2067 2020

In the ravaged landscape of 2067, where climate change and nuclear war have ravaged the planet, only one city in Australia’s ruins remains standing, its synthetic oxygen tainted with a deadly affliction known as “The Sickness”. Ethan Whyte (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a hardworking laborer, is struggling to care for his wife Xanthe (Sana’a Shaik), who is slowly succumbing to the Sickness. His world is turned upside down when Regina Jackson (Deborah Mailman), the Chief Technology Officer of Chronicorp, reveals that humanity’s fate hangs precariously in the balance. The Sickness will eventually wipe out the remaining population unless drastic measures are taken.

In a last-ditch effort to prevent extinction, Regina proposes sending Ethan through time using the Chronical, a prototype time machine developed by his late father Richard Whyte (Aaron Glenane), a renowned quantum physicist. The device had lain dormant for 20 years, but its sudden activation reveals a cryptic message from over 400 years in the future, specifically addressed to Ethan. Torn between his resentment towards his father and the desperation of humanity’s situation, Ethan is eventually persuaded by Xanthe and Jude (Ryan Kwanten), his guardian and colleague, to take the leap.

As Ethan traverses the vast expanse of time, he finds himself in a lush rainforest, armed with only Archie, a trusty hand-held computer, and a wrist device passed down from Richard. His arrival is marked by a grim discovery: the skeletal remains of someone wearing his jumpsuit, surrounded by the decaying remnants of Archie and the wrist device itself, bearing a bullet hole in its skull. Reeling from this disturbing revelation, Ethan’s already precarious state is further compounded when he succumbs to poisoning from eating berries.

Just as all hope seems lost, Jude appears on the scene, having followed Ethan through time after detecting his life readings via the Chronical. Together, they follow Archie’s directions to uncover a hidden door, leading them to the very lab where the Chronical was developed. In this moment of truth, it is revealed that Ethan’s wrist device holds the key to unlocking the Chronical’s secrets, its DNA analyzer designed specifically for his access. As the countdown begins, with only four hours left before automatic reactivation, Ethan must confront the dark realities of his own future and the fate of humanity.

As Richard’s holographic recording plays out, Ethan and Jude uncover the true intention behind the Chronical project: a pioneering endeavor to reactivate an atmospheric monitoring station capable of transmitting vital data about the Earth’s breathability in the future back to the past. Initially, Richard had been instructed to send his own son, Ethan, forward in time, prompting him to prepare the young boy’s wrist analyzer despite his reservations. However, this initial foray was put on hold due to the unforeseen complications of safely transmitting living matter through time, as a power failure in the year 2474 rendered the data unusable.

The Chronical’s activation sets off a catastrophic chain reaction, triggering a malfunction within its nuclear power core that threatens to unleash an apocalyptic nuclear explosion unless the countdown is halted. In response, Ethan and Jude embark on a perilous journey to the power core, located beneath the ruins of their once-thriving cityscape. As they navigate through the desolate landscape littered with skeletal remains, including the haunting discovery of Xanthe’s final resting place, they are forced to confront the grim reality that a cure for the Sickness was never found.

As Jude attempts to offer Ethan solace and comfort, the latter is struck by an eerie familiarity in Jude’s voice - a recording he had discovered on the decaying remains of Archie, mere moments before his future self met a tragic demise. Claiming he is saving Ethan from his own destiny, Jude takes control, directing Ethan at gunpoint towards the reactor’s control room. Despite their dire circumstances, Ethan chooses to take matters into his own hands, deciding to venture inside the airlock and manually override the emergency sequence.

As the clock ticks away with a mere 37 minutes remaining, Ethan and Jude return to the Chronical lab, where Ethan stumbles upon an alternate exit next to his own skeletal remains. The gravity of their situation finally catches up to Ethan, who is overcome by a sense of desperation and despair. He begs Jude to put him out of his misery, but his guardian refuses to yield to such a request, instead revealing the crushing truth that there never was any real hope of altering their dire circumstances.

Ethan’s anguish gives way to a burning determination as he locks Jude away and plays back his father’s cryptic log from the day Richard died. The revelation is nothing short of devastating: Regina Jackson had been secretly planning to flee her impending demise by jumping forward in time, while Richard had been clinging to a glimmer of hope for humanity’s future. To prevent this catastrophic abuse of power, Richard had cleverly programmed the time machine to respond only to Ethan’s DNA, but when his colleague revealed that the device could be rigged to send someone into the future one-way, Jackson brutally silenced Richard.

Jude was appointed as Ethan’s guardian with the sole purpose of ensuring that he would be sent forward in time to repair the power failure and stabilize the time portal. Once Ethan had completed his mission in 2067, Jackson planned to have him eliminated. The weight of this treachery bears down on Ethan as he attempts to shut down the Chronical, but Jude intervenes, driven by a mix of guilt and determination.

In a poignant twist, Jude ultimately takes his own life, unable to reconcile his conflicting loyalties. With seconds to spare, Ethan seizes the opportunity to send a message into the past, accompanied by a recording of Richard’s murder, hundreds of lush jungle plants, and a heartfelt farewell gift to Xanthe. The Chronical is destroyed, sending ripples through the timeline.

In the aftermath, Jackson’s plans are foiled when Archie transmits the incriminating evidence to a news station, and the recovered jungle plants are used to revitalize the planet. In the future, Ethan awakens to find his once-barren city transformed into a thriving metropolis, its architecture harmoniously integrated with nature. However, the streets remain eerily deserted, devoid of any sign of human life.