For the Cause (film)

For the Cause (also known as Final Encounter) is a 2000 science-fiction fantasy directed by David Douglas and Tim Douglas.

Synopsis

It takes place in a far off future, when the Earth is embroiled in worldwide war and a distant planet is colonized to provide a peaceful refuge for Earth's denizens. Eventually, the original two colonies develop into large and prosperous cities while maintaining the peace that was the impetus for their creation. However, eventually the two great cities succumb to the squabbling their forbears did and engage each other in a war every bit as destructive as the one that took place on Earth hundreds of years before. In danger of wiping out the population of the planet, the only remaining warriors on each side, essentially a group of teenagers, must find a way to produce peace before they annihilate one another.

Plot

"For the Cause" is set in the future on a distant planet that has two human colonies. They were founded as a refuge from the wars of Earth, but the vision died when the colonies began fighting a hundred-year war, reducing their once mighty cities to rubble. The stone walled city of Brecca is the northern neighbor of the nation of Obsidian, a culture of black glass cities and unfathomable technology. The war drags on with the vestiges of once mighty technologies, and the great armies are now but orphaned teenagers, fighting and dying for a cause they never knew. Unless the war ends, yet another entire generation of children on both sides will perish in battle, so Brecca’s greatest military leader, General Murren (Dean Cain), decides to use the last of Brecca’s ancient weapons to end the war. It is called Warhammer, a hundred-year-old weapon built to cripple Obsidian’s technology using a technology more like magic than science. Murren leads a small team to deliver the weapon to Obsidian, taking with him his most loyal soldier, Sutherland (Justin Whalin) and Abel (Jodi Wise), a beautiful woman who is the last master of the ancient weapon. Feared by even her own people, Abel uses her ancient skills to channel energy into lethal forms. Murren also selects Evans (Thomas Ian Griffith), a celebrated warrior with a mysterious past, who has learned that peace is greater than victory. The small team intends to penetrate the defenses of an enemy city that couldn't be reached by Murren's father and six million men, but as the team battles its way toward Obsidian, they also must contend with their own Breccan people, torn apart by a century of conflict.

Production

The film was shot in Bulgaria on a minuscule budget of $2.5 million. Director David Douglas and his brother Tim were able to make the film with these limited resources by using new generation PC technology that has driven down the cost of digital filmmaking. The brothers grew up in the Central Valley of California in Clovis, the rodeo capital of the world. Inspired by Star Wars, they became interested in videos and films, and formed a computer graphics company that did commercial work for the Fresno TV station. Later they moved to Los Angeles, but found that breaking into show business was tough until computer-graphics took off in Hollywood and they became successful as CG artists. Then David got carpal tunnel syndrome and had to make a career change, so he decided to make "For the Cause." They soon signed with Miramax, but had trouble getting the project greenlighted. So they eventually did a much smaller deal with Nu Image/Millennium, a low-budget film company. David feels that Bulgaria, with its pollution and bleak cities, was a perfect setting for the film, noting: "If you want to go to a place that looks like a futuristic world that failed, Bulgaria is it."

External links

• For the Cause at the Internet Movie Database
• For the Cause at AllRovi
• For the Cause at Rotten Tomatoes