Titan A.E. - Plot

Plot

In 3028, the Drej, a malevolent, energy-based species, declares war on humanity before Professor Sam Tucker (Ron Perlman), a lead researcher of the experimental Project Titan, gives his 5-year-old son, Cale (Alex D. Linz), a ring and sends him on one of the evacuation ships with his alien friend, Tek (Tone Loc). Meanwhile, Sam and his team launches the Titan spacecraft into hyperspace and the Drej mothership obliterates Earth, which explodes into a massive cloud of debris that destroys the Moon as well, ending any chances of humanity finding a place to settle in the universe. Most of the evacuation ships escape, though some are destroyed by the Drej and Earth's debris.

Fifteen years later, the surviving humans are reduced to either living in drifter colonies on settlements made from the metal of the evacuation ships or being second class citizens in alien societies, in which they are generally ridiculed. Cale (Matt Damon) breaks up old spaceships in the salvage yard of the Tau 14 asteroid belt and meets Joseph Korso (Bill Pullman), a human captain who requests Cale's help to find the Titan. Korso also reveals that he helped Sam and Tek finished Project Titan and was the same driver who helped Sam take Cale to his ship before the Earth was destroyed. He shows him how his ring contains a map to the ship. It is genetically-encoded to Sam and responds to Cale himself, making him the only chance for humanity's future. The Drej find the salvage yard and drive Cale and Korso to Korso's ship, the Valkyrie. Cale is introduced to the other members of Korso's alien crew; sly first mate Preed (Nathan Lane), astrogator Gune (John Leguizamo), cranky weapons expert, Stith (Janeane Garofalo) and another human, co-pilot Akima (Drew Barrymore), to whom Cale is attracted. They travel to the planet Sesharrim, where the Gaoul, a race of bat-like creatures, tells Cale how to interpret the map and find the Titan, hidden in the Andali Nebula. The Drej again attacks the group and capture Cale and Akima. The Drej eventually discard Akima, sending her off into space in a pod (where the crew finds her) and scans the map from Cale, but Cale escapes on a Drej ship and also reunites with the Valkyrie.

The ship is able to reach the human drifter colony called New Bangkok for repairs and preparation for the trip to the Titan. However, Cale and Akima find out Korso and Preed are secretly working for the Drej, having used Cale so that they can destroy the Titan in exchange for money. As a result, Cale confronts Korso for his betrayal, to which Korso compromises that the Drej captured and killed Sam who refused to disclose the Titan's location. Korso also reveals that he has lost his faith in both humanity and beating the Drej ever since then, and that he felt that the only way for humanity to survive was to side up with the Drej. Determined to live up to his father's legacy, Cale escapes from the ship with Akima, who is wounded by Preed. The Valkyrie departs without them, with Gune and Stith still unaware of Korso and Preed's true agenda. Fortunately, the colony consists of a number of old spaceships, cobbled together from derelicts. With the help of the other residents, Cale and Akima (Who was healed from the wound Preed inflicted) repair and refit one of the ships, the Phoenix and races off to find the Titan before Korso. Amid the Andali Nebula's giant ice crystals, Cale and Akima find and explore the Titan with a holographic message left by Cale's dead father who reveals the true nature of Project Titan: The ship can create a completely new Earth-like planet with DNA samples of the Earth's plants and animals, requiring a huge input of pure energy (the Titan's reserves were depleted escaping Earth); the development of this technology is the reason the Drej feared humanity's potential enough to destroy Earth. Korso and Preed then confront Cale and Akima and interrupt his father's message, but before Korso could do anything, Preed detonates a small bomb inside the Valkrie to kill both Stith and Gune and betrays Korso before holding him, Cale, and Akima at gunpoint. Preed then reveals a more tempting deal; he gets to live and get paid for helping the Drej find the Titan, but only after he kills them all before the Drej can show up. Preed then beats up Akima and Cale in an attempt to finish them off, but Korso stops him and snaps his neck as retribution for his treachery. He then engages into a fight with Cale over the possession of Cale's ring, but falls into the depths of the Titan by accident after Cale attempts to save him from doing so.

The Drej arrive and attack the Titan by destroying the ice shield protecting it. Surviving Preed's bomb, Stith arrives to Cale and Akima's aid and the three work to defend the Titan from the Drej. Learning from Korso that the Drej has pure energy, Cale decides to re-configure the Titan to use the Drej energy to start the ship's reactor. He activates two of the three circuit breakers channeling the Drej energy into the Titan. Cale dons a space suit and goes outside to fix the third breaker where Gune, who also survived the bomb, uses the Valkyrie's guns to fight the Drej. As Cale reaches the breaker station, he is pinned by a Drej ship Gune shot down. Evenutally, Korso, having grabbed a cable to escape the fall and overhearing Cale's attempt to use the Drej energy to power up the reactor, arrives and uses a large laser rifle to free Cale. Aware that it may be possible to defeat the Drej after all, Korso provides cover fire for Cale to get to the faulty breaker. Despite Cale's efforts, the faulty breaker still cannot activate. Telling Cale to activate the reactor, Korso wedges his rifle between the gap and breakers and closes its circuit for good, losing his own life in the process. The Drej mothership fires its energy weapon, but the blast is absorbed into the main reactor of the Titan after Cale places the ring to activate it. As a result, the blast reflects back into the Drej mothership, destroying it and killing all of the Drej. The Titan then uses the massive amounts of matter in the ice field to create a new planet. As Cale and Akima step onto the planet, Cale jokingly decides to call it "Bob", while Akima suggests that they call it "New Earth". Stith and Gune fly by to say goodbye to Cale and Akima as the human drifter colonies approach the New Earth to begin their lives anew.