Batman Page #7

VICKI:

Oh. Sorry. I was thinking.

KNOX:

What were you thinking?

VICKI:

Yum, yum.

KNOX:

Well, he must like the way he

looks. He's got a mirror in every

room.

And indeed, the two of them are standing before an enormous

WALL MIRROR, eight feet wide, running from floor to

ceiling.

VICKI:

I get it. Bruce Vain.

She pokes KNOX. He groans at the dumb pun. And suddenly we

CUT TO:

REVERSE ANGLE - THROUGH THE MIRROR

looking DOWN ON KNOX and VICKI -- THROUGH ONE-WAY GLASS --

as they continue to chat. Behind the mirror... recording

everything that happens in the room... is a small, silent,

state-of-the-art SURVEILLANCE CAMERA.

CLOSEUP - VIDEO MONITOR

showing KNOX and VICKI in the library. CAMERA PULLS BACK to

reveal that the screen we're watching is only one in a

whole vast bank of video monitors. From this control

center, we can see everything that's happening in the

house.

Now we ZERO IN on a single screen: GUESTS moving backward,

with exaggerated speed, as a videotape REWINDS.

At the panel, BRUCE WAYNE hits a button. And now we see

COMMISSIONER GORDON talking to a uniformed POLICEMAN.

PATROLMAN:

... anonymous tip. Tonight. The Ace

Chemical Company.

GORDON:

(obviously agitated)

Good Lord, it we could put our hands

on Jack Napier... Why wasn't I told

about this? Who's in charge of

the --

PATROLMAN:

Lt. Eckhardt, sir.

GORDON:

Eckhardt. Oh my God...

And suddenly COMMISSIONER GORDON is grabbing for his coat.

The monitor goes black. BRUCE reaches up, loosens his tie.

CUT TO:

EXT. ACE CHEMICAL CO. - PARKING LOT - NIGHT

UNMARKED POLICE CARS are pulling into the lot, headlights

off. ECKHARDT circulates among his ARMED SWAT TEAM, handing

out xeroxed copies of a PHOTOGRAPH.

The PHOTOGRAPH is a full-face shot of JACK NAPIER.

ECKHARDT:

Shoot to kill.

INT. ACE CHEMICAL - FILE ROOM - NIGHT

SPARKS FLY. A SAFECRACKER, in welder's mask, trains a

blowtorch on the office safe. Behind him, JACK'S HOODS are

at work on the filing cabinets.

The SAFECRACKER kills his blowtorch and opens the metal

door of the safe, giving JACK a good look at its contents:

SAFECRACKER:

... Empty.

HOOD I:

Just like the file cabinets.

HOOD II:

I don't get it. If this place is

cleaned out already, what do we need

five men?

JACK shakes his head. His boys are antsy, ready to mutiny.

By now it's depressingly obvious: they've been set up.

Then, as if they needed any proof -- a SIREN blares

outside.

EXT. ACE CHEMICAL - NIGHT

ECKHARDT'S SWAT TEAM goes wide-eyed as a CONVOY OF POLICE

BLACK-AND-WHITES roars into the Ace parking lot. UNIFORMED

COPS pile out of their squad cars, relieving the SWAT TEAM.

ECKHARDT goes livid as COMMISSIONER GORDON approaches.

ECKHARDT:

What are you trying to do, blow the

collar?

GORDON:

(to SWAT TEAM)

You men are dismissed. We'll take

over from here.

(to UNIFORMED COPS)

Any man who opens fire on Jack

Napier... will answer to me.

ECKHARDT tries to slink off. GORDON grabs him roughly.

GORDON (cont.)

You. Stick around.

INT. ACE CHEMICAL - THAT MOMENT

JACK and his HOODS ducking out of the office. It's two

stories above the refinery floor, accessible by a network

of steel ladders and CATWALKS running between the walls.

Down below, a CORRUGATED METAL DOOR begins to rise.

COP:

Freeze!

One hood goes into a crouch and OPENS FIRE. Half of his

colleagues dive back into the office, looking for a rear

exit. The others take off across the CATWALKS.

ANGLE ON GORDON:

standing in the doorway as his MEN rush into the building

and take their places behind heavy machinery. SHOTS RING

OUT as the HOODS scatter.

ECKHARDT:

(snidely)

Nice work, Commissioner.

GORDON:

I'm in charge here. Not Carl

Grissom.

INT. HALLWAY - THAT MOMENT

TWO HOODS run down a tiled corridor in the office section

of the complex. They're almost at the end of the hall when

a CAPED BLACK SHADOW steps into their path.

It stands there, motionless. EXTENDS ITS ARMS -- like giant

WINGS -- revealing the yellow-and-black insigne on its

massive chest. BATMAN.

One millisecond later, the shocked HOODS are racing back in

the opposite direction.

THE BATMAN flings a handful of STEEL BALL-BEARINGS across

the tiled floor. HOOD I tumbles to the floor and lands

hard, losing his breath. HOOD II rolls and pulls a GUN.

BATMAN hurls a BOOMERANG -- its edges scalloped, like a

bat's wing. HOOD II finds his gun hand PINNED TO THE WALL

by the twin prongs of the BATARANG.

THE BATMAN strides briskly toward them, businesslike,

taking his time. He grabs a handful of HOOD I's hair, lifts

his head off the floor, KNEES HIM IN THE FACE.

He turns to the petrified HOOD II. CHROME-STEEL TALONS

spring out of his fingertips. He strolls past HOOD II,

reaching out casually to give him a QUICK NICK on the chin.

HOOD II slumps against the wall, unconscious.

ANGLE ON JACK:

down on the floor, racing along a wall, THROWING SWITCHES

-- anything to create a diversion. With every switch he

throws, ANOTHER GIGANTIC MACHINE roars to life. CENTRIFUGES

SPIN. HUGE POLYMER EXTRUDERS spit out thick strands of

plastic gunk. OVERHEAD CHEMICAL TANKS rotate into place

over giant basins.

JACK SEES a squad of COPS on his tail, moving from machine

to machine, keeping covered. He SHOOTS AND RUNS.

ANGLE ON CATWALKS

BLASTING AWAY, HOODS III and IV scuttle across the elevated

walkways, keeping down, avoiding police fire. One of them

starts up a vertical ladder leading to the next catwalk up.

Rate this script:3.5 / 6 votes