The Blood War is on.
Trailer: My name is Violet, and I was born in a world you may not understand.

Plot summary

In the late 21st century, a young woman named Violet is a victim of a disease called hemophagia. These "hemophages" bear some similarities to vampires and the government is trying to exterminate them. Fear begins to breed within the power elite as the disease continues to spread and those affected prove to be superhuman, and now, a civil war is brewing between uninfected humans and those altered by hemophagia. Violet comes across a young boy who may be part of the government's plot. She must protect him and find out why he is so important, but she is bent on vengeance and has little left to lose. Provoked beyond reason by powers that will not rest until she and her people are dead, Violet will become everything her persecutors feared her to be.

Hemophagia

Hemophagia, otherwise known as the HemoPhagic Virus or HPV, is a blood disease (possibly comes from the Greek word "αιμοφαγία", meaning blood eating). It was once a rare pathogen responsible for historical accounts of Vampires, but was then modified through genetic engineering by the U.S government to give individuals superhuman abilities. These modifications also made the disease far more contagious, and it soon escaped into the general populace.

The disease affects different people in different ways: degrees of enhanced physical abilities vary from person to person, although all show an enhanced metabolism that speeds healing, at the cost of a condition smiliar to acute anemia that requires frequent blood transfusions. One important plot point is that Hemophages who possess an inconveniently high sensitivity to light also have keen night vision.

Although the disease has many benefits, it has one devastating side effect: even with frequent transfusions, the lifespan of an infected individual is drastically shortened: ten years from infection to termination.

Fictional Technologies

Gun Kata

Violet uses Gun Kata, a pseudo-martial art combining statistical analysis and shooting, to protect her from many adversaries, even when vastly outnumbered. While the scenes using gun kata are shorter than those in Equilibrium (also written and directed by Kurt Wimmer), the sequences seem more realistic and less mechanical than those used by Cleric John Preston. Some critics, however, have taken issue with the editing, which damages the believability of some of the fights. See criticisms below.

Dimensional Compression

Sometimes referred to as Flat-Space technology, Dimensional Compression is used to store objects in a pocket dimension. Small objects are stored/retrieved and larger ones systematically deconstructed/reconstructed in a flow of sparkling lights. A significant number of items can be stored for easy retrieval without burdening the user with either weight or size. The technology mainly takes the form of easily overlooked wristbands, although one-inch scabbards holding 42-inch swords are also seen. Handguns, knife-gun hybrids, and ammunition are also hidden in this manner, the bullets flying from the wristbands into the magazines on command.

The technology is also used to create habitable pocket dimensions, such as a briefcase/backpack capable of comfortably transporting the ten-year old Six and a semi trailer with the internal dimensions of a warehouse containing Garth's research lab and armory.

Dimensional compression is the basis of one of the jokes, in which the security scanner cannot count the number of hidden weapons in Violet's possession. After saying "Number of weapons detected:", the scanner shows a holographic representation of a large amount of weapons all around her, and it then simply says "many" after a short pause.

Violet's Clothing

According to the novelization, Violet is outfitted with clothing which is a mixture of leather and armor. The clothing itself is an OLED overcoat capable of reflecting virtually any image or color. Every strand of her hair is covered in a microsheen of optical polyurethane, allowing her hair to have the same effect. The novelization refers to it as mood clothing, so each change in color reflects Violet's emotional state at the given moment.

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