"SKYFALL" (2012)

SKYFALL

Screenplay by

Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan

We’re moving down a dark corridor.

Then, emerging from the darkness.

Ice blue eyes.

BOND cautiously moves through the tight hallway. Gun ready.

We have no idea where we are. We hear distant city noises outside.

He rounds a corner.

At the end of hall: open door.

Dead body.

Bond picks up his pace. Gets to the door. Nudges it open. Aiming.

Bond enters. Eyes take it in.

Scene of carnage. Another dead body. Euros scattered around. Empty metal briefcase. Laptop, backed ripped off, hard drive missing. Signs of struggle.

And a dying MI-6 agent on the floor. Gasping for breath. Eyes pleading up at Bond.

Bond moves to him quickly, checks his pulse:

A voice crackles through the darkness.

It’s M:

M (V.O.) Where is it? Is it there?

Bond looks over to the laptop.

M (V.O.) Are you sure?

Bond works urgently to staunch the bleeding.

Ronson looks up at him. Eyes desperate.

M (V.O.) They must have it -- get after them.

M (V.O.) We don’t have the time.

M (V.O.) Leave him.

Ronson hears this too. Their eyes meet.

Bond sets Ronson down. There’s another door out. He heads toward it.

One glance back.

The secret agent dying alone.

Bond races through a corridor.

Down a dark stairway.

Bursts out to--

Blaze of color and crowd and noise.

Teeming Istanbul street.

Bond stops for a millisecond, looks around. Then a Land Rover screeches up. Bond jumps in. It takes off.

EVE is driving. She’s a smart and capable MI-6 field agent.

They are following an Audi as it maneuvers through the crowded streets:

The Audi suddenly zooms ahead, it’s picked up the tail--

Eve pursues--

She’s a superb driver. She screeches around corners at breakneck speed, always just on the verge of losing control but not.

M is pacing in her busy office, her redoubtable Chief of Staff BILL TANNER close by.

Her Executive Assistant, VANESSA, and other MI-6 personnel are standing by and manning monitors.

She nods.

Bond lurches as Eve takes a corner too tightly -- smash -- the mirror on Bond’s side of the car is shorn off.

She swerves the car to the other side and sheers off that mirror as well.

She smiles and floors it, narrowly missing the local traffic.

The pursuit continues. She really is good.

The cars screech past three Istanbul motorcycle cops -- who take off in pursuit--

In the market square, Bond sees his chance as the two cars speed towards and into the crowded market square.

Eve jams down on the clutch -- Bond reaches over -- grabs the steering wheel -- the car lurches to the right --

They slam into the Audi--

The Audi skids around -- Eve’s car pushes it forward -- for a moment Bond has a close view of his quarry--

Then the Audi hits the steps of a statue in the square -- and flips over dramatically--

--sails through the air right over them--

And then crashes down on top of a stall. Upside down.

Meanwhile, Bond and Eve screech to a stop.

She ducks then--

Smash!

Bullets shatter the windscreen--

Eve’s down -- her seat is shredded -- a man has pulled himself from the wrecked Audi ... This is PATRICE: a saturnine, lethal assassin.

Patrice has a specialized automatic with a machine-gun like magazine attached -- he sprays bullets toward Bond

Just then, the Istanbul motorcycle cops roar into the square.

Patrice fires at them too, taking them down--

CLICK--

Patrice’s gun is out of ammunition. He quickly ejects the double magazine. He’s about to reload when--

Bond returns fire--

Patrice quickly holsters his weapon, grabs one of the police bikes and speeds off--

Bond exchanges a quick look with Eve.

Bond leaps on a motorcycle and takes off in pursuit of Patrice.

Eve smashes out the remainder of the front windscreen with the heel of her hand, and heads off in pursuit.

Eve screams out the window as she is backing up:

Patrice roars through the insanely congested walkway-- zipping past street bollards, people, animals, markets, tourists, bikes, food stalls--

Bond in close pursuit--

Eve follows as best she can, but her car can’t make it past the street bollards lined across the walkway.

She catches glimpses of Bond and Patrice, but they are leaving her behind.

She veers off.

M and Tanner watch the pursuit on GPS. (Eve’s car has a homing transmitter.) Other screens show satellite and CCTV images.

Tanner notes M is unusually tense.

M You both know what’s at stake here ...We cannot afford to lose that list.

The city zips past.

Bond gets closer. The two bikes only a few feet apart.

Weaving in and out. Like they’re linked. Bond won’t give an inch.

Patrice races through a series of increasingly narrow alleys and into a small square. People leap back and flatten themselves against the walls as the two bikes barrel past--

Patrice slips through a tiny gap between a moving car and the alley wall--

Finally, Patrice shrieks around a corner. There is a car in his way --

Bond, relentless, pursues--

Patrice realizes he is stuck -- almost.

He jerks the bike and ascends a STAIRWAY -- Bond after him--

They jolt up the stairs, and through an archway... and we discover they are--

ON THE ROOFTOPS OF THE GRAND BAZAAR

-- all of Istanbul beyond them, a breathtaking vista.

The two riders scream off across the rooftops.

BACK AT MI-6:

Tanner is watching the GPS.

ON THE ROOF:

Patrice and Bond flash over the rooftop.

Patrice glances back -- just can’t shake Bond--

In frustration Patrice makes a desperate maneuver, he veers sharply and accelerates--

Bond sees what’s coming--

Patrice SMASHES THROUGH A HIGH WINDOW--

Bond braces himself and pursues--

It’s a spectacular leap to--

Everyone inside spins and gapes as--

The two motorcycles SMASH through the high window -- arcing dramatically--

They slam down and race on--

Inside the Grand Bazaar now, they roar through a maze of shops and stalls--

Mobs of shoppers and tourists jump out of the way as the two bikes zoom past spice markets and food stalls, brass works and wool dying shops--

Finally Patrice cuts back and forth through columns and archways, visible and then not, Bond weaving after him.

Eve is on a four-lane highway. There’s red traffic lights and an impossible snarl of traffic ahead--

She’s going to be trapped in the jam--

Eve instantly spins the wheel, reverses -- CRASH -- damaging her vehicle’s GPS satellite--

Eve shoots across the median -- and heads the other way-- into the opposing traffic!

Patrice has now pulled ahead. But Bond is making up the difference.

They are on a four lane highway bridge over a railroad. A train chugs past beneath them.

Suddenly--

Eve heads down the road from the other direction -- against the traffic -- cars beeping wildly--

A big truck screeches to avoid her -- loses control, crashing and tumbling to its side -- spilling construction debris, livestock, fruit, etc, everywhere--

The big truck finally tumbles to a stop -- debris everywhere--

Patrice’s way is blocked.

Eve’s car spins to a stop -- she’s instantly out of the car with her gun steady and aimed.

Patrice stops. Sees Eve. Turns.

Sees Bond screeching up behind him.

They’ve got him. He’s trapped.

Or is he?

Patrice leaps off the motorcycle and he runs --

Pedestrians take cover. Eve gets off a couple of shots -- but Patrice vaults over the edge of the bridge--

Disappearing into space--

Eve runs and looks-- shoots again --

Patrice has landed safely on top of the train passing below.

Bond looks down, he can see the end of the train nearing.

He’s going to need the momentum.

His eyes narrow. He holsters his gun. He revs the bike hard. The back tire spins. Smoke.

He takes off.

Speeds toward the edge of the bridge -- hits the curb -- jerks the handlebars, nose of the bike up--

Bond flies.

Off the bridge.

Sails through the air.

On the bike.

End of the train approaching below.

Bond leaps from the bike -- bike sails away.

He just makes it!

The bike bounces away and is smashed to bits on the track.

Bond falls hard -- scrambles to grab on -- pulls himself up.

CONTINUED: (2)

ABOVE:

Eve stares in disbelief.

M IN LONDON:

M What’s happened?

M What do you mean “on the train?”

M Well get after them, for God sake.

Bond has landed on a flatbed train car with heavy construction machinery and cars chained to it. He scrambles over them, in pursuit of Patrice.

Patrice is on a passenger car, loading a single magazine.

Patrice sees Bond, sprays bullets--

MEANWHILE:

Eve is speeding along a bumpy road. She makes a turn, drives parallel alongside the train. People leap out of the way. They are on the outskirts of the city now --

She has quick glimpses of Bond and Patrice--

AT MI-6:

M is prowling anxiously ... The satellite image flickers--

The image snaps out. All the monitors are dark now.

M (to Eve) We’ve lost tracking. We’re blind here. What’s going on?

Meanwhile, Tanner works desperately to get some intel:

Bond is out of ammunition. He takes cover, darting into the cab of a huge construction digger.

Thinking quickly, Bond powers up the digger’s arm, swings it around.

But Patrice’s powerful bullets slice through the steel of the digger’s cab--

Bond is hit!

Right shoulder torn apart - his gun arm - he instinctively reaches up to stop the heavy bleeding.

Bond loses control of the digger arm, and it swings into a line of cars on the flatbed, crashing into them and sending two cars flying from the train.

WITH EVE:

A huge CRASH as the cars fall from the train.

She swerves, and narrowly avoids them both, the second car bouncing entirely over the Land Rover.

M (V.O.) (re: sound of crash) What was that?!

WITH BOND:

With his good arm, Bond regains control of the digger. He raises the digger’s arm to protect himself, like a shield--

Patrice keeps firing -- his bullets ricochet off the digger’s giant claw--

BACK WITH BOND:

Patrice is maneuvering into position to get a shot at Bond.

CONTINUED: (2)

Now Bond has an idea. He quickly pulls the gears on the digger and jerks off the break--

The mighty machine lurches forward!

Bond presses the gas hard--

The engine howls -- the digger lurches again -- then snaps the chains holding it and rumbles forward!

The digger smashes and crushes the cars on the flat-bed in front of it -- rolling up and over them!

Patrice continues to fire--

WITH BOND:

Bond continues to rumble and lurch the digger forward -- over the cars -- toward Patrice--

Patrice, on the next train car, fires at the pneumatic release between the two cars--

A blast of compressed air -- the train cars uncouple--

Eve sees the train cars slowly drifting apart--

Bond pulls at the levers which control the digger’s claw arm--

Eve watches in amazement as the digger’s crane arm starts to rear up--

Bond controls it--

Patrice fires --

The digger’s arm reaches out -- the claw slams down on back of the next train car--

Patrice has no more ammunition! The gunfire suddenly stops. He tosses the gun aside and backs away.

Bond is already out of the cab--

He climbs onto the claw arm and clambers up and along it dramatically--

Finally he leaps from the claw arm.

CONTINUED: (3)

Just as the digger arm rips off a large section of the roof of the passenger carriage!

He lands in the carriage amongst the astonished passengers.

M (V.O.) 007, are you all right?

M (V.O.) What’s going on? Report!

WITH PATRICE:

On top of the train, Patrice thinks Bond has fallen and is satisfied he is dead. He prepares to climb down.

But they are coming to a tunnel. Patrice ducks down. The train zooms into the tunnel.

A moment of blackness.

INSIDE THE TRAIN:

Bond steadies himself. In pain, his wound bloody--

He pushes through the car--

WITH EVE:

Still in pursuit. The train moves out of the tunnel into light.

Bond is now standing right in front of Patrice!

Bond slams him in the face.

Patrice falls, kicks out a leg, tripping Bond--

Bond and Patrice grapple on the roof of the car, rolling and fighting awkwardly -- Bond’s wounded shoulder is in agony--

WITH EVE:

She’s driving up into the mountains now -- a treacherous, twisting road, the train occasionally visible.

CONTINUED: (4)

WITH BOND:

Bond and Patrice roll across the top of the train car--

Then Bond sees it: hanging around Patrice’s neck -- an encasement containing the laptop’s hard drive.

Bond grabs the hard drive -- tries to rip it off

They both grab for it and struggle desperately as--

They zoom in to a second tunnel -- sudden darkness -- it’s disorienting--

The tunnel is inches above their heads -- they must flatten themselves--

Patrice tries to force Bond’s head up to the tunnel roof--

WITH EVE:

Meanwhile, Eve is now driving at speed slightly ahead of the train.

The road snakes along the cliff side parallel to the tracks.

BACK AT MI-6:

WITH EVE:

And now we see what lies up ahead:

The train is about to cross a very high bridge over a raging river leading to a waterfall.

Up ahead we see that the road dead-ends the other side of the bridge. Eve races to the end of the road.

Eve screeches to a stop. Leaps out of the car with the rifle and scope. Eve moves to the edge of the road and takes aim.

The train emerges from the tunnel.

WITH BOND:

Meanwhile, on the roof of the train, Bond and Patrice still exchange savage blows.

The train is getting closer.

A clear view of the train as it snakes over the bridge...

She can see Bond and Patrice grappling on the roof. Everything is happening very fast. She looks through the scope:

AT MI-6:

ON THE TRAIN:

Bond and Patrice struggle. Below the train, a treacherous fall to the waterfall and river far below--

Bond can hear Eve and M on his earpiece:

AT MI-6:

M is isolated.

All the screens are down. Everyone watches M.

M (V.O.) Can you get into a better position?

ON THE OVERPASS:

Eve’s POV through the scope: Bond and Patrice locked together.

CONTINUED: (2)

She blinks away sweat. Finger tensing on the trigger.

The train’s about to disappear.

ON THE TRAIN:

Bond and Patrice roll across the train roof--

Bond can hear M and Eve on his earpiece--

The train’s starting to go into the tunnel!

ON THE OVERPASS:

Eve still has the gun trained on them.

Seconds left now.

AT MI-6-:

It’s now or never.

M Take the shot... I said, take the shot...

M Take the bloody shot.

SIMULTANEOUSLY:

Eve fires--

Bond and Patrice twist--

Eve’s shot slams into Bond!

His whole body recoils violently -- shot in the side and ribs -- blood sprays -- the impact is huge -- sending him sailing from the car--

Bond flies through the air--

Off the train--

He falls, past the train, past the tracks--

Down toward the river and waterfall below--

ON THE OVERPASS:

CONTINUED: (3)

Eve watches, horrified--

AND WITH BOND:

As he falls.

And falls.

Cart-wheeling awkwardly through the air.

Dead weight.

Finally slamming into the river.

ON THE BRIDGE:

A final glimpse of Patrice clutching the hard drive, looking back at Eve in victory as the train disappears into the tunnel--

AT MI-6:

M and Tanner wait, breathless.

M’s face.

Registers this.

AT THE RIVER:

The river rips his body toward a waterfall. And then he’s over the edge. Crashing and tumbling down. The rushing water carrying him at incredible speed.

His body contorting like a rag doll.

Then hits the river below.

White water explodes around him.

And then it’s silent, dreamlike...

As we descend with him under the water...

Sinking...

Into the deep...

Into black...

CONTINUED: (4)

And from black...

CREDITS.

Sheets of cold rain.

The distinctive MI-6 building on the Thames. Mostly dark this late.

A few lights on in an upper floor.

An ugly old Union Jack bulldog paperweight. A glass of whiskey.

M sits at her computer.

“Commander James Bond, C.M.G., R.N., Obituary...”

The glowing cursor on her screen blinks.

She looks at the words.

A long beat.

She continues typing.

Grey weather hasn’t improved much.

M’s staff car drives through Whitehall. Turns a corner.

M’s staff car pulls up before an imposing building.

M and Tanner emerge from the car and head up the stairs to the entrance. She’s angry.

M It’s like being summoned to the headmaster’s study.

M Bloody waste of my time is what I call it.

Beautiful office. Nice view. All the signs of just moving in. Boxes being unpacked. Files spread about.

GARETH MALLORY.

Impeccably tailored. Trim and controlled. Mallory pours M a glass of brandy.

M instantly dislikes his slightly plummy accent. There’s a bit of the old-school dandy about him ... And something else. Something steely.

M I think that would be a good idea.

The powerful understatement is not lost on M. She stiffens.

M Well you can tell him that my operatives are pursuing every avenue.

M I’ve considered every option.

M Forgive me, but why am I here?

Mallory pauses. The eyes chill.

M Are we to call this “civilian oversight?”

This stops M cold.

M You’re firing me.

She stands.

M I’m not an idiot, Mallory. I know I can’t do this job forever, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to leave the department in worse shape than I found it.

CONTINUED: (2)

She starts to go.

M Oh, to hell with dignity ... I’ll leave when the job’s done.

She goes.

Mallory stares after M, his expression unreadable.

M and Tanner head back to MI-6.

She’s pretending to read the Guardian.

He gets urgent news on his cellphone.

He turns his computer so she can see it. Images flash past, trying to trace a signal...

Geo-map images on Tanner’s computer flash past... the globe ... Europe ... England...

M (to driver) Get us back to Base as soon as possible.

The driver turns on a siren alarm and floors it. The car speeds through traffic.

The images on Tanner’s computer localize further ... and he’s shocked by what he sees...

M What?

M No. Track it. We have to know where it’s coming from.

M How the hell did they get into our system?

M Shut it down!

Tanner’s computer is now linked into the monitor in her office, shows the same image.

The pixilated picture becoming clearer.

It’s an animated headshot of M ... From about 15 years ago, inserted against a background of the Union Jack.

M What is this...?

The headshot is replaced by a skull. Animated flames eat the image.

On Tanner’s screen, the words appear:

CONTINUED: (2)

THINK ON YOUR SINS.

They stare. Stunned.

Meanwhile, the car has been stopped at a security checkpoint on Vauxhall Bridge. The MI-6 building in the distance.

M climbs out angrily...

... M snaps at the guards:

M Oh for God’s sake just get out of the way! Don’t you recognize the--

Then--

Without warning--

Just down the bridge--

A huge gas explosion tears through MI-6--

The top floor is destroyed -- exploding into the river, debris flying -- cascading ball of flame--

M is knocked back by the force of the percussion -- she feels the heat of the blast.

She rights herself and stares.

As the top floor of MI-6 burns.

The ugly black smoke billowing up.

Her face.

Shock and anguish.

James Bond is having sex.

Not gently.

He slams against a BEAUTIFUL WOMAN ferociously. She’s just as ferocious in response. It’s not playful, it’s animal.

Her fingernails rake over his flesh. Painful. He doesn’t mind.

And his body is a nightmare ... The signs of his recent ordeal are everywhere ... the ugly bullet holes, unprofessionally stitched up ... the shattered right shoulder, the injured ribs ... the scars.

This is not the 007 we know.

A LITTLE LATER:

They’re in bed. Bond is finishing off a Heineken.

She reaches out to stroke his chest.

She watches him, saddened.

A single naked bulb. Roaches scatter into the corners.

Outside, the view of the sea beyond, the sound of waves.

Bond catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

Christ.

He’s unshaven. Eyes bleary. Haunted.

He opens a pill bottle. Swallows a couple.

Bond walks along a small stretch of beach toward a distant bar. Sex tourists. Girls. Bars. Market stalls.

Even in his current state there’s something about Bond. He stands aloof. He’s different. Dangerous.

People stay away from him.

A scorpion, rising up into frame in close up.

Bond is balancing the animal on the back of his hand ... Meanwhile, he lifts a glass to his lips. Does he dare take a sip?

The sweaty crowd pounds and stomps rhythmically.

The drink and the scorpion get closer and closer. Bond drinks. The scorpion twitches. Bond doesn’t flinch.

Then, cool as anything, he lowers his hand back down to the bar, flips the empty glass over on top of the scorpion. The crowd cheer. Money changes hands. Bond holds out his hand to receive his cut.

DAWN:

Bartender cleans the bar around him.

Bond awake. Bleary. He leans over the bar, helps himself to another drink.

Hears the sound of a tinny TV:

Bond glances up ... he’s hazy, just emerging ... he sees the TV reflected in the mirror over the bar...

Bond turns, looks at the TV...

CNN is replaying the aftermath of the attack ... news copter shots of the smoke billowing up from the burning MI-6 building ... emergency equipment and vehicles arriving...

Bond stares.

MI-6.

Under attack.

We push in.

The ice blue eyes.

Hardening.

Eight coffins. Draped with the Union Jack.

M stands before them.

She’s alone in the staging area before the state funerals.

Anger in her eyes.

Tanner enters.

M I’m going to find whoever did this.

Raining.

We see M’s staff car pull up.

She emerges and goes to the front door.

M enters the hallway.

She’s exhausted from the funerals. She turns on the light. Tosses off her coat. Goes into her darkened sitting room. Moves to get a drink.

Then -- she stops. Senses something.

It’s Bond. Standing in the darkness at the other end of the room.

M Where the hell have you been?

M turns on the dining room light.

If she’s shocked by his appearance, she covers it well.

M Why didn’t you call?

M Ran out of drink where you were, did they?

She doesn’t take it.

M I made a judgement call.

M It was the possibility of losing you, or the certainty of losing all those other agents. I made the only decision I could and you know it.

M What do you expect? A bloody apology? (MORE)

CONTINUED: (2)

M (CONT'D) You know the rules of the game. You’ve been playing it long enough. We both have.

M Speak for yourself.

M No.

Beat.

M If you believe that then why did you come back?

M Because we’re under attack. (beat) And you know we need you.

A deep look between them.

All business again.

M You’ll have to be de-briefed and declared fit for active service. You can only return to duty when you’ve passed the tests, so take them seriously ... And a shower might be in order.

CONTINUED: (3)

M Oh, we’ve sold your flat. Put your things into storage. Standard procedure on the death of an unmarried employee with no next of kin ... (off his look) ... You should have called.

She heads out, tossing back:

M Well, you’re bloody well not sleeping here.

Staff car moves through rush hour traffic, heading toward MI-6.

Bond is in the back staring out the window. London seems alien.

The car suddenly diverts down a ramp, heading underground.

The car continues underground ... through a series of tunnels, deeper and deeper...

The car is slowing down.

They leave the car and move toward a nondescript metal door...

Tanner pushes through the metal door...

Bond and Tanner move down the corridor.

They turn a corner.

Ahead of him, the floor drops away to reveal a network of tunnels, catacombs and chambers. Serpentine hallways and fine old arched caverns.

A subterranean world beneath London.

Currently it’s buzzing with activity as the new headquarters are set up.

We are watching the scrolling electronic line of the heart monitor. It is erratic and jagged.

Bond is undergoing his crucial series of examinations. Tanner with him. Two white-coated doctors observe.

Bond’s walking on an inclined treadmill, his back loaded down with weights. A web of heart monitoring sensors strapped to him.

It’s humiliating and Bond is struggling.

LATER: Bond’s doing sits-ups now, straining. The doctors continue to monitor.

LATER: Bond’s doing pull-ups now. He’s really having trouble. The doctors take notes.

Bond is gasping for breath.

Tanner goes. Bond waits for him to leave and then drops down off the bar, doubles over, gasping for air.

The Walther PPK ... Bond aims ... His gun hand is shaking.

He fires.

Misses the figure in the target entirely.

A marksmanship supervisor is watching. He raises an eyebrow.

Bond concentrates.

He fires.

Closer, but misses the figure again. Awful shot.

He is angry with himself. He concentrates. A mighty force of will.

He springs to action. Five shots fast. Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam.

Shots are spread out all over the target.

Not great. But better.

Bond knows he’s being observed. The old-fashioned one-way mirror is obvious.

He sits with DOCTOR HALL, an MI-6 psychologist. A respectable and smart older gentleman.

Bond really doesn’t want to be here.

Behind the mirror:

M and Mallory watch.

Doctor Hall consults a file on his lap. Photos and details about Bond’s life and missions.

CONTINUED: (2)

Behind the mirror, M doesn’t flinch.

Bond stops.

His eyes freeze over. He does not respond.

He stands. And walks out.

Behind the mirror:

Bond is getting dressed after his day of testing.

His body is aching. He flexes and rubs his injured right shoulder.

He stops. Something has occurred to him. He runs his fingers more closely over the skin of Patrice’s gunshot wound.

Bond walks to the sink, turns the water on. He takes a pen knife and then, determined, he cuts into his shoulder.

He holds his hand under the water, washes the blood away.

Three small shards of shrapnel. They glisten in the light.

AREA - NIGHT

Bond walks up to Tanner, who sits in an improvised office.

Bond drops an evidence bag in front of him - it contains the three shards of metal.

Tanner studies the evidence bag. Holds it up to the light.

Bond, in a new suit, pacing. Impatient. He checks his watch.

Then someone enters, a voice:

He glances up. It’s Eve.

She smiles.

Bond and Eve walk through the main office area. Other agents watch him. Could that be the famous 007?

He’s amused.

Tanner appears:

Bond heads toward Tanner.

He smiles, not turning.

She watches him go.

CLOSE ON the ugly old Union Jack bulldog paperweight on M’s desk.

M Your interior decorating tips have always been appreciated 007...

The door opens and in walks Mallory.

M 007... Gareth Mallory.

M I’ve just been reviewing Bond’s tests. (to Bond) Seems you’ve passed - by the skin of your teeth. You’re back on active service.

This comes as a surprise to Tanner.

Bond looks at him. Mallory is reasonable:

M If he says he’s ready, he’s ready.

CONTINUED: (2)

M What exactly are you implying?

M (steel) As long as I’m head of this department, I’ll choose my operatives.

Mallory takes this in.

He goes.

M exhales. Nods to Tanner.

Tanner shows Bond some ballistics on a computer:

Pictures on the computer. One is a grainy shot of Patrice.

CONTINUED: (3)

M You’re to go there and await further instructions. If he shows up, he’s yours. Find out who he works for and who has the list. Then terminate him for Ronson.

He stands, looks at M levelly.

Beat.

M No.

Bond looks back at her. He’s not so sure...

M Report to the new Quartermaster for your documentation. He hasn’t set up shop yet, but Tanner will put you two together... Good luck.

He starts to go. She stops him with:

M 007... (he turns in the doorway) ...You are ready for this?

Bond goes.

CONTINUED: (4)

M He didn’t.

She returns to work.

Bond goes up the steps of the National Gallery.

J.M.W. Turner’s “The Fighting Temeraire” fills the screen.

This magnificent painting shows a grand old ship being hauled to the scrap yard, an elemental sunset swirling overhead.

Bond is sitting, looking at the painting.

A slender young man in his twenties, moves in next to Bond. Bond has no idea who he is.

Bond looks at him.

Q rivets Bond, impressive in his intensity:

Q acknowledges the point. Bond respects that Q stood up to him.

Bond offers his hand.

(gives him papers) Ticket to Shanghai. Documentation and passport ... And this.

He gives Bond a special case. Inside: a new Walther PPK.

CONTINUED: (2)

Bond points to an empty cavity in the case.

Q gives Bond a small device, size of a stamp. Very low tech.

Bond presses a button: a tiny antennae on the device snaps up. He looks at Q.

Bond looks at his gadgets.

He looks at Q.

Bond smiles.

Q goes.

Bond watches him go. Smiles to himself:

Nightscape. Neon. Towers. Helicopters. Dazzling.

Brave New World indeed.

On the top of one of the skyscrapers, a lone figure cuts across a large hotel swimming pool. 70 stories up. It’s Bond.

He swims laps methodically, trying to get back in shape.

Helicopter lights blink back-and-forth through the night beyond.

LATER:

Bond sits on the edge of the pool. Slightly out of breath.

Bond is sitting at an elegant bar. City silently pulsing behind him.

Bond’s phone blinks. He’s getting a text:

EWA flight 226. 9pm.

He looks at it. Takes a moment.

Looks at himself in the mirror over the bar.

Are you ready for this, 007?

Peaked cap. Sunglasses. Black uniform.

Bond is dressed as a chauffeur. Alongside a row of other drivers. They all hold signs with their client’s names on them.

Disembarking passengers emerge from customs.

Patrice appears and heads off through a multi-tiered atrium.

Bond follows... he stays back, moving effortlessly through the traffic patterns of the crowd... Keeping Patrice in view in his peripheral vision and in reflections...

Bond is driving a limo, following Patrice in a cab.

They head toward the looming skyscrapers of downtown Shanghai.

Patrice’s taxi arrives at a darkened office tower. Building’s still under construction ... A huge construction crane looms over it.

The monolithic office tower soars up ninety floors: one of a ring of skyscrapers near the river.

Patrice steps out of the taxi carrying an aluminum briefcase. In the shadows, we see Bond’s car pull up.

Bond watches from outside as Patrice calmly strolls into the building, toward a security desk.

WITH BOND:

Pulling off his glove, Bond activates the Walther.

INSIDE WITH PATRICE:

The security guard looks up...

A silent flash ... The guard falls ... Patrice has shot him with cold, silent efficiency.

It’s dark, deserted and creepy. The cavernous building echoes.

Bond carefully moves through the lobby, gun ready. He passes the murdered security guard.

Turns a corner. Another dead guard.

He hears a noise. Looks up.

The noise is the sound of elevator doors opening.

Patrice steps to a glass elevator that climbs the interior of the towering atrium.

Patrice enters and presses the button for the 67th floor.

The elevator begins to rise.

As it ascends --

Bond bolts across the darkened lobby.

He makes a desperate dive --

Just makes it. He clings to the underside of the elevator.

He hangs there as the elevator slowly rises ... and rises ... and rises.

IT FINALLY STOPS AT THE 67TH FLOOR. STUNNING DROP BELOW BOND.

Bond dangles, sweat dripping, trying to keep his grip, as he waits for Patrice to leave the elevator and his footsteps to disappear completely.

It seems to take forever.

Finally Bond swings his legs up. Hooks one over. Begins to climb up. Forces the door open of the neighboring elevator. Exits into the corridor.

A blaze of colorful light illuminates Bond as he moves across the floor searching for Patrice. Then the light’s gone ... Then there’s a different blaze of bright light...

Huge LED advertising screens from skyscrapers outside light this dark floor bizarrely.

Chiaroscuro flashes of gigantic images -- a jellyfish, a flower blooming, a woman smiling -- blaze on and off. Glass partitions catch the glowing, fanciful LED lights in strange patterns. As Bond moves, he sees multiple reflections of his own image. The floor is eerily deserted. Under construction.

Bond snakes through the glass partitions. And now he sees Patrice, in a far corner of the room.

WITH PATRICE:

CLICK. He flips a special switch on the aluminum briefcase. The core of the briefcase separates and the rest of it ingeniously unfolds to form a sniper’s rifle.

He takes a glass-cutter from the case and places it on the window, cuts a small hole in the glass.

Patrice’s eyes go to the building directly across.

Something’s going on over there...

IN THE BUILDING ACROSS THE WAY:

It’s like seeing a play acted out. The window frames the scene like a proscenium arch.

And then she enters.

SEVERINE. Beautiful and composed.

Patrice can see Severine crossing the luxurious hotel suite... Her THREE SERIOUS BODYGUARDS in close proximity.

WITH BOND:

He moves closer. One minute the shifting lights revealing Patrice, the next reflecting Bond back at himself, exposing him.

He stops when he sees...

Severine.

Across the way... What’s going on here?

Severine checks the champagne. She turns: someone at the door. She goes to welcome her guests.

MEANWHILE:

Bond has manoeuvered his way through the glass partitions, and now approaches Patrice from behind, gun ready.

Patrice assembles his rifle watching the activity across the way. He removes the glass cutter.

High-pitched whine from outside. This high up the air pressure outside is ferocious.

Carefully positions the muzzle of the rifle by the hole.

Bond moves closer. Intrigued.

PATRICE’S POV: Severine has ushered in her guests.

An old Chinese man, clearly a man of great power, and his retinue of bodyguards and women ... Severine treats him with extreme deference.

She ushers him into a special chair she had repositioned.

CONTINUED: (2)

WITH PATRICE AND BOND:

Patrice prepares his shot.

Bond watches the events unfold across the way... The old man sits. A Bodyguard stands beside an easel with a sheet over it...

WITH PATRICE:

Patrice puts his finger on the trigger. Eye to the scope...

Bond gets a little closer, he’s in darkness behind Patrice...

As across the way, the Bodyguard pulls off the sheet... we see it’s a stolen Modigliani. “Woman with a Fan”... Priceless...

The old man leans forward, pleased, yellow-toothed smile... Giving Patrice a clear shot...

WITH PATRICE AND BOND:

Patrice pulls the trigger.

Thump.

The window shatters dramatically. Before anyone in the room can react, Patrice fires again. Thump.

The old man’s head jerks back. Blood. He drops like a stone. His bodyguards rush to him. The women scream.

WITH PATRICE AND BOND:

Then--

The LED lights change -- Patrice can suddenly see Bond reflected in the window ahead of him!

He spins -- rifle ready-- shoots straight at Bond. A glass partition explodes. It wasn’t Bond, only his reflection!

Now the real Bond lunges forward, knocks the rifle barrel aside--

Patrice instantly fighting back--

They grapple right by the window, Patrice tries to get his rifle into position, they’re locked together--

Then, in the struggle--

CONTINUED: (3)

The rifle goes off--

Blowing out the window right next to them!

Hurricane roar -- the wind ripping past -- howling air pressure--

Brutal fight-- the disorienting LED lights flashing on and off, illuminating and silhouetting the fight in colorful bursts--

The deadly drop through the window gapes -- they are in constant danger of falling out -- 67 stories down--

Vertiginous struggle at the window--

ACROSS THE WAY:

Aftermath of the hit... The bodyguards are rushing the body out of the room... Severine pretends to be reacting in horror to the murder...

IN THE FIGHT:

Bond has got the advantage--

He gets the leverage--

He flips Patrice out of the window--

But Patrice stabs a hand up -- grabs Bond’s hand -- is pulling Bond with him--!

Patrice tries to hold on--

He dangles from Bond’s hand--

Patrice is slipping. Bond shouts over the wind:

Before Patrice can respond--

He slips--

And he falls, gone into the roaring wind--

Bond lurches back from the window.

CONTINUED: (4)

He collapses. Gasping for air.

He can’t stand. Too much pain. Too tired. He’s frustrated and angry with himself. Bond steadies himself--

ACROSS THE WAY:

The LED lights flash on -- Severine has a momentary view of Bond -- then the lights flash out -- when they go on again, Bond is gone--

She stares.

WITH BOND:

He’s seen the core of the aluminum briefcase. Looks inside.

The fitted compartments the glass-cutter and the suction cup ... and one other fitted compartment.

He removes a casino chip:

The Floating Dragon.

He turns it over:

Macao.

Night establishing shot.

M is at home. Coffee on the table, TV on in the corner, sound muted.

She is staring at her computer screen-- the blurry picture of herself from Hong Kong. Her focus on the man beside her.

Then-- Her screen blinks.

A fruit machine appears, spins and settles on a row of skulls.

What’s going on?

M clicks on the flashing “HERE.”

There’s a Youtube link.

She clicks on it...

Youtube site comes up...

She gasps.

Five pictures ... Five names ... Details on where they are embedded ... The first five agents on the stolen list.

Their covers blown. In real time. Worldwide.

And she’s powerless to stop it.

For a moment, her adamantine reserve seems ready to crack. Only for a moment.

She snatches up her phone, presses the emergency button:

M (on phone) Tanner, he’s posted the first five names. Their cover’s blown. They’re in danger. Get them out now.

In the middle of the page appears:

FIVE MORE. EVERY WEEK.

Then something new blinks on her screen. She looks. More words appear:

THINK ON YOUR SINS.

The words hover there ominously.

We’re looking over the spectacular Macao harbor. A festival of lights this evening, with hundreds of illuminated ships, floating lights.

Bond is lathering up, about to shave. There’s a knock at the door.

He gets his Walther, keeps it by his body as he carefully moves to the door.

Opens it.

It’s Eve.

He goes back to the bathroom, continues preparing to shave.

She stands watching him.

He picks up his straight razor, ready to shave. Glances in the mirror. She’s in the doorway.

CONTINUED: (2)

Deftly flips the razor around, offers the handle to her.

Her eyes spark. She loves the challenge.

Bond sits. Eve kneels between his legs. It’s intimate and sexy. She takes the razor and carefully begins to shave him.

The razor stops. She smiles.

She dips down.

She carefully shaves under his chin, rises up again.

They are dangerously close now. He can feel her breath.

First time he’s been fully clean-shaven since Istanbul.

Bond stands immaculate in a motor launch as it chugs through Macao harbor. Fireworks dance in the night sky.

Tuxedo. Shaved. Eyes clear. Focused. Ready.

He looks like himself again.

He looks like James Bond.

It’s the Harbor Festival this evening so all the boats are illuminated with torches, running lights, and Chinese lanterns. More lights float on the surface of the water.

The boat emerges at a more secluded bay.

Passing through an enormous dragon’s mouth arch.

And his destination awaits:

An enormous floating casino,The Floating Dragon.

...We move with Bond through this exotic and sinister world. A place of mists and shadows.

He moves over a pagoda bridge that spans an unusual central enclosure below: like a sand pit or arena. He glances down.

A “dragon” hisses back at him, jaws spread wide. It’s a real Komodo Dragon, one of three that prowl the hexagonal pit.

A beautiful woman gives Bond the eye as they pass on the bridge.

The usual roar of a casino is absent. No bright, flashing slot machines. The stakes are too high. The place is too dangerous. The corners too dark.

It’s Eve. She’s wearing a spectacular dress, ravishing.

Bond professionally sizes up the room while he talks on his earpiece.

As he makes his way toward the cashier’s cages.

Without looking, or him at her, Eve now crosses behind Bond.

Bond arrives at a CASHIER:

Presents the single casino chip he got in Shanghai.

She stops. Her eyes flick up to him. The smile returns.

She disappears into the back.

Bond’s eyes scan the casino.

A woman is standing at the top of the stairs.

Her back to Bond. Backless dress.

He’d recognize her anywhere.

Severine... from the hit.

A bodyguard catches the Bond’s look, whispers to her and nods towards Bond ... She turns.

Looks at Bond.

He smiles back. Charming and confident.

Just as he suspected, the casino FLOOR MANAGER emerges from the cashier’s area. His assistant carries an attache case. He offers it to Bond. The Floor Manager smiles ingratiatingly.

CONTINUED: (2)

Severine slowly begins to head down the stairs, across the casino ... her expression cool and enigmatic.

Her three bodyguards flank her.

Bond quickly opens the case. It’s packed with Euros. As he knew it would be. (Patrice’s payment for the Shanghai hit.)

The Floor Manager hands Bond some gambling chips.

He takes the attache case and heads to the gambling tables.

Severine approaches.

Her expression changes for only a millisecond. She’s good.

CONTINUED: (3)

She glances over her shoulder to the oppressive bodyguards.

Bond follows Severine across the main floor. Across the room, Eve watches.

As Severine walks ahead, Bond studies her from behind.

Eve is sitting at a table, watching Bond and Severine head to the bar. She’s jealous seeing Bond with such a beautiful woman.

Without breaking stride, Bond removes his ear-piece and drops it into her champagne glass.

Bond and Severine, having a drink. Intimate. Bond is watching the bartender prepare a Martini.

Severine’s bodyguards are nearby too...

Bond drops it casually, like a grenade.

She stops.

The world has suddenly become more serious.

He just stares at her evenly. No more games.

She covers by smoking her cigarette.... He notes her hand with the cigarette is shaking slightly ... and a tattoo on her wrist.

She exhales. Finally looks at him.

She stands to go. He grabs her wrist. The bodyguards tense.

She sits back down. Bond is relentless:

CONTINUED: (2)

She looks into his eyes deeply.

Judging.

Finally out with it:

He’s deadly serious.

She nods discretely toward her bodyguards:

She rises...

CONTINUED: (3)

She goes.

The bodyguards remain. Watching Bond. He finishes his drink.

Bond is on his way out, the attache case full of money with him. He strolls over the bridge above the hissing Komodo dragons.

The three bodyguards follow.

Bond stops as the bodyguards spread out strategically around him.

The bodyguards move closer.

Bond strikes quickly -- swings the attache case -- slams into Bodyguard #1, taking him down -- spins low as -- Bodyguard #2 steps forward, Bond drives the attache case into his knees --

BLAM! The Bodyguard #2 crumples.

Bodyguard #3 is fast -- Bond swings the case SMASHING it into his face, swings the case back at the rising Bodyguard #2 -- SLAM into his face. Bodyguard #3 advances swinging punches at Bond. Bond blocks with the attache case.

Bodyguard #1 has come to and starts to rise as Bond retaliates on Bodyguard #3, snap kicks him in the knee and swing drives the case into his stomach. Bodyguard #3 goes down hard just as --

SLAM!

Bodyguard #1, recovered now, throws himself into Bond brutally--

They fly back-- Smash through the railing and fall--

Amongst the Komodo dragons. Bond’s Walther has landed on the sand.

Bond battles the bodyguard as the great reptile predators emerge from the darkness and begin to circle them.

They must keep an eye on each other -- and the encroaching dragons.

Bodyguard #1 eyes the Walther. Bond sees him looking and as the bodyguard lunges for the weapon, Bond goes for it too, sending the gun sliding further across the sand. The bodyguard struggles free and goes to retrieve it.

Bond has been cleverly maneuvering the bodyguard into position.

He sees what the bodyguard does not:

One of the dragons slithering out of the darkness and approaching the bodyguard from behind.

Bodyguard #1 lifts Bond, slams him to the floor. Bond’s winded.

Bodyguard #1 grabs Bond’s gun -- turns triumphant. Smiles. Prepares to fire.

CLICK... CLICK...

Of course the palm-coded Walther won’t fire.

Bond takes advantage of his confusion, smiles dryly.

Bodyguard #1 stares at the gun, bemused, as--

The dragon is advances on him quickly, jaws open. SNAP.

Bond takes a few quick steps -- uses the back of one of the other dragons for a boost -- and jumps up--

Grabbing the edge of the bridge above, pulling himself up as the dragon drags Bodyguard #1 into the darkness--

But Bond finds himself face to face with a gun pointed right at him. One of the Bodyguards.

Suddenly -- a high heel shoe slams down on the Bodyguard’s wrist. It’s Eve. She slams the Bodyguard with the attache case -- knocking him out.

Bond climbs out of the pit. She offers him the attache case.

CONTINUED: (2)

Bond strolls away, coolly. A scream from the pit behind him.

The Chimera. A beautiful ocean-going yacht near the mouth of the harbor. The festival of lights can be seen in the distance.

The crew prepares to weigh anchor.

Severine is waiting. A knock on the door.

The yacht’s CAPTAIN appears in the doorway.

The Captain leaves. Severine is disappointed. Apparently Bond’s not coming.

She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror ... There’s a deep sadness in her eyes.

Severine in the shower, lets the water flow over her.

We linger with her for a moment.

Bond steps into the shower. He’s nude.

She turns.

They kiss as the water cascades over them.

Establishing Whitehall and the Thames at night.

BBC News intro ... M and Tanner enter. The the BBC Anchor speaks in front of a still image from the released video of a dead agent.

Headline on the screen: MI-6 IN CRISES.

The image snaps out.

Mallory has turned it off. M and Tanner are silent.

We’re beginning to see the military steel in Mallory.

M won’t give an inch:

M Look three of my agents are dead already ... Don’t embroil me in politics now.

A tense beat. Mallory sits at his desk.

Her blood boils.

M Standing in the stocks at midday? ... Who’s antiquated now?

They glare at one another. Impasse.

She looks at him.

M You don’t get this, do you? Whoever’s behind this, whoever’s doing it, he knows us. He’s one of us. He comes from the same place as Bond. The place you say doesn’t exist... the shadows.

The yacht sails by spectacular landscape and various islands as it heads out to open ocean.

Severine is standing, gazing over the prow.

Bond emerges from below decks. He notes the crew is alert.

Bond reaches down, discreetly takes out the small radio transmitter Q gave him earlier.

Activates it.

He goes to Severine.

She doesn’t even look at him. There’s fear on her face.

Gradually silhouettes begin to appear through the haze ... and the mist clears to reveal...

An island. Rising dramatically from the sea.

And rising from the island, a city.

An abandoned city.

Tower blocks echoing and decaying. Some crumbling in on themselves. It’s haunted ... Like a necropolis.

Bond hears the unmistakable sound of several AK-47s being cocked.

He turns to see the Captain and crew, their guns trained on Bond and Severine.

Bond and Severine led through the streets of a deserted city by the Captain and crew, at gunpoint. Their hands have been tied.

Beyond HUGE GATES, ahead of them is an extraordinary sight.

The deserted main street of the city.

Decaying shop fronts... abandoned cars... a ghost town.

As they walk:

Just then, Severine is led off down a side alley.

Bond is led off in the opposite direction by four of the armed Heavies. One last look from Severine.

And she’s gone.

Bond sitting. His hands are still tied.

Bond looks up to survey the room: A vast factory-like space, lined with computer terminals. A mad tangle of wires and cables, like the guts of an alien ... sweating old walls, gleaming supercomputers and glowing screens can be glimpsed in the wet, shadowy murk...

At the far end of the room a large elevator.

A noise, and the elevator begins to descend. Bond is wryly amused. This guy knows how to make an entrance...

The elevator doors open to reveal RAOUL SILVA.

He’s a physically commanding and a handsome man of Bond’s years.

Silva begins to walk toward Bond.

He is closer now...

And closer...

Now he is toe-to-toe with Bond. Studies Bond’s face minutely.

Beat.

Bond’s put it all together.

CONTINUED: (2)

Silva smiles ruefully.

BOND

He turns to a nearby desk. Indicates to Bond to look at a computer screen: the official results of Bond’s evaluations.

Bond appears surprised. Silva is relentless:

CONTINUED: (3)

Bond appears to be shaken by this, troubled.

Then...

He reaches out and runs his fingertips across the wounds on Bond’s shoulders and chest, pushing the unbuttoned shirt aside.

It’s sensual. A provocation.

Silva leans even closer, as if to kiss Bond.

He leans closer still. Whispers.

CONTINUED: (4)

He unties Bond.

He gestures to the computers.

CONTINUED: (5)

This amuses Silva.

Now they begin to walk back through the room, amongst the computers. Silva’s guards follow.

They push through a door to...

Blazing sunlight.

Bond blinks.

What he sees almost defies description.

A massive courtyard surrounded by abandoned buildings.

In the heart of the dead city.

Streets and avenues stretch away ... hot breezes blow dust across the pavement ... shattered windows ... weeds and ivy creep up the empty buildings ... a huge toppled statue lies shattered in the middle of the courtyard. A memory of Communism.

They walk. The armed guards keep close.

The ground around them is scattered with the sad results of the island’s desperate evacuation...

Strange and sometimes poignant odds and ends ... abandoned old toys ... cooking pots ... luggage ... clothes ... books...

He steps around an old baby carriage.

They turn a corner...

Bond stops.

For there.

Is Severine.

She’s standing fifty yards away, tied to a section of the shattered statue in the hot sun. Again, it’s almost sexual. Her head hangs down.

Is she dead?

A table has been set up ... A beautiful wooden box ... A bottle of rare Scotch ... Two shot glasses.

Silva pours two shots. Hands one to Bond.

Silva walks to Severine, taking his glass with him.

Whispers to her:

Severine moans, raises her head. She’s in a bad way.

He kisses her very deeply.

She looks at him, then at Bond.

CONTINUED: (2)

He balances his full shot glass on her head and returns to Bond.

Silva flips open the wooden box: two elegant target pistols.

Bond understands immediately: William Tell.

He hands Bond one of the pistols. He takes the other.

He leans in, whispers in Bond’s ear:

One of Silva’s guards puts his gun against Bond’s head.

Bond looks at him.

So be it.

Bond turns. Raises the pistol.

Points it at Severine...

His gun hand is shaking...

He tries to control his aim, just like he did so unsuccessfully before...

Silva enjoys his struggle...

Severine stares back at him...

Bond feels the muzzle of the guard’s gun pressed hard against his head...

Silva is excited by the growing tension...

Severine's eye’s implore...

The Scotch inside the shot glass vibrates as she begins to shake...

CONTINUED: (3)

A bead of sweat trickles down Bond’s face...

Bond fires.

BAM!

The bullet misses Severine. Hits the broken monument behind her. Silva laughs.

Silva instantly raises his pistol.

BAM!

Through the heart.

She slumps. Dead. The shot glass topples from her head.

The shots echo bizarrely in the deserted city. Finally echoing to silence.

Beat.

Bond finally turns to him.

Then:

BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!

-- in a flash Bond has attacked -- pivoting and grabbing the guard’s gun hand, twisting it back and firing, killing the guard -- grabbing the gun free, spinning to the other three guards, killing them all--

So fast and brutally efficient it takes our breath away.

Bond at his best.

CONTINUED: (4)

In the moment’s confusion, a panicked Silva takes off--

Bond aims his gun at Silva--

Silva slowly backs away.

Then...

Whoomp-whoomp-whoomp-whoomp.

And high above the island...

THREE R.A.F. rescue helicopters appear above Bond.

Silva gapes. Shocked.

Bond pulls out his small radio device again, the antennae deployed, light flashing:

The three helicopters hover dramatically above the island, as the sun sets.

Long corridor.

Shoes, striding purposefully.

It’s M. Tanner accompanies her.

M and Tanner enter.

The SECURITY GUARD rises. M looks toward a large opaque glass wall.

M Alright... Time to say hello.

The Security Guard uses a code key and places his palm against a security wall panel. The glass wall turns from opaque to clear... revealing...

A large vaulted Victorian chamber.

In the center of the large, dark room is a glass box: a cell. Brightly illuminated.

Silva sits in the box. He is now dressed in a prison issue boiler suit.

Bond stands nearby.

The door slides open.

M enters and approaches the cell.

Then Silva turns...

M stops dead.

Like she’s seeing someone come back from the grave.

Bond and Tanner share a look. M moves closer to the cell.

Bond is watching her like a hawk.

M and Silva look at each other. A beat.

It is deathly quiet.

When Silva speaks, he is amplified through a small speaker. His disembodied voice echoes in the chamber.

M Whereas I barely remember you at all.

Silva. Involuntary excited smile.

CONTINUED: (2)

M Not particularly. But then, you always were a slippery one.

M You flatter yourself.

M Regret is unprofessional.

He lets her words reverberate. Bond watches closely.

She doesn’t blink.

M Well, I hope it was worth it.

M tries not to show any of the emotion she is feeling.

CONTINUED: (3)

M Mr. Silva, you are going to be transferred to Belmarsh prison where you’ll be remanded in custody until the Crown Prosecution Service deem you fit to stand trial for -

The sudden emotion surprises M. She looks at him.

M Your name is on the memorial wall of the very building you attacked. I will have it struck off. Soon, your past will be as nonexistent as your future. I’ll never see you again.

She starts to go.

Glaring at her, he reaches into his mouth, high up into his palate, and with a hideous

CRACK--

He removes his upper palate -- it’s a prosthetic implant -- revealing a horrible row of broken, spiked teeth and burn tissue.

With the tooth and cheek implant gone, one side of his face and one bloodshot eye sag grotesquely.

He grins at M with his shards of teeth.

M stares in horror, turns on her heel and leaves.

Bond watches, then leaves.

Silva refits his prosthetic upper palate. As it cracks into place, he begins quietly laughing to himself.

The corridor adjoining the observation room.

Bond and Tanner follow M.

M is all business.

M Let me know what you recover from his computer. Has he transmitted the list? If so, to whom? I want this resolved.

Tanner starts to go. But M stops, turns to Bond--

M His name is Tiago Rodriguez. He was a brilliant agent. But he started operating beyond his brief, hacking the Chinese. The hand-over was coming up and they were on to him so I gave him up. I got six agents back in return and a peaceful transition.

Beat. There’s no more to say.

M (to Bond) I want to know what’s on that computer.

She heads out.

Bond watches her go. Concerned.

Q’s new headquarters is finally up and running.

Q has a whole team working at a series of stations: all trying to hack into Silva’s system ... The dozens of monitors flash different images: moving through Silva’s files.

Below them, beneath a glass floor, is the mainframe room, accessed by a series of sealed electronic security hatches.

Bond watches as Q carefully attaches cables to Silva’s laptop and then plugs it into the MI-6 computer system:

The computer screen fills with data.

Meanwhile...

Silva sits in a meditation pose.

Meanwhile...

One of Q’s assistants is getting some images from Silva’s computer.

On the screen: a complex network of confusing images. A strange maze of dimensions, lines and arrows.

Bond’s eyes seek order in the chaotic images.

M sits at a table with Tanner. Microphones before her.

Crowded room. High ranking politicians, bureaucrats, security guards, etc. No public or press, but a fixed camera pointed at M.

Mallory sits at a dais facing M, along with the other members of the Intelligence and Security Committee.

Eve is there, alongside the other executive assistants.

M readies the papers before her and then raises her head to face her inquisitors.

The Right Honorable CLAIR DOWAR, MP, mid 40’s, the formidable Chairperson, brings the meeting to order:

Meanwhile...

Silva quietly stands, stretches.

One of the Guards looks at him.

Silva smiles. Straightens his boiler suit.

M is in the midst of being grilled by the panel.

Mallory says nothing, face set, taking it all in.

M Well, I believe we have apprehended the responsible party and are taking all necessary steps to ensure the sensitive information is contained.

M Well, I’m not saying it’s all gone perfectly, but--

Even Mallory is taken aback by the swiftness of Dowar’s attack.

Bond and Q are analyzing the pulsing frequencies of Silva’s glitchy abstract code. Bond on the big screen. Q on his lap top.

Bond stares at the giant screen.

Q stops probing. In the web of lines and arrows atinyword is visible to Bond, but it is divided amongst numbers...

Q zooms in on the data. Scrolls the lettering. The word reads, Granborough.

Q taps on the lap top, finally orientating the image. Pulls back. Now other words and symbols become clear.

Then...

Click. Click. Click.

The hatches in the floor that lead to the sealed mainframe room beneath them, unlock and automatically flip open.

Bond’s eyes go to the hatches--

And then he bolts from the room without a word--

Q turns back to the giant screen to see a “SYSTEM SECURITY BREACH” warning appear.

Then:

CONTINUED: (2)

Almost before the words are out of his mouth --

On Silva’s computer, the all-too-familiar skull appears with the message: “Not such a clever boy.”

-- the penny drops!

He leaps to Silva’s laptop and rips out the cables connecting it to the MI-6 computers.

Bond races at top speed through the corridor --

Alarm klaxons begin to howl--

Bond slows at the door to the observation chamber --

Both guards down. Necks broken.

Silva is gone. All doors open.

Bond sees an old Victorian grate in the floor is pulled aside on the far side of the room. Runs to it and starts to climb down--

Bond quickly descends a vast metal staircase. Claustrophobic and dripping.

Q and his team are now displaying multiple maps of the underground world beneath London:

Tube lines, mail train routes, secret military bunkers, access corridors, culverts, sewers, tunnels, ancient passageways, etc.

Bond continues down the stairs. He sees Silva disappearing from view at the base of the stairs.

The Map: Q lays 5 separate 2-D images on top of each other (tube lines, access tunnels, mail train, sewers, military bunkers) and out of them creates a 3-D map. On the screen, he is able to turn the 3-D image and study it from any angle. So we are able almost to enter the 3-D world.

They superimpose these over Silva’s map. Q studies the map on the large screen.

Bond jumps off the ladder. He’s in another tunnel.

Bond readies his gun.

Bond emerges through the door -- and is surprised to find he’s in a tube tunnel.

Q is prowling between other monitors: real time tube displays. Sees the trains moving back and forth. Elaborate tube line maps. Q realizing something. Which chills him.

Bond is moving quickly through the dark tube tunnel.

WITH BOND:

WITH Q:

WITH BOND:

WITH Q:

WITH BOND:

He tries again.

We can hear a train coming.

WITH Q:

WITH BOND:

Train sounds much closer. Everything vibrating now. Bond strains -- pushing at the door.

There’s the train! Zooming right at Bond!

He whips out his Walther and fires--

Blam-blam-blam-blam--

And at the last second--

Throws himself at the door with everything he’s got--

It crashes open--

Train thunders past--!

--Bond lands. Pulls himself up. Train zips past behind him.

He’s in one of London’s subterranean tunnels. Low, sloping brick ceiling.

Meanwhile, Silva is moving down steps in a tube station. A few pedestrians around him.

TWO UNIFORMED POLICEMEN head right toward him ... closer and closer ... but...

They don’t stop him. Instead they hand him a large package as they pass.

Bond’s arrived at a metal door. Stops. Strange rumbling noise from the other side.

Bond readies his gun. Silva could be on the other side.

He braces himself, pushes the door open and steps through--

And is suddenly caught up in a surging mob of people.

Bond conceals his gun.

Train just pulling in. Crowd jostling.

Hundreds of people buffet Bond along the crowded tube platform... Rush hour.

Bond moves through the crowd, scanning for Silva.

WITH Q:

WITH BOND:

Q moves from monitor to monitor. He’s completely calm. A real professional.

His eyes dart to CCTV security cameras from the platform as they cycle past: mobs of people ... He sees Bond.

WITH Q:

Q and his team continue to scan the images.

Bond and Q continue searching for Silva.

On the CCTV monitor we see the figure of a policeman calmly getting onto the train.

It’s Silva. Dressed as a riot policeman. Flak jacket.

Silva loves the disguise.

Bond continues scouting for Silva. It’s mobbed. He’s pushed and shoved as people get on and off the train that just pulled in.

WITH Q:

He studies the tube display... Trains moving around the system...

WITH BOND:

The tube train is full, it starts to pull out.

Bond waits on the platform, frustrated.

WITH Q:

CCTV images from the platform ... Q’s eyes move from display to display...

He sees Silva in the police uniform on the CCTV monitor!

He looks at the image of Silva.

WITH BOND:

Train’s almost out of the station--

Bond doesn’t hesitate--

Sprints--

Jumps--

Just catches the back door at the very end of the train with one hand--

As the train speeds into the tunnel, jerking Bond after it--

Husband and wife on the platform gape.

Bond clings to the rear of the train as it zips through the tunnel.

Inside, a female driver reads the paper--

--Stops when she sees Bond staring at her.

Stunned she reaches for the door. Bond steps inside.

He moves on through to the train, leaving her speechless.

Bond moves through the packed cars.

Searching for Silva.

Silva is moving through the cars. Calmly hiding in plain sight.

Q’s studies the complex web of tube lines on the monitor.

Bond’s eyes scan the District line tube map on the train wall -- his eyes stop at ... Westminster.

He begins to run -- pushing people aside now, -- desperate to find Silva--

M sits, being lectured.

Tanner’s computer displays an alert window. He glances at it, leans over to M:

M (whispers) But I’m damned if I’m going to show her my back.

M No, please Minister, proceed.

Mallory watches M. He senses something is up.

With Bond now. Pushing past the passengers.

Bond sees Silva in the next car.

The train slows, begins to stop at the next station. Silva turns.

Can see Bond in the next car.

Staring at him.

The train doors open.

Silva darts out.

Bond follows.

DAY

Silva cuts through the crowd ... Bond close behind.

Can’t risk a shot. Too crowded.

Silva diverts towards one of the incredibly steep and seemingly endless escalators ... Bond follows, pushes a little closer.

Suddenly--

Silva leaps up to the area between the escalators and lies on his back -- he slides down -- like a treacherous bobsled run--

Flashing down in a matter of seconds--

Bond instantly follows--

Silva hits the ground, falls and recovers--

Runs flat out --

Bond lands close behind--

Now the tube station is filling with uniformed police personnel.

Silva laughs, diverts through an old metal door.

Bond spots the door ajar and follows...

Meanwhile, M endures the continued grilling:

Mallory finally speaks. He interrupts rather sharply.

He looks to M. She nods.

M Thank you.

Bond has followed Silva through the door and into a tunnel. The tunnel slopes down. He’s lost sight of Silva.

Vast rumbling sounds of the tube trains overhead.

At the end of the tunnel, a vaulted catacomb. Dozens of brick arches. Long corridors of sinister shadows.

Deep and dark.

Bond stops. Listens ... Something’s moving ... Gun ready, Bond sees a light switch. He flips it.

Banks of lights sizzle on -- cascading away from Bond -- gradually illuminating sections of the eerie chamber including--

Silva -- in the distance.

Darts away. Bond tries to keep him in sight. Brief glimpses down arched corridors and around pillars. It’s Escher-like.

Finally, Bond sees Silva in the distance trying to climb an old iron ladder up and out. Bond aims, fires. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Hits the next rung. Sparks fly.

Silva withdraws his hand. Stops.

Bond has him.

Bond slowly moves closer. Gun carefully raised:

Silva on the ladder.

Silva reaches for his radio.

He smiles deliciously.

It’s an electronic detonator.

Silva presses the button and--

GIGANTIC EXPLOSIONS FROM THE ROOF!

Strategically placed charges go off and--

THE CEILING COLLAPSES

Tons of concrete cascade down. Bond ducks as it crashes down around him. He glimpses Silva through the rubble. Looks around him. He is unscathed!

CONTINUED: (2)

And then Bond hears it. A distant train approaching. Closer and closer.

Bond turns. His face as he realizes what’s about to happen.

Tube train sounds louder now. Everything vibrates. Dust floats down from the old ceilings. And then--

A SPEEDING TUBE TRAIN CRASHES DOWN THROUGH THE CEILING--

Bond dives for cover in a fallen archway as the tube train SLAMS DOWN -- the cars twisting and jack-knifing as they power forward -- shrieking metal, breaking glass, clouds of dust--

Silva climbs the ladder and disappears from view as the train crashes through arches and columns--

The train flashes by, as if running on a parallel track. Finally the train grinds to a broken, contorted stop.

Bond rises, takes in the destruction.

Emergency sirens can already be heard as Silva emerges.

A police car pulls up. Three of Silva’s men inside.

Silva gets into the car and it pulls away as the first police vans and emergency vehicles arrive at the scene.

Silva’s car heads toward Whitehall--

M (V.O.) Chairman, Ministers ... Today I’ve repeatedly heard how irrelevant my department has become.

One of Silva’s men hands him a gun.

London flashes past outside.

M Why do we need agents? The Double-O section? ... Isn’t it all rather quaint? Well, I suppose I see a different world than you do ... (MORE)

M (CONT'D) And the truth is that what I see frightens me.

The sirens roar as Silva’s police car cuts through the traffic.

M (V.O.) I’m frightened because...

WITH M:

M ...our enemies are no longer known to us. They do not exist on a map. They’re not nations. They’re individuals. Look around you. Who do you fear?

Tanner checks his computer.

Sirens and alarms wail. Silva strolls in, flanked by two of his men. Bored and surly security guards glance up.

M (V.O.) Can you see a face? A uniform? A flag? No ... Our world is not more transparent now...

Without a word, Silva’s men open fire--

Three shots. Three security guards dead.

Silva casually walks through the metal detector.

BACK WITH M...

M ...It is more opaque. It’s in the shadows -- and that is where we must do battle. ...So before you declare us irrelevant, ask yourselves: how safe do you feel?

Mallory watches. Impressed.

M wasn’t intending to go on. But there’s something else on her mind.

Emotion creeps into her voice, unbidden and unwelcome.

M Just one more thing to say... My late husband was a great lover of poetry. And I suppose some of it sunk in despite my best intentions...

MEANWHILE WITH BOND:

Bond emerges from the steps of Westminster Station and begins to sprint down Whitehall... running past all the emergency vehicles screaming in the other direction...

M ...Here, today, I remember this, from Tennyson:

“We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven;”

BACK WITH M:

Mallory looks at her. The trace of emotion in her voice surprises him.

M “...that which we are, we are;”

WITH BOND:

Running along Whitehall...

M (V.O.) “One equal temper of heroic hearts,”

WITH M:

M “Made weak by time and fate,”

WITH BOND:

M (V.O.) “...but strong in will”

WITH M:

M “To strive, to seek,”

Silva walks down the corridor toward the Board of Inquiry room, a gun in each hand...

M (V.O.) “...to find,”

M finishes.

M “...and not to yield.”

And then:

The doors burst open.

Silva is walking down the center aisle, he opens fire--

Silva’s men fire -- killing the two guards at the door--

Everyone is frozen in shock, except--

Mallory.

He leaps over the table and races toward M, all his military training coming into play as--

The person sitting behind M bolts -- Silva shoots him -- now he has a clear shot at M but--

Mallory bravely covers M as he pulls her down -- Silva fires--

Mallory is shot in the shoulder -- blood sprays--

MEANWHILE...

Bond sprints towards the steps to Mallory’s building...

By now the security guards at the side doors are taking aim at Silva--

Just as Bond enters--

But he lurches back as--

One of the guards is shot right in front of him -- Bond takes cover in the doorway as bullets are firing everywhere--

Bond sees M on the floor taking cover with Tanner--

One of Silva’s men shoots a security guard -- Mallory takes this opportunity to lunge for the dead guard’s gun -- he returns fire -- killing Silva’s man--

A ferocious barrage now -- Bond, Silva, Mallory, and Silva’s last man firing--

Meanwhile, Eve is moving along behind the table, trying to help--

Bond sees her -- slides a gun from one of the dead guards to her -- Eve grabs it and spins, fires, creating a distraction for Bond--

Across the room Bond can see Mallory taking cover in a doorway. Bond aims -- is he going to shoot Mallory? -- no, he shoots the fire extinguisher next to him--

Sudden burst of STEAMING WHITE POWDER obscures part of the room--

Bond sees there’s another fire extinguisher near him -- he turns and fires--

EXPLOSION of more white powder--

Bond takes advantage of the powder and crosses to the table where M and Tanner are hiding -- firing for cover as he goes--

Silva can’t see M through the clouds of white powder -- starts firing almost randomly -- shooting at the terrified people -- chaos.

The sound of sirens. Still firing, Silva backs out of the room.

Bond gives chase.

Eve hustles the ministers out--

--Tanner bundles M towards a side door. Mallory closes the door behind them.

Silva is emerging from a rear exit - the faux police Discovery vehicle is waiting.

Silva jumps in -- the Discovery speeds off and disappears into London as emergency vehicles start arriving.

Bond arrives in time to see it go.

Bond sees M’s staff car waiting there.

M and Tanner emerge from a different exit at the rear of the building.

M climbs into the waiting staff car. As Tanner moves around to the other door -- the car shoots off!

M sways in her seat, surprised as they race away from Tanner - then sees that the driver is BOND.

M 007, what the hell are we doing?

Bond doesn’t reply.

M Are you kidnapping me?

M looks out the window at the chaos. Emergency vehicles scream past in the opposite direction.

M Too many people are dying because of me.

Bond looks at her in the rearview mirror. Their eyes meet.

M And I’m to be the bait?

Bond nods. She agrees.

M All right. Just us. No one else.

Then he activates his earpiece again.

Q is on his laptop: tracking M’s car.

Q speaks quietly:

A line of lock-ups. M gets out, watching Bond as he fiddles with a door.

M Well, I’m not hiding in there if that’s your brilliant plan.

He pulls open the door to reveal...

The classic 1964 Aston Martin DB-5.

M Oh and I suppose that’s completely inconspicuous.

TIME CUT:

The DB-5 roars out of the lock up.

They’re whistling through the dark streets of London.

M settles into the Spartan yet somehow decadent interior.

M It’s not very comfortable, is it?

Bond flips up the cover to the ejector seat button in the shift.

M Oh, go on then, eject me. See if I care.

They drive.

The car heads out of London, into the night.

M So where are we going?

Deserted office.

Q’s typing on his laptop, totally lost in his work. Laying the digital bread crumbs for Silva in real time. Tanner is next to him.

Tanner points to the screen.

Tanner turns. Goes pale.

Mallory is standing in the doorway. He’s been watching for a while.

Tanner shoots a look to Q.

He turns. Sees Mallory.

Mallory’s arm is in a sling from the gunshot wound. He’s lost a lot of blood and he’s in pain, but bearing it.

Q and Tanner are busted.

Mallory comes forward.

Q and Tanner stare at him.

Mallory considers this. Matter of fact:

He goes.

The words have an impact on Q and Tanner. They look at each other. New-found respect in his eyes for the flinty Mallory.

CONTINUED: (2)

Q continues typing on his keyboard. Click-click-click.

A long deserted road. Crags in the distance. Steel grey sky. Wisps of snow.

Scotland at its most austere and beautiful.

Bond stands looking over the landscape.

M wakes to find a tartan blanket spread across her. No Bond in the driver seat. She gets out and joins him.

M This is where you grew up.

He nods.

M How old were you when they died?

A beat.

He looks at the darkening sky.

She watches as he banishes the emotion and heads back to the car.

The DB5 continues its drive down the spectacular valley.

The road leads into a vast pine forest.

The car emerges from the forest.

Ahead, an imposing stone gate. Old and decaying.

Carved on the gate: SKYFALL.

The DB-5 pulls through the gate...

Down the drive...

Finally revealing...

An old hunting lodge at the head of a long valley that stretches away for miles ... Beyond the lodge is desolate moorland and the cold glimmer of a frozen lake.

The lodge looks lonely and deserted. Everything has fallen into disrepair. More dead than alive.

Bond and M climb out. They face the imposing old house.

M Christ.

M No wonder you never came back.

They go to the front door.

The front door creaks open.

For Bond, it’s like entering a haunted place.

Light shafts cut through the dusty rooms. It’s dark.

Bond moves through the huge and echoing main hall.

Then a sound--

A floor board creaks--

They stop. Turn.

And from the darkness, a figure emerges...

An old man holding a shotgun. Handsome, weathered face. Strong body. Blue eyes, white beard.

He looks at Bond...

Kincade looks at him, stows his shotgun.

Slowly smiles. As does Bond.

Kincade claps his hand warmly.

M Mr. Kincade.

A steady look to Bond:

Bond looks at him. Decides.

CONTINUED: (2)

Bond glances to M. Her expression: your call.

Bond looks back to Kincade.

Impressive gun room ... But the gun cabinets are empty. Notch after notch. Shelf after shelf. Empty.

M stands with Bond and Kincade. Bond looks over the empty shelves, disheartened.

They’ve put their weapons out on a table. It’s not impressive: Bond’s Walther and Kincade’s shotgun.

He gets it. A beautiful old rifle, intricately carved.

Bond takes his father’s old rifle, looks at it.

The initials carved into the stock catch Bond’s eye. “A.B.” His father.

M looks over the paltry collection of arms:

M And this is what we’ve got.

Bond sets the old hunting rifle down on the table.

He puts his hunting knife on the table.

Little Scottish landscapes ... Painted on tea cups.

TEA CUPS are perched on a tree branch.

Bond and Kincade on the moor near the house. Bleak winter colors. Twisted trees. A primaeval landscape.

In the distance we can see the frozen lake ... and on the hill beyond: a chapel and graveyard.

Bond prepares to test the hunting rifle.

Kincade looks at him levelly.

Bond smiles. There’s no arguing with him.

He turns and aims the gun at the teacups.

BOOM! BOOM! -- Two teacups disintegrate -- Bond ejects.

Kincade is stunned.

Bond walks back towards the house.

M is looking out of the window, scanning the horizon. Kincade enters.

He flirts a bit as he brings her a box of clothing, boots - items gathered from around the house.

He hands her a scarf:

M Thank you, Mr. Kincade ... It’s a beautiful old house.

Kincade he leads M to the fireplace.

He slides a bolt and kicks a wooden panel by the fireplace. It slowly creaks open. Secret door.

Inside, a cramped chamber and tunnel leading off to darkness.

Kincade flips a switch. Naked light bulbs light the passageway.

M Priest’s hole...

He takes it in. Powerful memories.

He leaves.

M looks around the sad little hole. She looks deeper down the tunnel.

They prepare...

They get the lodge ready for assault...

IN THE ENTRY HALL:

Kincade and Bond pull the dust-sheet off an old mirror, begin to drag it.

IN THE GREAT HALL:

M pulls the dust sheets from the chandeliers...

IN THE DINING ROOM:

M loads bits of scrap metal -- nuts and bolts -- into a bag... then pours powder from a shotgun shell into the bag. She attaches the bags of shrapnel to the exposed filaments from the chandeliers. We see several completed bags lined up on the dining room table.

IN THE HALLWAY

CLOSE-UP: Bond carefully places a single shotgun cartridge under a floorboard.

IN THE STUDY

Bond puts up shutters.

IN THE PARLOUR:

Kincade and Bond put up more shutters.

IN THE SHED:

Bond opens a dusty crate. Searches through the straw bedding. Pulls out two old sticks of dynamite tied together with twine...

IN THE OUT HOUSE:

Kincade completes sawing off the barrels of his prized shotgun, creating a sawed-off.

...And BOOM! He blows a huge hole in the wall. Kincade looks on, satisfied.

THE FRONT DRIVEWAY:

Bond’s feet crunch on the gravel. He walks back to the house and stands at the front door, takes a last look at the landscape. He goes inside.

The heavy front door slams shut.

END MONTAGE

We see the lodge from across the moor.

It’s deadly still and the evening mist is just drifting in.

Silence.

They wait.

Kincade is standing at a window, tense. Peering out. Can’t see much.

M sits across the room, head down.

Gun dangling from her hand. It’s been a long time since she’s held a gun.

Bond watches her for a beat. She sees him.

M I fucked this up, didn’t I?

Bond has been waiting for this.

Beat.

M And?

M Yeah, I knew you’d hate it. I did call you “an exemplar of British fortitude.”

Then...

The sound of dogs barking in the distance.

Then nothing.

They exchange a look.

Something’s moving out there...

Dark silhouettes approach ... CARS parked at the gateway.

Figures emerge. Heavily armed. Silva’s mercenaries.

They approach the lodge slowly, creeping through the fog like wraiths. The only sound is their feet crunching on the moorland.

They communicate through silent hand signals. They’re professionals.

TWO MEN split off. They disappear around the side of the house.

The others pass the parked DB5.

And finally make it to the heavy front door. More silent hand signals and two men attach explosives to the door -- getting ready to blow it.

They raise weapons, crouching. Ready to invade the house when the door is blown.

But then...

There’s movement...

From the parked DB5 ... two machine guns emerge from ports at the front of the car (just like in Goldfinger) and lock into place and...

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Bond’s in the Aston. Blasting away with the front mounted machine guns! Blinding flashes through the darkness--

The attackers are caught totally unaware. FIVE are shredded. The charges on the front door blow! BLAM!

And forces FIVE others back into the house where--

--They run straight into the mirror Bond and Kincade put there earlier--

In panic they open fire at the reflection of Kincade -- SHATTERING and BLASTING the mirror--

Kincade suddenly appears from where he is actually standing -- the STUDY -- and opens fire with his shotgun: both barrels. BOOM!BOOM! Two men go down--

Kincade retreats toward the kitchen.

Bond takes cover in the DB-5 as two of Silva’s men barrage the vehicle with bullets from the corner of the house.

One of the other men turns and moves towards the study.

BLAM! The cartridge Bond placed under the floorboards blasts him off his feet.

Now the remaining two men inside scatter.

The two men are moving into the Great Hall, guns raised, sweeping through the room--

Now we see that M is just around the corner, in the Dining Room--

She peeks in and sees them. Then she leans back and flips the light switch on the wall next to her and--

BLAM! The improvised light bulb bombs she rigged before explode! Bolts and scrap metal fly like shrapnel. The room is blasted and the two go down as--

Bond reloads and is instantly out of the car and firing with the hunting rifle -- BLAM! BLAM!

One of Silva’s men at the corner of the house goes down.

Bond ejects, reloads and marches toward the house -- fires again -- BLAM! BLAM! -- taking down the other man--

Kincade reloads, takes cover by an archway leading into the kitchen.

Bond enters. Framed in the doorway, he tosses the rifle aside and grabs an automatic weapon from one of Silva’s dead men.

Meanwhile, Silva’s remaining TWO MEN that broke off earlier move around the rear of the house. They arrive at the Boot Room door.

WHAM!

They kick the door open.

Kincade breaks cover--

Silva’s two men push through the back door of the kitchen --

BOOM! BOOM!

Kincade fires --

He misses!

The two men back off and separate -- one man continues into the kitchen towards Kincade, the second heads into the dining room.

Kincade ducks behind a wall and prepares to reload.

He drops the shotgun shells, they clatter across the floor. He curses, fumbles for more shells...

Silva’s Man moves closer... raises his gun --

Just as Bond enters!

Killing the man--

Kincade wide-eyed.

In the Great Hall, M has ventured out to see the aftermath of the light-bulb bomb. The two men lie dead.

She has also heard Kincade’s gunshots, and is alert ... she senses movement. The other man who came through the back door is in the Dining Room.

She tucks behind a cabinet, and prepares the Walther ...

She peeks around the cabinet through the dusty shambles of the Great Hall -- sees the man -- fires -- BLAM! -- misses--

He gets off a shot--

The bullet shatters the cabinet by M’s side -- wood and debris fly -- she’s injured--

Just as Bond comes into the room -- firing -- blowing Silva’s man off his feet.

M (covering) Only my pride. I never was a good shot.

Bond flips over the final dead body, looking for Silva.

And then they hear it.

An incongruous sound through the silent house...

Approaching from outside...

Whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop...

Like a great prehistoric beast, a huge army HELICOPTER sweeps through the valley... flying low over the moorland...

They move to the Dining Room, towards the sound.

Bond looks out of the window.

Kincade and M enter behind Bond.

Bond stands looking out.

We see his POV of the helicopter approaching the house.

Kincade and M move. Bond goes to another window, smashes the shutter and glass with the butt of his rifle, opens fire.

The helicopter soars toward the house and then dramatically turns.

Suddenly--

BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!

The helicopter has opened fire!

Through the darkness we can see the flashes of a powerful machine gun--

Windows shatter -- walls pierced -- the twilight breaking through --

Bond runs, moving quickly away from the gunfire into the Kitchen.

Bullets rip and ricochet only feet behind him. He yells to M and Kincade.

M and Kincade take cover behind the archway. Bullets still pierce the walls.

WITH BOND:

He runs through to the gun room, grabs an ammunition clip from Silva’s dead man.

The helicopter, circling the house -- strafing the walls and windows--

Bond takes cover, reloads, runs to the Central Hallway taking cover as bullets strafe the windows of the Great Hall.

Outside, the Helicopter continues strafing the house as it moves along the side of the property.

Bond glimpses the helicopter through the bullet-ridden shutters.

Runs into The Great Hall returning fire as--

The helicopter’s machine-gun annihilates the outer walls of the Great Hall.

Bond runs back towards M and Kincade.

Kincade leads M to the Study.

The helicopter moves towards the front of the house and ceases firing.

Kincade grabs a flashlight. He and M escape into the priest’s hole. Kincade looks to the front window--

Sees the helicopter hover and then drop--

A last look Bond, and then they are gone.

Bond moves toward the Central Hallway.

Now he is in the shadows, eyes scanning the house, working out his next move...

We see Silva walking down the ramp, flanked by his men.

He directs them through hand signals. Several break off and move around the house. They are all armed.

Through the blasted front door, Bond can just see Silva and his men.

He checks his clip, prepares to fire.

But just before he can, an incendiary device rolls ominously into the Central Hallway.

Bond spots it just in time, dives for cover into the Great Hall as--

BOOM!

It explodes, sending a sheet of flame through the centre of the house.

Silva is moving around the outside of the house.

He prepares another incendiary...

Bond picks himself up. Moves to the window, trying to track the progress of the helicopter through the shattered windows.

Then--

Another incendiary device comes through the window of the parlour.

Bond flings himself down.

BOOM!

He recovers, grabs an automatic rifle from a dead man laying close by. He sees the searchlight beam start to rise through the shattered shutters--

--The helicopter has taken off.

Silva continues to walk around the house. His men follow.

The giant helicopter follows him obediently, like a pet, its searchlight glaring.

Like lightning this time, Bond is on his feet, looking for a shot at Silva.

Now he sees: silhouetted in the window of the Dining Room -- the vast shadow of Silva, thrown by the helicopter’s searchlight:

WITH SILVA:

Bond fires -- BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

But Silva’s already gone.

A third cannister rolls in--

INSIDE:

BAM! The flames explode again.

Bond recovers... Thinks... Looks around...

Sees some gas canisters in the Boot Room.

He has an idea.

He turns and moves through the smoke toward the kitchen--

M and Kincade move down the claustrophobic tunnel. Kincade leads the way.

M leans against a wall. Feels her side. Blood. The injury is worse than she suspected ... She doesn’t want to admit it to Kincade, or to herself.

She follows him.

Smoke is spreading through the house.

Bond enters -- looks out of the window.

The searchlight swings onto Bond, blinding him. He turns to the huge gas cannisters locked in a cage -- uses the butt of his weapon to break the lock--

Grabs and drags the canisters out just as--

--Silva throws a fourth incendiary straight into the Boot Room window!

The incendiary explodes behind Bond, narrowly missing him as he drags the heavy gas canisters towards the Study -

Outside, Silva takes out his gun, prowling the perimeter of the house.

Kincade and M emerge from the priest’s hole, about fifty yards from the house. They see the smoke and flames.

He leads her onto the moor.

The whole of Skyfall is burning now. Silva watches it.

He looks to the blazing house, signals to the helicopter pilots, pointing in the direction of the DB-5.

The searchlight swings to Bond’s car--

--BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

The helicopter machine-gun riddles the car with bullets--

In the house, Bond sets the canisters down--

Until--

OUTSIDE:

The DB-5 explodes!

WITH BOND:

He instantly looks out the window, sees the car in flames.

Now he goes to his father’s desk in the study. Opens an old cigar box. Retrieves some matches, strikes one.

Bond’s match on the fuse. It sparks!

And now we pull back to reveal what the flame is heading towards...

Bond has strapped the two sticks of dynamite to the gas canisters.

One last look around.

And then he’s gone--

Into the priest’s hole.

Bond runs flat out -- racing down the tunnel--

Silva’s men in position--

The whole house is surrounded.

Silva calls out.

And then...

A HUGE EXPLOSION!

The entire front of the house explodes out--

The hovering helicopter is caught in the blast--

The helicopter is showered by a hailstorm of rock and stone from the old house -- the front window of the machine is shattered -- the pilots are knocked unconscious--

The tunnel shakes -- Bond feels the concussive rumble from the explosion--

Slowly, the giant helicopter machine tilts forward, and accelerates... RIGHT INTO THE HOUSE.

Tearing it apart in a MASSIVE EXPLOSION AND CONCUSSION that shakes the land--

A WALL OF FLAME--

RIPS down the tunnel toward Bond--

He is running full pelt, approaching an alcove.

Bond leaps into the alcove seconds before the flames reach him.

He slams into the wall of the tunnel, knocking himself unconscious.

The flames rip past him.

M and Kincade stop and look back -- staring at the distant fire in shock.

Burning debris cascades down in the distance.

They keep moving towards the chapel.

Silva is in the midst of the burning wreckage of the helicopter and the house. He reaches for his gun, gradually pulls himself up... He can barely believe it.

He gets his breath, steadies himself.

He stands up to his full height, the burning house behind him.

He’s bloody. Takes an unsure step. Only TWO of his men survive the blast.

Silva scans the moor. Looking for his prey.

Silva’s POV: a torch, far away, on the edge of the moor.

He squints, but can’t make out the figures.

Silva sees her!

He shoves his two men.

They move off.

Silva begins to walk in the direction of the frozen lake.

Bond coughs and shoves some flaming debris off him--

Pulls himself up--

Silva is hunched and exhausted, getting inexorably nearer.

He stumbles, falls--

Gets up again.

In the flames from the burning house he’s like a creature from the underworld.

He can see M and Kincade moving around the edge of the frozen lake, heading toward the chapel on its far side.

WITH M AND KINCADE:

Kincade helps her along. Silva is visible in the distance.

Kincade takes a nervous glance back at their pursuer.

Bond emerges from the tunnel.

Behind him, Skyfall burns, completely destroyed.

He turns from the house, sprints towards the frozen lake--

Bonds runs.

Perhaps never faster than now. The stakes are everything.

He sprints and slaloms -- leaping over logs --

Down hillocks and up again, feet pounding--

He knows the landscape, he played here as a boy, he takes every shortcut he can--

Suddenly--

One of Silva’s men appears before him--!

Bond doesn’t slow--

He kills the man with brutal efficiency as he passes--

He races on and finally comes to--

The chapel’s on the other side--

Bond can only cut Silva off if he goes straight across the lake --

Bond looks down at the ice, tests it with his foot.

A low cracking noise.

He calculates, and then starts to run across the frozen lake--

He’s going to make it, beat Silva to the other side--

But then --

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Bullets hit the ice.

Bond slides to a halt.

Silva looms over him, on the edge of the frozen lake, enjoying Bond’s helpless predicament.

He breathes deeply.

Then...

Another gun. Its Silva’s other man, who has stepped out of the mists.

Silva smiles. Then turns.

A light in the chapel. The glow of a flashlight moving inside.

Bond and Silva both see it.

Silva raises his gun to fire at Bond--

Bond stares down at the ice--

CONTINUED: (2)

In a flash, he grabs Silva Man’s gun, and fires it downwards - - sending them both down into the water!

Silva fires--

Misses--

The ice splinters and shatters, and Bond and Silva’s Man fall through into the frigid water--

Silva shakes his head in disbelief.

UNDERWATER:

The breath is forced out of Bond’s body by the ferocious shock of the cold water.

The burning house throws a flickering light into the still water.

Bond and Silva’s man fight.

Silva’s man has Bond in a head-lock. He is choking the breath out of him, as they sink down and down...

Bond manages to turn the tables. Spins, breaks the man’s neck.

But now, Bond can’t find his way up. He looks up -- his POV: nothing but ice, high above him.

There’s no panic. But there’s a flash of resignation. So this is it.

He starts drifting down ... after Silva’s Man ... into the darkness ... as at the opening of the story...

But then he sees something in the fading light...

On his belt, Silva’s man wears a flare gun.

With superhuman effort, Bond inverts in the water and makes one last lunge for the flare gun as Silva’s man slips into the dark--

Bond gets it! -- pulls the flare gun from the holster, twists up and--

FIRES--

The magnesium flare blasts up--

FLASH as the underwater world is briefly illuminated -- the light cascading out and reflecting, catching the sparkling ice--

A graveyard dots the hillside. Tombstones at angles and falling apart. Coated in snow.

Silva makes his way through the graveyard to the chapel.

He notices that only one grave has been kept up. He looks at the tombstone:

Andrew Bond and Monique Delacroix Bond.

Bond’s parents.

Silva smiles to himself and then continues toward the chapel...

Silva enters.

And there she is. Finally.

M stands in the aisle, leaning on the pew.

She turns.

She looks back at him. Steel.

Kincade enters from the back room.

Silva fires his gun, deliberately missing Kincade.

Kincade freezes. He’s too far to help.

Silva slowly approaches M. He sees her wound.

They are face to face.

He slowly raises the gun to her head, then changes his mind -- wraps her hand around the gun, both of their fingers pressing on the trigger.

He puts the gun to M’s temple, places his head next to hers. Heads together.

Their fingers on the trigger.

He shuts his eyes.

Then he gasps. The gun drops to the floor.

His eyes go wide with fury, disappointment and rage.

Bond’s hunting knife. Buried in his back.

Silva turns to see.

Bond.

Standing in the doorway.

Silva staggers toward him. Drops to his knees.

Bond walks over to him.

CONTINUED: (2)

Silva dies.

Bond looks to M.

M 007, what took you so long?

Then suddenly she stumbles. Bond grabs her. Looks down. Sees the blood.

Gently lowers her down.

He looks to Kincade.

Kincade’s eyes meet his.

Bond knows... she’s dying.

He holds her.

M I suppose it’s too late to make a run for it?

Bond looks in her eyes.

M can’t help but smile.

They both know this is it.

Her eyes find his one last time.

M I did get one thing right...

And she’s gone.

He holds her.

Kincade watches the tableau.

Silent.

And we fade to....

The rooftops of Whitehall and beyond them London.

Bond stands. Alone with his thoughts.

Eve approaches. She carries a box.

Eve looks out.

She smiles.

Bond takes the box. Curious. A bequest in M’s will?

He opens the box...

Inside:

The ugly Union Jack bulldog paperweight from her desk. The one he always hated.

He looks at the ugly old thing.

He smiles.

Eve leaves. Bond stares out at the city view.

Bond and Eve enter her office.

We notice it’s a little familiar... coat stand in the corner... padded leather door to the inner office...

She smiles playfully. Tanner emerges from the inner office carrying some files:

He nods for Bond to proceed. Bond goes into the inner office...

Bond walks in.

Mallory sits behind the desk, his arm in a brace from his injury.

He looks at it as if he hadn’t noticed it before.

Mallory places a new Top Secret case file down on his desk.

Bond looks down at the file. Then back up to Mallory.

Close up on Bond.

Those icy blue eyes.

Snap to black.

The End.