Posted 29 December 2010 - 12:50 AM
Here is the presumed final draft -
NO GUN BARREL. NO PRE-TITLE SEQUENCE. This isn't that sort of Bond movie. Instead - straight into the title sequence - images from spy films, interspersed with images of nuclear bombs being manufactured, transported and detonated. All to 'Please' by Cee Lo Green.
TIMOTHY DALTON is JAMES BOND, 007
in WARHEAD 2011
As the title sequence draws to a close, we dissolve through to:
JAMAICA
James Bond is a semi-retired secret agent, living the good life as Head of Station in Jamaica - some would say he's gone to seed, but Bond would argue against. As would his superior, M, who has requested his return to London - he's being returned to active field duty, effective: forthwith.
LONDON
Bond meets with the new M - his old friend, Bill Tanner (John Hurt) - and is informed of his return to active field duty. Bond asks why this is happening and Tanner explains that SPECTRE are making waves once again. Bond is the foremost expert on SPECTRE. Tanner gives Bons his first mission - to investigate a UN Arms Inspector suspected of helping to smuggle nuclear weapons onto the black market.
Bond visits Q (Richard Griffiths) and recieves his new weapon, a .38 special S&W Airweight, and a sleek silver Jaguar C-X75. Unlike the cars we usually see Bond presented with, the Jaguar has only realistic extras - fuel and coolant injectors for extra speed etc. Bond is also presented with a device that will disrupt all radio signals within a close vicinity - "Like music to my ears" quips Bond.
LAPLAND
Bond arrives in Lapland at the Buskelands (Shrublands in Swedish, I believe) Ice Resort in the week before Christmas - festivities are at their height, the snowbound landscape is a stark contrast to the heat of Jamaica. He quickly locates and begins to observe Jacques Derval, the UN Arms Inspector suspected of filing a false report and assisting in the smuggling of nuclear weapons - the freshly reactivated operative watches Derval meeting with a muscle-bound man, the pair speak in French but Bond gets the jist of the discussion. Intrigued about the man, he determines to find out more and (via flirting with a receptionist) learns that the man is Colonel Lippe (Matthew Willig), a French former member of the Foreign Legion.
Bond is even more intrigued and watches the formidable man working out in the gym before following him into the steamroom. Lippe smashes the lock, trapping them together in the steamroom. The pair fight - it's a literal Jason vs Goliath - with Bond only barely coming out of the encounter alive.
Bond takes Derval into custody and the pair return to London - where he confesses that he DID help smuggle the nuclear weapon onto the black market, but only because they threatened the life of his estranged daughter, Dominique (Delphine Chaneac). He doesn't know who hired him as he only dealt with Lippe - and his fellow Frenchman is now dead. He does, however, know that the weapons were delivered to a location off the coast of Bali -
BALI, INDONESIA
Bond travels to Bali to follow the trail of the stolen nuclear weapons and discovers that the delivery point is a wrecked WWII freighter off the coast. He dives down to the wreck to try and find a clue - the wreck is dark and filled with octopi, there is no evidence to be found. When he surfaces, he finds a strange dark haired man on his boat who speaks with a Southern drawl - he introduces himself as Felix Leiter Junior (Josh Brolin).
"Ah, yes, I knew your father - he was a good man," says Bond, then: "How's his leg?" Junior explains that, like his father, he works for the CIA and has been sent to assist Bond in his investigation. He confirms the absence of evidence - but informs Bond that Dervals estranged daughter, Dominique, and her erstwhile 'boyfriend', military contractor Edvard Largo (think Tony Stark, but Swedish, played by Stellan Skarsgard), are in Bali.
That, decides Bond, is FAR too much of a coincidence. He wants to meet Dominique, and by default, Largo. Junior comments "Pappy told me you might be past your time, but you ain't bad for an old timer ..." (or some other such comment) and MI6 arranges for the two of them to attend some sort of gala event on the island. Bond and Felix walk up to the entrance of the function rooms - "Mister Trevelyan - and husband ..." says the Balinese woman with the guest list. Bond nods. As he and Felix walk into the gala event, he grumbles to Felix - "I'm going to kill Bill when I get back to London ...". Felix just smiles in amusement.
A beautiful Polish woman introduces herself to Bond - she is Aella Morderczy (Alicja Bachleda) and she claims that she is a journalist doing a piece of work on Edvard Largo. Bond finds her intoxicating - but is called away from her by Felix who has located the military contractor and his girlfriend. Bond becomes suspicious of the way in which Largo speaks to Dominique - whom he calls 'my little Domino' - and gets challenged to a combat game against Largo in a HR simulation - think 'Call to Duty' but BETTER.
It is obvious to Bond that Largo is cheating. But, even with Largo cheating, Bond manages to turn the game against the shipping magnate by utilising unorthodox strategic choices. Felix later compliments Bond on the unorthodox strategies - and Bond makes a comment, to the effect of, when you face unorthodox foes you must use unorthodox strategies. Largo tries to take his defeat graciously and invites Bond to join him and Domino on a fishing trip the following afternoon, which will be Christmas Eve. Bond agrees - and spends the night after the event making passionate love to Aella.
On the fishing trip on Largo's yacht, the Flygande Tefat (as far as I can figure out, this is Flying Saucer in Swedish), Bond learns about Domino after he walks into a room and witnesses her removing a wig - she was an aspiring actress turned model, who had a few minor roles in film but developed a cocaine addiction. It was the addiction that drove her apart from her family, a relatiosnhip that was already strained, she explains, and the addiction that caused her hair to fall out - but Largo is helping to rehabilitate her and she is grateful to him for that. Bond treats her gently - and tells her that she is beautiful without the wig but assists her with putting it back on. Bond spends the night on the boat and sneaks about - discovers the GPS system and manages to place a bug into it and, returning to his room, witnesses Parsons (Neil Jackson), Largo's aide-de-camp, giving some drugs in a syringe to Domino.
Also present on the fishing is a business associate of Largo's called Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Morgan Freeman) whom Bond finds cultured and charismatic. Blofeld is the Director of an organisation known as Firco, which he explains is "an international brotherhood for the assistance of stateless persons" - in short, they're a humanitarian organisation that works with refugees.
After the yacht returns to the dock on the morning of Boxing Day, Bond and Blofeld disembark and part ways. As Bond walks away from the charismatic man and climbs into the rental car, Blofeld picks up a mobile phone and places a call to someone we do not initially see - he orders the person to eliminate a thorn in their side: James Bond. As Blofeld ends the call and puts the phone back into his pocket, we see the person he was speaking to is Aella!
Bond meets up with Felix who has used the bug that Bond placed and confirms that the Flygande Tefat was in the vicinity of the wreckage that was the delivery point at the time that the nuclear weapons were dropped. Bond has no doubt now that Largo has taken posession of the weapons -
But, when the two men return to the docks to investigate, they discover that the yacht has left port - for a destination unknown.
Singapore
Bond and Felix track the Flygande Tefat to Singapore on the eve of a famous F1 race - and, once there, they track Domino to a spa at the Marina Bay hotel. He glimpses Aella at the spa but she fobs him off with a claim that she is following a lead. So, he tells her, is he. Bond confronts Domino in the infinity pool, he tells her that he knows Parsons was providing her with drugs, he also knows that Largo told Parsons to give her the drugs - feeding her dependancy. Domino can't quite believe it - but Bond says he has something else that can convince her and asks her to come with him. Hesitantly, she agrees.
But Parsons has been keeping an eye on Domino and, when Bond and Domino climb into the Jaguar C-X75 that Bond was provided with in London, Parsons climbs into his own sportscar, a Koenigsegg Agera, and pursues them through the streets. The famous F1 race is in progress and the two cars jump over a barrier - and into the race itself, their sportscars mingling with the F1 cars before escaping from the course via the pits. Bond evades Parsons - and takes Domino to a safehouse where Felix is waiting. Felix has set up a video link with London - allowing Domino to speak with her father.
THIS is what convinces her to help Bond. She knows that some sort of cargo was taken aboard the Flygande Tefat in Bali and then offloaded once the yacht reached Singapore - it will be transported to America on a military flight via Guam. Domino doesn't know where the bomb is going to be placed, but she may have inadvertently seen or overheard something that provides a clue - she realises that he mentioned 'a delivery for Mr Washington'.
Felix and Bond ask Domino to pretend that she has escaped custody and return to the Flygande Tefat so that she can ascertain where the bombs are to be detonated. Reluctantly, she agrees and returns to the yacht. The Flygande Tefat leaves dock almost immediately and moves out into the South China Sea - her destination, once again, unknown to Bond.
Returning to their hotel, Bond discovers Aella waiting for him in his room - the charade is over, she admits that she is an agent for SPECTRE. She puts Bond down by claiming that she slept with him out of duty and not out of pleasure - and that it will be her pleasure to kill him. "I'm sure it will, but it will be hard task to complete from your grave -" he comments, as Felix shoots her from behind.
Bond leaves the room and hangs a Do Not Disturb sign on the door - commenting to the chambermaid who is in the corridor as he passes: "My wife - she's dead to the world ..."
Later, Bond and Felix fly to America whilst they await the call from Domino. Domino discovers the bomb has been planted in Washington DC but cannot discover where - it is not until they come in to land in America that Bond realises that the bomb has been planted at the Washington Monument.
However - Domino was discovered whilst radioing the message to Bond and Felix and she is hauled before Largo who injects her with drugs and leaves her half comatose in her stateroom on the yacht. Intercut with Domino's investigation, a message is relayed to each of the leaders of the G8 countries - we see the message being played for the Presidents of France, Russia and the USA, the Chancellor of Germany and Prime Ministers of Canada, Italy, Japan and the UK. The message shows Blofeld - revealed as the leader of SPECTRE - saying that he has arranged for a nuclear bomb to decimate the heart of the free world at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve unless each of the G8 countries delivers fifty percent of their gold bullion to set location in twelve hours.
The heart of the free world - Washington, DC.
Washington, DC
Bond and Felix arrive at the Washington Monument. Parsons is at the top of the monument and tries to shoot the two men. Whilst ducking behind a parked car, the two men discuss who will climb the monument and defuse the bomb. Felix says that he is younger so he will climb the monument - but Bond says that he will do it whilst Felix provides cover fire: "Have you ever defused a nuclear warhead, Felix?" "No," responds the CIA agent, "Have you?". Bond responds, "Actually -"
Felix is left to provide the cover, allowing Bond to enter the momument and climb the stairs to defuse the bomb - but to do so, he must fight and defeat Parsons who is guarding it. The fight is a more traditional fight - both men falling into boxing stances, but Bond augmenting his combat with exotic martial arts and eventually overcoming his younger opponent. At the end of the fight, Parsons is thrown to his death from the monument and lands on the sedan parked behind Felix - and the final shot of the sequence is Bond standing atop the phallic shaped symbol. Bond triumphant, framed by a dramatic fireworks display as the clocks hit midnight.
The Sundarbans, Bangladesh
Bond arrives to confront Largo - and finds the Flygande Tefat docked off the coast of the Sundarbans, the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. But the yacht is deserted, this is ascertained in a sequence in which Bond and Felix stalk through the ships darkened corridors which are lit only by emergency lighting - they discover that the ships lifeboat is missing, but given that it is only a rowboat, the people who have taken it cannot have gone far.
Speaking to MI6 and the CIA on their cellphones, the two agents use satellite imaging to locate a shack in the Sundarbans and Bond uses his own speedboat to approach it. There, he finds that Domino has had explosives strapped to her chest by Largo and he threatens to set off the explosives if Bond doesn't allow him to escape. Bond calls his bluff - and Largo removes his finger from the trigger, expecting the bomb to blow. However, Bond has used the device to disrupt radio signals from Q to flood the room with radio static, preventing the detonation signal from getting through. In shock, Largo tries to flee but Domino injects him with an overdose of the drug that he had been giving to her - he is quickly paralysed.
Before the pair can flee the shack, Bond must perform complex technical work to remove the bomb from around Domino's chest - he picks it up, runs to the edge of the deck and HURLS THE EXPLOSIVES INTO THE WATER. The explosives detonate under water and send up a fountain of spray into the air -
Bond hauls Domino into his own speedboat and it moves away through the mangroves - as we see a Bengal tiger advancing upon the shack and pouncing on a terrified Largo, paralysed both literally and fear, unable to do anything as he gets mauled to death.
The Alps, Switzerland
Bond has arranged for Domino to be taken to an exclusive clinic in the Swiss Alps where she begins rehab, the British and Americans are government is paying for the bill because of the help she gave in stopping Largo's scheme to set of a nuclear warhead in Washington, DC. Bond turns down her romantic overtures, watches her sleep - and falls asleep himself. He wakes to find her gone - but she has simply been moved to another room where she is talking to her father - the estranged father and daughter coming together, the healing beginning for both of them.
Bond pulls on his coat and walks out into the snow outside the clinic, his mission is complete - over the closing titles, 'Awake' by Josh Groban and Idina Menzel is played.
THE END
JAMES BOND
HAS RETURNED
Consider it done.
