© Gentleman Loser FIlms
|
Wellesely House 39 Ebury Bridge Road London SW1 8RT 0171 824 8502 |
Copyright Gentleman Loser Films January 18, 1998 |
Neon numbers, so close we only see enormous zeroes filling the screen. They float away from us, until we see…
10:00:00
They begin to steadily beat downward, towards zero…
cut to:
Down grimy and rain soaked streets, feet march along restlessly, pounding a beat like a metronome.
NINA walks on, down streets at a time of night so late nothing stirs or moves and no traffic flashes by.
A cellular phone RINGS. She answers it quickly, agitated.
NINA
I’m here.
voice
Did you get the money?
nina
I'm on my way up.
voice
Very good, Nina. You have ten minutes left. Get here one second after ten minutes, two seconds after, I put a bullet in your daughter’s brain – and I bill you for the bullet. If you get here on time, and you don’t have the money, same outcome.
nina
Please, put my husband on the phone.
voice
Go ahead…
husband
Nina, are you alright? Did you get it?
nina
Of course not. We have nothing. How the hell am I supposed to raise that kind of money in two days?
husband
I told you..! Take it from your inheritance.
nina
Inheritance? Where do you think the money came from for our house, for her school… For your gambling?
husband
You dumb bitch. They'll kill her, then you, and then ME!
nina
Til death do us part, honey. Rembmer those vows? Wasn’t anything in there about supporting a gambling habit. I’ve run out of options. I don't care any more, about you, about your problems. I'm getting my daughter back no matter what.
husband (laughing)
And how the fuck are you going to do that?
nina
I got something.
Nina pulls a small snubnose .38 revolver from her purse. She stands before a tall building. Looking up at the top floor, light still in the windows.
husband
These aren't people to fuck with… Don’t you understand you dumb fucking bitch… We’re going to die.
nina
I don’t know where we came into this. I’ll die trying if I have to. I’m getting my daughter.
She drops the phone on the pavement without hanging up.
cut to:
Boots march through the hallways.
cut to:
We hear her boyfriend screaming over the phone, a sound like static from a dying television, over and over calling her name.
cut to:
Men with guns. Lots of them. They line up down narrow hallways, several hiding behind doors. They all carry enormous firepower.
cut to:
Nina readies the small revolver. Frees the chamber from the body.
cut to:
The mercenaries ready their weapons. Ammo feeds into twelve guage pump shotguns. H&K MP5s get fresh magazines and the bolt is slapped down. USB pistols and Glocks are drawn from holsters and smoothly have their slides pulled back.
cut to:
Nina stands before the steps leading to the hotel. We can still hear her boyfriend screaming over the line. Nina dumps her purse, her life in papers and credit cards spilling onto the pavement. She plucks six single bullets from the ground, loads them into the chamber of the .38. She slowly and clumsily clicks the chamber back into place.
nina
Goodbye.
She looks at her sunglasses, on the ground. Her hands tremble, her face contorted in fear. She takes the sunglasses and puts them on. As long as they can't see her eyes…
husband (garbled, distant)
NINA!
She cocks the hammer back of the .38. Holds out in front of her. Steels herself, takes a deep breath. Up the steps she goes…
cut to:
Nina strolls into the Lobby. Dimly lit. No night porter. No music. Empty of the sounds of a normal hotel.
She strolls across the lobby to the elevator. It doesn't work.
Over to a side entrance to a stairwell. She begins the long climb up, pistol leading the way.
cut to:
The numbers pulse steadily down from 8:00:00…
dissolve to:
From a service door Nina slowly enters the hallway, rounding a corner. She looks down the hallway.
Empty.
She walks slowly forward, her strength faltering. The pistol goes limp in her hand. She walks slowly, a death march…
The door to her left suddenly opens, and out comes a lean mercenary brandishing a Mini Uzi like a pro, stock folded forward and held in his other hand.
Merc
FREEZE!
The moment hangs. She points the revolver down at the ground, getting ready to drop it. The mercenary frees up a bit.
And it's just enough time for her to shakily raise the gun and shoot him point blank in the head. Her face goes white with the shock of what she's done. He walks backwards, the Uzi firing wildly and out of control, tearing holes in the ceiling. Plaster rains down.
Nina becomes reposed, steady. One hand arcs out to grab the wrist of the mercenary and the firing of the Uzi stops. He slumps to the ground but she holds him up by the strength of one hand.
Another door bursts open and before the man inside can get out she empties the rest of the revolver into him with the other hand. He falls against the opposite wall, not even time to see her. She dumps the revolver.
She grabs the Mini Uzi from her first victim. Jacks the clip, finds more on his body, takes them, slaps a fresh one in and pounds back the hammer like a pro. She takes his Glock and tucks it into her waistband. She walks towards her other victim, retrives his pistol and Mini Uzi.
She walks on, Uzis at her side. Her will leads her like some new found thing, badass to the bone.
On both sides of her, doors open, a man pouring out of each in slow motion.
Without missing a beat, she drops to one knee, the men firing blindly at each other. Her arms spread out, Uzis firing, catching them at the knees and throwing them down.
She dumps the Uzis. Loots their bodies. One still moaning and dying on the ground.
He peers into the cold hard shock of her sunglasses. Nothing reflected there but a precision. He moans softly, hand clawing at her, disbelief at his failure.
She slams her elbow into his face. The moaning stops.
From these two men she gets two H&K MP5s on straps. They hang at her sides. She readies two featureless 9 mm pistols, and begins walking down the hallway.
cut to:
Several pairs of feet rush down the hallway, clomping in heavy boots.
cut to:
Nina looks back, hearing the approaching feet. She walks backwards quickly.
Every time she passes a door she fires the pistols, splintering wood flying into the air mixed with screams. Just to be safe. Behind one door a man falls through the wood, bleeding and obviously dead.
At the end of the hallway is a large polished oak table. She kicks it, turning it onto its side. She hunkers down behind it, loading her pistols. She takes twelve clips of 9 mm ammo and slowly places them along the edge of the overturned table, in a single file row.
The men come running around the other corner of the hallway. These aren't the amateurs she just dispatched. They're coated with weaponry.
But they have to lean low to fire at her hunkered beneath the table. They go into formation, the first line down on one knee, the others standing, forming a makeshift phalanx that fires all at once.
The entire back wall and the oak table start to dissolve in a spray of bullets. Nina stands firing one pistol, the other drawn back. As soon as its empty out shoots the other pistol, firing again. Never missing.
Knees buckle. Chests explode in a swarm of blood.
With her other hand, the one now clutching an emptied pistol, she jabs the clip release button and it drops. She slams the now empty gun down on one of the lined up clips, just as her other pistol empties. She jacks the slide lever and the slide rocks forward, chambering a round.
Now this hand surges forward, firing mercilessly. She repeats the action over and over, relentlessly firing bullets. Every round seems to miss her surreally, and every one of hers hits its mark. The mini army at the other side of the hall is eliminated except for two men, both bleeding from somewhere. Both her and the men click on empty. They take cover around the corner. She hears them cursing and reloading their submachine guns.
She drops the pistols and sprints down the hall, tables turned now, the victim executioner. The MP5s come up and out.
One man leaps across the hallway sideways, firing with a riot shotgun. The other comes out just enough to fire.
She gets hit in the shoulder and the thigh but it doesn't slow her one bit. She doesn't even flinch. She just fires, and a rain of bullets descends on them. They die, quickly.
She dumps the MP5s. Takes the shotgun, and another MP5. She pumps the shotgun. And walks back the other way.
She passes the oak table just as it gives way and splinters into a million fragments, succumbing to its punishment. She rounds the corner.
Into a wall of six men, waiting.
Before they even have a chance to fire she dives into them, clubbing one in the face with the butt of the shotgun, who drops with her rifle. On the down motion the barrel points up and she dissolves the face of the man behind him.
A man close to her side points a pistol at her head but she axe kicks straight out her side, slamming him right in the crotch. He buckles forward and the shotgun swings again, this time the butt catching him in the chest so hard…
HE RISES TWO FEET OFF THE GROUND AND SLAMS INTO THE WALL BEHIND HIM.
Another man fires his gun at her, but she jumps and seems to hang in the air, the bullets passing beneath her in some ultra quick moment.
In midair, her legs shoot out, doing the splits, catching the walls on either side and holding her there. She throws the shotgun at him and he flinches, enough time for her to raise the MP5 and chew him into oblivion.
The other two men start to run as she steadies her aim at them.
She runs after them, a blur of speed. They come to a fire safety door, a glass window at its top. The first man gets through and the door swings back…
Just as she catches the other man from behind and she flings him with inhuman strength forward, his head flying forward into the glass.
She opens the door slowly, his body dragging with it. The other man continues to run. She pulls a jagged piece of glass from the window and flings it at him, burying itself in his back.
cut to:
This hallway is featureless and plain. No doors, except for one at the end.
The door opens, and out walks her HUSBAND, armed to the teeth.
nina
Jack! Where's our daughter?
jack
Either it's your time of the month or you've got some hidden talents, hon. Right through this door. You just have to get through me, first.
nina
Why are you doing this?
Jack
You stupid bitch. I was with them all along. We were going to split the money. Put the pressure on you to get it, so you'd have to rob a bank for us. Unfortunately, you went and decided to take out your agression on us. What the fuck have you been doing for the past few days, watching television?
nina
Getting up the courage to kick you in the balls.
jack
Come and get me baby…
He tosses two grenades at her, rolling along the ground.
She empties the shotgun into the wall beside her, tearing a hole in it… Diving through just as the grenades come to a stop and flash blindingly.
jack
Fuck.
There is a sound like a building being demolished from the inside.
Next to Jack the wall explodes, Nina surging through on strength alone, grappling him from the side. They careen on her momentum into the opposite wall, nearly caving it in.
He punches her in the face, her sunglasses flying off with a slight spray of blood from her mouth.
cut to:
In slow motion, the sunglasses hit the floor .
cut to:
He draws a nasty knife and slashes out at her.
The blow connects. He drives the knife deep into her chest.
She collapses, her head coming to rest next to the sunglasses.
cut to:
The sunglasses. She catches the reflection of her face. Bloodied and bruised. Some other Nina, long ago, not recognizing the monster within.
Her breath AMPLIFIES. The sounds of the hallway fade. Her breath slows, going softer…
cut to:
Jack draws out a gun and shoots her twice in the chest. Her body barely flinches. The sound is hushed. She sees the flash reflected in the glasses…
girl's voice (O.S.)
Mommy…
Nina's eyes begin to fade, and she watches this in the reflection.
girl's voice (o.S. Louder)
Mommy? They say you only have one more minute. Please help me.
Jack stands above her gloating. He holds the knife above her, laughing.
Immediately she catches his arm from both sides with her hands, snapping it and sending the knife to the floor. She gets up, slowly but surely. Tapped to her limit.
jack
You're fucking dead.
nina
Then come with me.
He screams in anguish, drives his other fist at her but she catches it. He kicks, and she jumps sideways into the air, as if gravity didn't matter.
In midair she launches three kicks at his face…
Each connecting, driving him back. His face turning into pulp.
As she drops to the ground smoothly she hears from behind the final door…
young girl (O.S.)
MOMMY! MOMMY! HELP!
voice
You have thirty seconds.
He gets up quickly and headbutts her. She falls back. He sits upon her, slamming her in the solar plexus.
But it hurts him. It's like punching metal. He winces and shakes his hand, now limp.
And her hand shoots up, seizes it, and breaks his fingers before his eyes.
Her feet shoot down and she impossibly bends, standing, throwing him to the ground.
She rears back her foot, as if winding it up in a cartoon…
And sends it flying forward, kicking him in the crotch. It sends him scooting along the ground ten feet. He screams in anguish.
She comes up to him and does it. Again.
His hand goes for the knife. He drives it into her leg.
She doesn't flinch. She doesn't know pain.
She grabs him by the hair and drags him the rest of the way to the final door. She flings him at it, the door pounding beneath his weight and the force of her blow. She stands him up by it. He can barely move.
She drives the perfect kick at his head, connecting with his neck, snapping it and sending him through the door, blowing it open.
She walks through. Planting one foot on Jack's corpse.
cut to:
In the middle, a bald and bespectacled middle aged man, sitting elegantly, bemused concentration on his face. His eyes don't turn from a monitor before him.
cut to:
The monitor. A security camera flickers from the hallway to the room. Nina stands before him. A counter with digits flashes, stopped.
00:06:23
voice
Six seconds to spare. After achieving the impossible, that's not bad.
Nina takes her gaze from him to look around the room. It's in stark contrast to the hotel she seemed to have been in. Featureless white plastic panels line the walls. Everything is sterile. Flourescent lights abound. People in white coats survey her, check monitors and computer systems. A large bizzare looking hospital bed lies behind the bald man. And she recognizes his voice, as the man on the phone.
nina
Where's my daughter?
Two men in white coats approach Nina.
WHITE COAT
Please hold still for a moment. And don't you worry. We'll fix this.
One of the white coats rips off her sleeve, revealing her gunshot arm. He presses on her shoulder and a seam opens. He produces an enormous industrialized machine and jacks it into the opening. A drill sound begins.
Nina stares in disbelief, somehow tranquil.
The drill stops. Nina watches as the men remove her arm. Except that it isn't flesh and blood. It's wires and chrome, with flesh and blood there somewhere.
voice
Your daughter's here. We're finishing her now.
In the background, another white coat removes an enormous cabled housing that seems to be plugged into an ordinary little girl's head. Her eyes flicker open. She looks at Nina.
little girl
Mo - m - my.
The little girl's mouth doesn't move in time with the words.
voice
Oh well, still a few bugs to iron out. Don't worry, you'll forget all this. Rather, we'll wipe it clean from you. It's a nasty memory, I'm sure. But rest in the knowledge that the men you killed weren't human, cyborgs like you. What they lacked was your new programming. A maternal instinct program, which I coded myself, and I'm quite impressed. Apart from your programming, they were your physical equals.
nina
What are you doing to me? Am I dreaming?
voice
The funny thing is, you might dream this. But you'll never know that it's real. Because we're going to give you a new life, a real life. With a daughter, and Jack your husband, and you love each other, and have a house in the suburbs. And it will be far more real than this, this test. Which you passed with flying colors. And you'll wait there, until we need you. You might have the odd nightmare, but rest assured, if anything bad ever does happen, we've given you the skills to cope with it.
nina (fading)
Am… I going… To wake up soon?
The white coats jack a device into the back of Nina's head. Her eyes begin to dim.
nina
This isn't real. I own my life… My daugther…
voice
You're very wrong. We own you…
There is a sharp mechanical click as the device drives home into Nina's spinal cortex. Everything fades to static…
fade out:
smash cut to:
A bright sunny day in the suburbs. The little girl stands in the yard of a bright yellow house, playing with a doll. Sitting on the lawn. Some kids bicycle up the yard.
kid #1
Hey, there's that weird girl.
kid #2
She's such a freak. She's always happy and just stares at people.
kid #1
Come on.
The kids leave their bikes and walk up to the little girl.
kid #1
Hey freak, what you doing?
The other kid rips the doll out of her hands…
cut to:
Nina. Clean, shiny. Almost new. Not a single hair out of place. Baking. She sips some lemonade from a tall glass.
Little girl (O.S.)
MOMMY! MOMMY! HELP!
cut to:
The glass as it shatters in Nina's hand.
cut to:
Nina's face. The grim resolve returns. She slides on a pair of sunglasses.
cut to:
She heads for the door at the end of the kitchen, walking with the pace of a metronome… Each footstep an amplified bass hit. Into the sunlight.
Badass to the bone. Hardwired the wrong way…
fade to white
end