A vast tower emerges from beneath Antarctica, and the film never explains what it is or why it's there. You're dropped into a mystery that refuses to resolve itself, left to piece together fragments while scientists descend into something older than human civilization. The mecha aren't here to save anyone. They're here because something below demands to be found, and the only way down is through steel and absolute commitment to not understanding until it's too late.
In 2113, a research team travels to Antarctica to study strange seismic activity. Near the epicenter they find enormous markings on the ground resembling the Nazca lines, and below them a huge cavern where part of a massive tower rises from the floor. When one explorer traces a star chart etched on its surface, the tower lets out a piercing howl, and the team dies in agony. The staff watching from the Command Center are killed by the same sound. Analysis reveals the frequency is a signal aimed at Elysium, a planet outside the solar system. In Manhattan, Van, an 18-year-old pizza delivery boy, races in the dangerous virtual-reality sport of turbo jai alai, hoping to win a trip that would let his girlfriend Lydia, a ballerina, audition for the Jupiter Ballet. When an Earth ship mistakenly destroys the vessel carrying the Elysian ambassador, the alien fleet strikes back, and the attack reaches Van's stadium.
