SPOILER ALERT
Pre-2017
Jack and Julia meet each other at the spire, where Jack proposes to Julia.
2017
USA launches Odyssey into Space, Nasa are back on Earth, spearheaded by Sally.
On-board the shuttle are Jack, Victoria, Julia and the rest of the crew. Vicky takes a photo of the two of them.
They are assigned with investigating an unknown object in deep space, so they go to investigate. This object is the Tet.
The Tet pulls the shuttle in, and Jack releases the cryogenic sleeping pods back to Earth, where they stay in Earth's orbit seemingly forever.
They are assigned with investigating an unknown object in deep space, so they go to investigate. This object is the Tet.
The Tet pulls the shuttle in, and Jack releases the cryogenic sleeping pods back to Earth, where they stay in Earth's orbit seemingly forever.
The Tet invade Earth. They blow up the moon and kill most life on Earth, our nukes do nothing to stop them and we lose the war. The humans starve and die, those remaining find shelter from Oblivion, including Malcolm Beech.
In the next 50 years
The Tet installs hydro pumping machines on Earth to drain it of all natural resources for energy, and to deploy drones to sweep up the remaining humans. However, some humans are safe from the drones and pose a threat to the Tet, as they learn how to destroy the hydro machines - the drones aren't enough to stop the humans for good. So, the Tet devise a plan. They clone Jack and Vicky, who were abducted before the war - in the process, their memories are copied. They wipe their memories and dispatch them to Towers that the Tet have installed on Earth. The Tet also design an interface called Sally, based on the real Sally of Nasa, capable of being rendered in real time. The Tet provide them with protection, clothes, water, weapons and bubble ships.
The Tet then give some false backstory memories to every Jack and Vicky to make it seem believable. They tell them humans won the war against an alien species called the Scavs, and they are assigned with performing droid maintenance. They tell them humanity escaped to Titan, orbiting Saturn, and the Tet is the last main base of humanity on (well, above) Earth.
The droids seek out and kill any form of life they encounter, and Jack repairs them, because the robots can't repair themselves or locate missing, expensive and explosive drones. The Tet have mapped Earth into grid sectors and told the clones that radiation surrounds their grid zone, when really, a whole other Jack and Vicky live on the other side of the barrier.
2077
Team 49 are 2 weeks from completing their assignment and are given promise of drinks with Sally at the Tet - really, they are just going to be killed and replaced with new clones, perhaps the Tet realise they can't keep the lie up any longer, or the clones don't last longer than 5 years.
Malcolm's team have encountered hundreds of Jack clones, none of them clever enough to figure out the lie they are being told and unknowingly submitting themselves to the Tet. Every cycle, the Tet get a bit better at being convincing.
Malcolm's team crack the GPS codes of the orbiting Odyssey, and plant a transmitter on the derelict spire, transmitting a signal to the lost shuttle.
This is where the film starts..
This intrigues Jack 49 who goes to investigate, cuts the cable, and causes the Odyssey to come crashing down to Earth to find the crew. Finding Julia triggers his memories, something that hasn't happened to any Jack before, and when he outruns the droids that are sent to kill him, he realises something isn't right when he finds a clone of himself, Jack 52. Jack and Julia rekindle their love from before the invasion, and spend the night together.
Jack teams up with Malcolm, takes Malcolm to the Tet and leaves Julia by his lake house, taking the 10 fuel cells that Malcolm has salvaged from broken droids. Sally is intrigued but confident that she has the upper hand, trusting Jack. Jack destroys the Tet, the clones, the hydro machines and the droids, sacrificing himself for humanity to grow again.
Julia's and Jack 49's child discovers the remaining members of Malcolm's team, with them, Jack 52.
