Mission: Impossible II Page #18

Luther punches in and up comes a squat little island a hundred

yards off shore, connected to the mainland by a wooden bridge.

ETHAN (cont'd)

That's not exactly it.

LUTHER:

Sorry, that it a Biocyte facility, their

storage structure..

ETHAN:

Nyah still on the property?

BILLY:

She hasn't left it.

Then:

LUTHER:

Okay, here you go -

As Luther speaks, the building - on his computer graphics, one

with the BIOCYTE PHARMACEUTICALS ELEVATORS AND RENDERINGS, is

being rapidly morphed to three dimension existence off the

rendering specifications by Luther, as if the building itself

were being constructed at a madly rapid pace, from its foundation

to its reinforced steel structure, to its honeycombing of floors,

to its outer skin. Luther's reconstitution of the building lot

static, but moving around and above it even as he proceeds.

ETHAN:

Let's start from the inside out.

LUTHER:

All storage and production of Chimera is

done here, in this lab on the forty-second

floor, the heart of the building.

BIOCYTE LAB:

Only about eight personnel -- chemists in lab coats, workers in

bio-containment suits, etc. -- populate the lab, passing through

security door and air locks, monitoring the virus stock, pading

the injection gun, etc.

LUTHER'S VOICE

Chimera itself is kept in two places: in

production vials in an incubation room and

housed in a small airtight chamber - inside

three injection guns.

BILLY'S VOICE

Mate, you kill it in both places, we're

laughin' and we go home.

WITH LUTHER AND ETHAN

ETHAN:

Now how to get in there.

LUTHER:

No garage entrance. Lobby's protected by

five guards on rotating patrol.

Ethan watches the rendition of the Biocyte lobby on screen

CLOSE - AMBROSE (NIGHT)

in overhead light, his eyes are dark pits, somehow underlying her

saturnine intensity:

AMBROSE:

If you look at Hunt's operational history, he

invariably favors misdirection and deception.

For a start he won't go into Biocyte from the

ground where he has to risk confrontation

with security.

ETHAN:

Not going in from the ground. Show me the

atrium.

INT - BIOCYTE ATRIUM SHAFT

The height and extent of the atrium are revealed, as well as its

conclusion in a glass floor in the ceiling of the lab.

LUTHER'S VOICE

(unhappily)

The atrium? One of a kind. Runs down the

center of the building. Provides 24-hour

natural light via mirrors and daylight

storage cells. Optimal growing conditions

for the virus. Ends in a glass floor which

doubles as part of the lab's ceiling.

WITH LUTHER AND ETHAN

Luther sees the glint growing in Ethan's eye.

LUTHER:

Hey, atrium roof closes at sundown.

EXT - BIOCYTE ATRIUM SHAFT

As the sun sets, the louvers of the atrium roof begin closing.

LUTHER'S VOICE

And if the louvers are open for more than

thirty seconds at night, the Civil

Emergency alarms are tipped. Those even I

can't stop. Thirty seconds total to get

you in and the cable out.

ETHAN:

Security?

LUTHER:

Thirty-second opening in the roof and a

250-foot drop.

ETHAN:

I'm not waiting 48 hours. When we're done

at Biocyte, if she's not out of Ambrose's,

I'm going in and getting her out.

CLOSE - AMBROSE (NIGHT)

AMBROSE:

No, Hunt will prefer to engage in some

sort of acrobatic insanity to enter

Biocyte somewhere through the atrium where

security is minimal..

Suddenly there's the roar of helicopter rotors.

ETHAN (EXT. SYDNEY - NIGHT)

is poised, upside down, on cable against the Sydney skyline.

THE ATRIUM LOUVERS

begin to open.

WITH LUTHER (INT. VAN)

hurriedly working the atrium's controls, hitting 'ENTER',

repeatedly.

INT - COPTER (HOVERING)

BILLY:

Package away in five..four..three..

two..one...

LUTHER:

I'm not ready!

ETHAN:

I'm gone..

Ethan plummets towards the atrium.

WITH LUTHER (INT. VAN - NIGHT)

LUTHER:

(frantically working controls)

C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!

ETHAN'S DESCENT

is so swift it appears as though he's going to hit the atrium

louvers but as he reaches roof level they crack open just enough

for him to dart thru like thread thru a needle

Luther begins the countdown. His countdown continues, running

under the action and dialogue below.

LUTHER'S VOICE

..nineteen..eighteen..seventeen...

ETHAN IN MID-DESCENT (MOVING)

moves down the shaft of bluish light, past the building's walls.

LUTHER'S VOICE

(low)

..sixteen..fifteen..

Ethan streaks thru the beams of light toward the atrium floor.

INT - ATRIUM FLOOR - ETHAN

reaches the end of the cord, slows himself to a stop and sees

the security guard through the window. The guard starts as he

catches a glimpse of Ethan's reflection in the control panels.

ETHAN:

Luther, I'm looking at security.

CLOSE - LUTHER

LUTHER:

(utterly shocked)

Oh. Uh. Commencing diversion.

(sotto voce, typing swiftly)

Alarm in cosmetics.

Rate this script:3.6 / 5 votes