The Objective
Encyclopedia
The Objective is a 2008
science fiction
horror film, directed by Daniel Myrick
who also directed The Blair Witch Project
and Believers
, starring Jonas Ball
, Matthew R. Anderson, and Michael C. Williams. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival
in early 2008 and was distributed by IFC Films
and was released theatrically on February 6, 2009
.
, Afghanistan
, a Special Forces team meets CIA Agent Benjamin Keynes, who explains their mission to find a very important Afghan
cleric by the name of Mohammad Aban. The team leader, Wally Hamer briefs the men to ready themselves. After being inserted, the team finds a local guide, Abdul, in a village in Southern Afghanistan, where the cleric is from. Together, they set out for the mountains, where the cleric is reputed to be hiding.
As they head further into the mountains, they begin to have strange encounters, first with gunmen, who simply disappear when shot, later with strange forces. As they continue their mission in the rocky and barren landscape, fatigue, frustration and confusion set into the members of the team and one soldier develops a stomach infection. The tensions further increase when the team is encountered by a bright light at night. As the team opens fire, two soldiers confront it and are immediately vaporised. The next morning, Abdul warns Keynes that they are dealing with a supernatural phenomenon that is beyond human conception, and has deadly consequences. He later commits suicide by jumping off a cliff.
As the team progresses further and tensions among the men increase, they confront Keynes and demand the truth. Keynes shows them a recording from a thermal imaging camera and informs them about the real motive. The thermal video shows a triangular object in the desert. Being almost invisible to the naked eye, it moves rapidly in the air and can split up into several tiny portions. It was this object that killed the men. The CIA had been monitoring this phenomenon for sometime and sent Keynes and the special forces team to the location to further investigate it. Keynes theorizes that this object originates from an ancient Indian mythology called 'Vimana
s' and the bright lights and the ghost gunmen are associated with it. He also explains that the team is an 'expendable' for the investigation and they will not be rescued, which causes a brief scuffle with an agitated soldier.
Short on ammo, water and food the team wanders further into the desert where they finally encounter the vimanas. A berserk soldier opens fire only to be vaporised. Keynes flees with the weak soldier and abandons him later. Exhausted and traumatized, Keynes searches for water. He encounters an oasis and drinks water from it only to discover the body of a fellow soldier laying next to the water. Unable to grasp the horror, he passes out. When he wakes up in the night, he hears the distant sound of a helicopter and fires his flare gun. Simultaneously, several flares fire up from the valley. The bright light he encountered earlier appears and a being from it approaches him. As it touches his forehead, he sees visions and hallucinations of various objects and landscapes, causing him to go into a complete trance. In the final scene he is shown levitating several inches from the bed with a talisman in his hand, inside a hospital room, where doctors are observing him through a glass window.
In the final credits, interviews of Keynes' wife are shown in which she says that the family has not yet been informed about him and concludes him to be missing.
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
science fiction
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
horror film, directed by Daniel Myrick
Daniel Myrick
Daniel Myrick is an American director most famous for co-directing and writing the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project with Eduardo Sánchez, for which they won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award.-Life and career:...
who also directed The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
and Believers
Believers (film)
Believers is a 2007 horror film-thriller directed by award-winning filmmaker Daniel Myrick, who also directed The Blair Witch Project and The Objective, and written by Myrick, Julia Fair, and Daniel Noah. The film was distributed by Warner Bros...
, starring Jonas Ball
Jonas Ball
Jonas Franklin Ball is an American actor who played John Lennon's murderer Mark David Chapman in The Killing of John Lennon.Ball had a few television appearances prior to his role as Chapman...
, Matthew R. Anderson, and Michael C. Williams. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
in early 2008 and was distributed by IFC Films
IFC Films
IFC Films is an American film distribution company based in New York, owned by AMC Networks. It distributes independent films and documentaries under the IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. It operates the IFC Center....
and was released theatrically on February 6, 2009
2009 in film
The year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of this year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five .- Highest-grossing films :Please note...
.
Plot
In Ghazni ProvinceGhazni Province
Ghazni is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Babur records in his Babur-Nama that Ghazni is also known as Zabulistan It is in the east of the country. Its capital is Ghazni City...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, a Special Forces team meets CIA Agent Benjamin Keynes, who explains their mission to find a very important Afghan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
cleric by the name of Mohammad Aban. The team leader, Wally Hamer briefs the men to ready themselves. After being inserted, the team finds a local guide, Abdul, in a village in Southern Afghanistan, where the cleric is from. Together, they set out for the mountains, where the cleric is reputed to be hiding.
As they head further into the mountains, they begin to have strange encounters, first with gunmen, who simply disappear when shot, later with strange forces. As they continue their mission in the rocky and barren landscape, fatigue, frustration and confusion set into the members of the team and one soldier develops a stomach infection. The tensions further increase when the team is encountered by a bright light at night. As the team opens fire, two soldiers confront it and are immediately vaporised. The next morning, Abdul warns Keynes that they are dealing with a supernatural phenomenon that is beyond human conception, and has deadly consequences. He later commits suicide by jumping off a cliff.
As the team progresses further and tensions among the men increase, they confront Keynes and demand the truth. Keynes shows them a recording from a thermal imaging camera and informs them about the real motive. The thermal video shows a triangular object in the desert. Being almost invisible to the naked eye, it moves rapidly in the air and can split up into several tiny portions. It was this object that killed the men. The CIA had been monitoring this phenomenon for sometime and sent Keynes and the special forces team to the location to further investigate it. Keynes theorizes that this object originates from an ancient Indian mythology called 'Vimana
Vimana
Vimāna is a word with several meanings ranging from temple or palace to mythological flying machines described in Sanskrit epics.-Etymology and usage:Sanskrit vi-māna literally means "measuring out, traversing" or "having been measured out"...
s' and the bright lights and the ghost gunmen are associated with it. He also explains that the team is an 'expendable' for the investigation and they will not be rescued, which causes a brief scuffle with an agitated soldier.
Short on ammo, water and food the team wanders further into the desert where they finally encounter the vimanas. A berserk soldier opens fire only to be vaporised. Keynes flees with the weak soldier and abandons him later. Exhausted and traumatized, Keynes searches for water. He encounters an oasis and drinks water from it only to discover the body of a fellow soldier laying next to the water. Unable to grasp the horror, he passes out. When he wakes up in the night, he hears the distant sound of a helicopter and fires his flare gun. Simultaneously, several flares fire up from the valley. The bright light he encountered earlier appears and a being from it approaches him. As it touches his forehead, he sees visions and hallucinations of various objects and landscapes, causing him to go into a complete trance. In the final scene he is shown levitating several inches from the bed with a talisman in his hand, inside a hospital room, where doctors are observing him through a glass window.
In the final credits, interviews of Keynes' wife are shown in which she says that the family has not yet been informed about him and concludes him to be missing.
Cast
- Jonas BallJonas BallJonas Franklin Ball is an American actor who played John Lennon's murderer Mark David Chapman in The Killing of John Lennon.Ball had a few television appearances prior to his role as Chapman...
as CIACentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
Agent Benjamin Keynes - Matthew R. Anderson as Chief Warrant OfficerChief Warrant OfficerChief warrant officer is a military rank used by the Canadian Forces and the Israel Defence Forces.-Canada:In the Canadian Forces, a chief warrant officer or CWO is the most senior non-commissioned member rank in the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force...
Wally Hamer - Jon HuertasJon HuertasJon Huertas, born Jon William "Scott" Hofstedt and sometimes credited as John Huertas, is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Sergeant Antonio 'Poke' Espera in HBO's Generation Kill the miniseries as well as Joe Negroni in the film Why Do Fools Fall in Love and homicide...
as SergeantSergeantSergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Vincent Degetau, Team medic - Michael C. Williams as Sergeant Trinoski, Demolitions expert
- Sam Hunter as Sergeant Tim Cole, Rifle man
- Jeff Prewett as Sergeant Pete Sadler, Sniper
- Kenny Taylor as Master SergeantMaster SergeantA master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in some armed forces.-Israel Defense Forces:Rav samal rishoninsignia IDF...
Tanner, Machine gunner - Chems-Eddine Zinoune as Abdul
- P. David Miller as MajorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Matt McCarthy - Vanessa JohanssonVanessa Johansson-Background:Johansson was born in New York City. Her father, Karsten Johansson, is a Danish-born architect, and her paternal grandfather, Ejner Johansson, was a screenwriter and director. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, a producer, comes from a Jewish American family from the Bronx...
as Stacy Keanes - Jacqueline Harris as Matilde Seymour