Transcendence

Stanton Burns is scheduled to be executed soon and is teased by two redneck prison guards. One of the guards, Leroy, is captured by Burns' gaze and shown his future, which ends in suicide. Burns tells Leroy he can help him avoid that for a price. Elsewhere, Andy Stone, a single mid-thirties prosecutor, enjoys a birthday party, thrown by his ex-girlfriend and criminal psychologist, Rachael. Andy confides to his co-worker Ray, that he is upset about a current case. Andy is reminded about the Burns case, which he successfully prosecuted earlier, as the two close down the bar. Too drunk to drive, Andy takes a nap in his car and dreams about being struck by lightning as a child. He awakens to find himself standing in the middle of the road where he’s hit by a car, resulting in a broken leg. While recovering in a hospital, he is visited by Ray and another friend, who have a side conversation about Andy’s bout with serious depression years before. They’re interrupted by Rachael, on her way to visit Andy. Later, Andy relates the dream to her, but adds that just before the lightning strike, his dream was invaded by a strange entity. Jessica MacKenzie, a 60 year old spiritualist, who knew Andy as a child, is interrupted by a feeling of impending doom. She concludes it concerns an incident involving Andy when he an eight year old boy. She remembers when he was rushed into the emergency room where she worked as a nurse, after he was struck by lightning and then had a near-death experience. Jessica encouraged him to develop the abilities the near death experience triggered. Her remembrance is then also invaded by an entity similar to the one described by Andy in his dream. As Andy recovers at home, he is visited by Rachael, who admits she too had a disturbing dream that was invaded by an entity matching Andy’s description. They conclude it means to do them harm and agree to discuss their strange experiences with Jessica. While discussing their dreams with Jessica, Rachael concludes the entity wore an unusual necklace, which she identifies in one of Jessica's spiritualist books as being common to Siberian Shaman. Jessica impresses on Andy the need to identify their tormentor. Later that night, Andy again dreams of an encounter with the same entity. He is awakened by Rachael and because the dream is so upsetting, he consents to being hypnotized by her to further explore the dream. Unfortunately Rachael is unable to awaken Andy and is sucked into the dream as well. Andy and Rachael battle the entity and barely escape. Andy and Rachael again visit Jessica. Rachael remembers Burns was an anthropologist and concludes he must have been familiar with Shamanism and is mostly likely the entity invading their dreams. Further, Jessica discusses Andy’s vivid dreams, defining them as "lucid dreams," and she believes they are the key to combating Burns. The group develops a plan to use lucid dreaming to counter Burns. Later at Andy's house, he and Rachael go over his old case file on Burns to search for clues on why Burns is attacking them and to help them refine their plan. Andy recounts to Rachael how Burns set up a dig in the Qumran Valley in Israel, near where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. During the dig, Burns killed a member of the dig team who interrupted him while he was photographing a recently discovered scroll. Burns grabbed the scroll and fled, but was later caught and extradited to the U.S. to stand trial. Thinking the key to the mystery lies in the scroll Burns found, Andy contacts one of the dig team, David Feinman, for more information. David tells Andy the scroll was translated and described an ancient Jewish ritual, brought down by Moses along with the Ten Commandments, for transcending the boundaries of life. It allows the practitioner to reincarnate into the next life but still retain all the memories of the last life. However, this information was deemed too dangerous by the rabbis and was hidden from the Israelites. The trio concludes that Andy’s prior bout with deep depression that almost spiraled into insanity was Burns testing his control in order to piggyback on his psychic abilities so he could gain possession of the staff before his execution. During this time Rachael then experiences a vision of what she comes to believe is Burns’ future plans for his next life: campaigning for the Senate on a platform of eugenics. They conclude they must stop Burns from gaining possession of the staff before he can transcend and carry out his plan. Next, Andy and Rachael arrive at Jessica’s house to strategize. Andy concludes the staff must still be hidden in the cave where Burns discovered the scroll, and the only way to get to it is to travel to the cave via lucid dreaming. They begin their dream journey but Rachael must leave the dream to check on a problem at Jessica’s house. Andy and Jessica continue on. At the cave, Jessica exposes a hidden chamber holding a series of bas-reliefs depicting the history of the Jewish people, one of which contains the staff. Andy reaches for the staff, but Burns emerges from the wall of the cave and reaches the staff as well. The two struggle for control and disappear from view. The problem at Jessica's house turns out to be Leroy, who is controlled by Burns and is sent to kill the trio. He chases Rachael from room to room, finally cornering her in a back bedroom. At the prison, Burns is prepared for execution. Andy and Burns reappear on the mesa overlooking the cave and struggle for control of the staff. Burns emerges the victor and begins conjuring up an ancient marble temple. At the prison, Burns is given a general anesthetic. At the mesa, Burns begins to ascend the stairs to the temple. Wobbly from the anesthetic his physical body has been given at the prison, he leans on the staff for support in the dream, but finds it has stuck fast to the ground. He tries to ascend the stairs without it, but is blocked by an angel bearing a flaming sword. Jessica wakes up from her dream to find Rachael being choked by Leroy. She knocks him out with a heavy cane. Back at the mesa, Andy crawls to Burns, who gave up trying to extract the staff from the ground and sits next to it waiting for the end. Andy regains the staff.