The Tomorrow War
An average husband called Dan Forester is recruited by time travelers from 30 years in the future to eliminate in a harmful battle against aliens.
CAST
In December of 2022, Dan Foster is talking on the phone to get a job. He lists his military record as a Green Beret and his current job as a biology teacher, trying to get hired. As he enters his home where they have a Christmas party, he calls for his daughter Muri to carry things. His wife Emmy asks him to help out, but he tells her he's on the phone and very likely about to get his dream job at a lab. Muri has received a letter from Dan's father, which Dan immediately throws in the trash and tells his wife he has lost his right to be a grandpa. He walks out to finish the call, where he learns someone else got the job, and he becomes extremely upset. He goes inside to sit down and watch the World Cup on TV with his daughter, who tells him about Selman Waksman who first discovered the vaccine for tuberculosis, and which he found among dirt and trash. Dan then tells her that the players on the TV are the best in the world, and she says she wants to be the best. Dan then tells her that to become the best, you have to do what no one else wants to do.
Suddenly, a strange portal pops up on the soccer field, out of which soldiers appear. They explain that they are from 2051, a time when a global war is occurring against an alien race called white spikes, who have invaded Earth and annihilated almost all life. The woman talking then asks for help to fight the war. Several months later, the world has sent military forces into the future to help, but only a quarter of everyone ever comes back. Due to the great losses and shortage of resources that occur as a consequence, Nations have decided to also start sending civilians as troops. But even fewer of them return and people start questioning if it is worth it. Dan is holding a biology class one day when he notices that no one listens, and instead he asks what gets them excited.
Only one student called Martin raises his hand, who wants to talk about volcanoes, which he is crazy about. The other students don't get why they need to study since life will end anyway. Dan tells them it's almost 30 years into the future, and what the world needs today more than ever is scientists. Suddenly, he gets a message on his phone telling him to confirm his draft status. He goes to his nearest MEPS office where he is informed he's going to die in 7 years, which is why he meets the requirements for conscription. He asks them to slow down and tell him what's going on, but they are cryptic and don't listen and attach a device to his arm. He is then told that the device tracks him and will assist him in the future war, as well as can't be removed until he comes back from 2051. When he meets Emmy later and tells her what has happened, she becomes distraught and tells him they are gonna run from the government. Dan says he doesn't know how to run, but Emmy informs him he knows someone who does. He tells her that there is no way he will meet with him, but she asks him to do it for Muri.
A couple hours later, Dan meets with a man in an aircraft hanger, and they begin a sassy conversation. The man called James then is about to begin removing the device from Dan's arm, when he tells him it's weird he came since he's never wanted help from him before. Dan then gets enraged saying all he ever wanted was a little bit of help, but never received any. Angry, Dan walks out on him while instructing him never to send letters to Muri again, which reveals that James is Dan’s father. As he gets home, Emmy sees the device is still on his arm and gets saddened. She tells him that he needs to inform Muri so that she knows too. Dan walks out in the backyard where Muri is digging, and as he explains to her he's going on a trip, she immediately understands he got drafted and gets sad. He then promises her he will get back, and gives her a hug before he leaves them. Before they jump into the future however, the group of people being sent with Dan is introduced and trained in weaponry and first aid to have better chances to stay alive. While receiving instructions by soldiers from the future, Dan meets Charlie, a scientist who talks a lot as he gets nervous, like right now. A guy named Dorian standing behind them tells Charlie to keep quiet.
Later, Charlie explains to Dan that this is Dorian's third tour to 2051, which surprises Dan since no one goes back. As they keep talking, the two notice that all the people from 2051 are very young, and everybody being sent to the war are in their 40s or older. They conclude it must be to avoid some type of time paradox. They are later informed that the white spikes they are fighting all disappear every 6 days to rest, which the young soldiers from the future call the Sabbath. That's when they send new troops to the future, and that’s also when they send them back. This means that all who are sent spend 7 days before returning. As Dan and Charlie are talking that evening and Charlie is sharing how his wife got sent in the first wave and never came back, an alarm suddenly goes off.
The young soldiers from 2051 scream it's not a drill, and people hastily run towards the portal room. Dan asks a Lieutenant called Hart what's happening, and she answers that the last research facility in 2051 is being attacked, and if they lose it, the war is lost. They enter the portal room, and as the gateway to the future powers up, Dan shows Charlie how to turn off the safety on his weapon. People start being sucked into the portal, but just as Dan is about to go in, an error occurs with the coordinates of the landing location. Dan and the others end up arriving far up in the sky, and they are all falling to their deaths. Fortunately for Dan and Charlie, as well as Dorian, they land in a pool filled with water on top of a skyscraper. Others are not that lucky. Dan quickly gets out of the water and checks his gun, before going to the edge of the roof to view Miami in ruins.
The team now only consists of a few. While the military investigates what went wrong in the time jump, Romeo Command contacts the team. Dan responds, and since they see Dan is ex-military, the explain to him that they are going to bomb the area since there are too many white spikes around. Also, Dan will have to lead a CSAR operation – Combat Search And Rescue – to save some stranded scientists in a nearby building that is surrounded by white spikes. He confirms the mission and immediately regroups all non-disabled people on the roof. Soon after, they are down on the street and Dan asks Norah and Cowan to run to the next block to see if they spot any white spikes. They run up and confirm the coast is clear, and so the team follows. As they are slowly getting to the building, they see a lot of soldiers around them that have been killed in action.
Finally, they get to the building and enter it. As they are trying to find their way to the room where the scientists supposedly are, Dan is notified by Romeo Command that white spikes can smell blood from a mile away and they should be careful. All of a sudden, they spot the science team, who are all dead. Romeo Command then instead tasks them with retrieving hard drives and bio-samples from the lab. While the team is searching, they are informed by Norah and Cowan who are on the ground keeping a lookout, that white spikes are approaching. Dan finds the vials with samples, and is simultaneously notified aircrafts are being deployed to bomb the area in 6 minutes. Dan orders Cowan and Norah to meet them at the 7th floor, from where they quickly head to a rear stairwell to get down and out of the building, and hopefully avoid the white spikes. After entering the stairwell, they hear strange noises. Suddenly, white spikes appear from above and start attacking them. While shooting at them, the team attempts to run down and escape.
Dan tries to fend one off by himself, but finally gets help from Dorian who kills it, telling Dan they can only be killed through the neck or belly. While the airstrike is 3 minutes out, Romeo Command sends humvees to pick the team up. But as they arrive, the white spikes totally devastate the vehicles. Several team members are killed in action as they attempt to flee while defending themselves. The airstrike commences, and the team that now is down to 7 is trying their best to escape the bombings. As they are chased by white spikes, Cowan and Norah both get hurt in a tunnel, where a F22 Raptor soon will drop its bombs. Sacrificing themselves to delay the white spikes, Cowan and Norah stay behind shooting at the aliens while the rest of the team run. The five barely make it out in time.
One day later, Dan wakes up beside Charlie at a military base in the Caribbean. They soon after meet Dorian, from whom they find out they were the only three who made it. Dan then inquires about the white spike claw that Dorian has hanging around his neck, to which he responds that it is a reminder. Apparently, Dorian will die of cancer in 6 months, something he learned when he got drafted. He also tells them that the only reason he has come back several times is because he wants to die his own way, on his own terms. Dan is then summoned to speak with Romeo Command, who he soon learns is Colonel Muri Forester, his daughter, and he is taken aback. When she describes how she has a PhD in biotechnology from MIT, Dan gets very proud. She explains however that he was not brought there so she could reunite with her father. The only reason he is there is because she made sure of it so that he could help her with a critical task once the time comes, but she refuses to tell him what that is. They walk into a military tent where Colonel Muri shows Dan that they have figured out a toxin that kills male white spikes, but not females. To learn how to make a toxin that kills them all, they are going to catch a female, and Dan will help them. On their way to a white spike nest in a helicopter, Muri tells Dan about them, that one day, the white spikes were just there.
They came out of northern Russia and spread to the rest of the world, but no one ever found any vessels, crash sites, or any signs of them arriving on Earth. Dan then asks her what happened to their family between 2022 and till he died, but Muri says that they better not talk about it. They arrive at a white spikes’ nest, where the military has already accomplished to corner a female and is about to put it in a cage. Suddenly, it breaks free and starts attacking them. Muri descends down into the nest through a hole to help the men down there to get control of the situation, but fails. As Dan simultaneously sees a horde of male white spikes from the helicopter on their way to the nest, he also goes down to help out.
Dan grabs one of the female's tentacles, making it angry and tricks it to shoot itself with sharp spikes. Due to that, they manage to get the upper hand and put the white spike in the cage, whereafter the helicopter takes off with the cage while Dan and Muri climb out of the nest. But as they do, more white spikes arrive, and the duo has to run to a humvee to drive and shoot their way out using a heavy machine gun. Somehow they manage to escape, and they arrive at a beach where they get out. Muri is upset that Dan put himself in danger since she needs him alive. But Dan tells her he can’t see his daughter being eaten alive. Muri then starts telling Dan what happened with their family back in the 2020s.
Apparently, Dan left her and her mother. Dan interrupts and says he knows he would never do that. She then continues while becoming sad and explains they separated and then divorced, and she so much hoped he would fix their family and move back together. But then on her 16th birthday, she gets a call that he has been in an accident. At the hospital, she then saw his last heart beat on the monitor as they pushed her aside trying to revive him. Dan is speechless and gets disheartened. A helicopter arrives and takes them to an ocean base, all while Dan ponders about what she said. Once at the base, Dan meets Muri in her lab who is trying to synthesize a toxin. By testing thousands of combinations, and with a little luck, they will hopefully find a toxin that kills the female by next morning. While getting closer and closer, Dan asks Muri if she has a way to deploy the toxin once she finds it. But she only answers cryptically that she has a way, but that it doesn’t matter if they don’t get a toxin that works. Dan has 21 hours left before he is sent back. He asks if she wants any help, to which she responds it’s a one-person job. He tells her that Emmy would be proud of her if she saw her, just like he is, after which he leaves.
The morning arrives and Dan comes back to the lab. He knows he’s there for a reason, and asks Muri again what his purpose is. Finally, she starts to explain. They are living on borrowed time, and since they have no resources left, she needs Dan to take the toxin back to his time to mass produce it. That way they will stop the war from ever occurring. As she has just finished talking, the computer tells them that the current test is a 100% bond, meaning they have found the toxin. Seconds later, the female white spike awakens and makes a loud call.
Suddenly, the base is breached by white spikes, and Dan and Muri grab guns to make a run for the helicopter pad. On their way there, the duo gets cornered by several white spikes, and they have to shoot their way out. But as they continue running, Muri is hit by a spike, and so Dan has to help her walk. Simultaneously, an automated voice tells them through the facility’s speakers that it’s 3 minutes left until time jumpers will be sent back. Muri falls down in pain and is bleeding heavily, telling Dan she can’t walk and that he should leave her, but he won't.
She says she is sorry and that she’s glad to have seen him like this, like when she was young. Dan gets despaired and saddened and sees there’s less than a minute until he is sent back. As Muri hands him the vial with the toxin, a white spike appears and tries to attack them. But the floor suddenly fails, and the white spike and Muri start sliding towards the edge.
Dan jumps and catches her, but his grip slides and she falls. In full desperation, Dan leaps after her, but is teleported back in the middle of his jump.
He wakes up in 2022, holding the vial containing the toxin firmly in his hand, and tells Lieutenant Hart who is there that they must mass produce the toxin and send it back. She informs him however, that the portal in the future is down and no one can get back. He sees Charlie beside him, who made it too. As he gets home, he embraces little Muri who meets him. That night, Dan explains to Emmy that he met Muri in the future, and that they made the toxin together.
He also tells her that no one knew where the white spikes came from, they were just there in the year 2048. When his wife then suggests the aliens could have landed years earlier, a light bulb goes on in Dan’s head. Next, Dan visits Dorian in a bar, who also made it. He agrees on helping Dan find a solution to stop the war from ever happening, and to find out when the white spikes arrived. They take the white spike claw that Dorian has around his neck, and go to see Charlie, who analyzes the claw and sees it has volcanic ash on it, but from China, not from Russia. Dan can’t understand how volcanic ash from China ends up in Russia, and Charlie asks him if he knows of any volcano expert, which he does. They end up in Dan’s biology classroom, where the trio asks Martin how a creature from Russia can end up having ash from China under its claws. Martin then explains it has to be from the Millennium Eruption 1,000 years ago, because you can still find ash from that eruption deep inside the ice in northern Russia.
The team then realize the white spikes must have arrived back then and become frozen deep inside the ice, and as they make a simulation on how the ice melts in Russia, all ice is gone by 2048. After their discovery, they ask the U.S. Air Force to fund a covert mission into Russia, which they won't do. So instead, Dan goes and asks his father James to fly them there, telling him he needs his help, to which James immediately agrees. They load a plane, and Lieutenant Hart joins them after having brought as much newly produced toxins as she could. Once in northern Russia, at the likely location they pinpointed the white spikes to be, they drive around on snowmobiles. Suddenly, they experience some type of interference and can neither use their instruments, nor the compass. They detonate the ice, and walk into a crack that is revealed. Eventually, they stumble upon a large vessel stuck in the ice. They open a hole with a metal saw, and Dan tells James and Charlie who stay outside to shoot anything that comes out. They enter and find the cockpit, where they see an alien race that are not white spikes. They continue and eventually find a compartment with several white spikes in it, figuring that white spikes are cargo. As they inject some of them with the toxin that kills them, the other white spikes start awakening, and before they manage to inject them too, several of them break free and start going for the exit.
Dan informs Charlie and James to be ready, who manages to stop 3 of them as they come out, but a 4th manages to escape. The team inside the ship picks up C-4 explosives to blow the ship up if they have to. While giving Dan his white spike claw, Dorian then tells Dan to save his daughter and get out to track down the one that escaped. While Dan is running back to the snowmobiles, the others inside find a whole colony of white spikes that are waking up and starting to attack. The whole team inside sacrifices themselves, and Dorian yells out just before he detonates all the C-4, that, if he is going to die, he’s going to die his own way. The ship explodes and kills all white spikes in it. Dan makes it back to James and Charlie, and James tells him that the one that escaped is a big one. Dan says that’s a female, which they definitely have to stop. He and his father then jump on two snowmobiles and start tracking its footprints in the snow. They split up, and shortly after, Dan sees the white spike start running toward his father to attack him.
However, James has managed to make a trap, so the white spike bites a dummy, and James starts shooting it from a distance. This time however, the white spike really starts going for him, but Dan manages to hit it with his snowmobile just before it manages to reach James. The two then shoot at it, making it retreat backwards so that it falls off an edge. They figure that it isn’t dead, and they are right. Suddenly the white spike appears from nowhere and hits them. It shoots Dan in his leg and goes for him, and both Dan and James manage to take out its eyes as it gets close. Dan injects the toxin into its arm, and thinks it's over. But the white spike bites its arm off, stopping the toxin’s effect. It tries to go after Dan, but James cuts his hand to save his son, making the white spike go after the smell of his blood instead. James, who doesn't want to lose his father, then jumps up on it and stabs it with Dorian’s claw.
Finally he picks up another dose of the toxin and injects it in the white spike’s mouth and kicks it off a ledge, killing it once and for all. They lay down on the snow in exhaustion, and Charlie joins them. In the final scene, Dan comes home and gives his family a big hug, after which he introduces Muri to her grandfather. All the while, we hear Dan’s voice saying he will never leave this family.
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