Matthew Santoro, a visual effects guy with credits on Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, has created a trailer for a cyberpunk film Offline that he’d like to turn into a feature length film. The project began as a short form idea before expanding, with the trailer meant to garner interest and financing for the potential full and real thing.
“The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating.”
In this future, the world is dying a slow and ugly death. In an effort to cope or perhaps out of pure denial, humanity has become increasingly obsessed with mass media.
The Internet has evolved into an all-consuming visceral experience where every one’s perception of the world around them is fully customized. The brown smog in the sky can be easily ignored when a beautiful sunset is projected through your optic nerve, courtesy of the Naneuron Corporation.
But like all systems there are glitches. Someone or something is disrupting the feed; a Ghost in the machine. A group of extremists have risen up, led by a young man name Maro. Defiant and charismatic, he has seemingly endless promise until he unexpectedly surrenders.
All enemies of the state are processed for reprogramming. Those like Maro who are physically and mentally gifted enough are transformed into counter-terrorism soldiers. His memories are erased. His body is enhanced. His humanity is destroyed. Maro has become the perfect weapon.
Until he begins communicating with the glitches, hearing whispers that lead him on a journey through the depths of his own subconscious. Trapped in the midst of a hellish nightmare, he must find a way to regain his identity and take down the system once and for all. But at what price comes freedom?
When a man’s mind becomes one with a machine…
What happens to his soul?
I’m usually down for some good cyberpunk and this guy’s got some style, although I think the trailer is way over edited. The potential story is obviously drawing from other popular cyberpunk films (like Ghost in the Shell and Avalon) but if this ever gets made, hopefully there would be a few original flourishes. I’d definitely like to see something come of this.
