Mission Impossible II

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 By Robert Towne Revised. 12/4/99 NOTE: THE HARD COPY OF THIS SCRIPT CONTAINED SCENE NUMBERS AND SOME "SCENE OMITTED" SLUGS. THEY HAVE BEEN REMOVED FOR THIS SOFT COPY. FADE IN: A WORN SATCHEL (MOVING - DAY) is being carried by a world weary middle European wearing a black armband.VLADIMIR NEKHORVICH exits a gleaming building, pausing for a moment, under a motto clearly visible above his head, 'Where the future is now'.He checks the time. INSERT - WATCH set in Countdown Mode.It's at 19 hours forty-seven minutes and sixteen seconds and dropping, 19:37.15,:14,:13,:12 etc. O.S. children are singing: Ring a ring a rosy/a pocketful of posy/ a tissue a tissue/we all fall down. Nekhorvich looks to see children at play outside the adjacent Natural History Museum.They are moving in and around an odd freeform sculpture. POV - SCULPTURE AND CHILDREN a blur where the sculpture seems to be distorting the children, almost like mirrors in a fun house. NEKHORVICH wipes his eyes, a horn honks.He looks toward the sound. MOVING SHOT - SATCHEL (INT. AIRPORT SECURITY - DAY) on the belt that takes it thru X-Ray.On the other side a guard opens the satchel and pokes thru a few toilet articles, personal items, books, a battleship gray digital camera and - in a small plastic container marked 'S.G.' - a small, square shiny object, hi-tech and at odds with the other items.She pulls out an urn- shaped vessel. GUARD What's this, then?