Snap Judgment

It's nighttime. Cold. No sound except for the chattering of cicadas and the voice of a GUARD making his report on a walky-talky. MAX TAYLOR barges past him, incapacitating more guards until he breaks out of a building and makes his way to a checkpoint barrier. He is about to pass the barrier when he's surrounded by men in white coats. They drag him back into the building. Taylor is a patient at a military institute for highly trained soldiers and spies who have lost their sanity during combat or secret missions; they're kept under sedation and observation until such time as they're deemed fit to return to active duty. The next morning, JOHN DANCE walks through a secure reception area, asking HENRY WALSH (the institute's chief administrator) about the patients. Dance is introduced as a psychiatrist charged with assessing the institute's viability and the patients' mental stability. Dance enters a gym where some of the patients are keeping their skills well-honed. Dance will interview each of them in turn, and they complain that they've been asked the same questions over and over again. According to Walsh they're heavily sedated, preventing them from busting out en mass. Group therapist DR. HUDSON also acts as a calming influence on the patients, encouraging them to discuss their feelings in her sessions. However, some of the patients do seem to be busting out - a group of ski-masked soldiers assassinate a local VIP. As the killings continue, the pressure grows on Dance to make a decision about the Institute's fate. His wife REBECCA DANCE visits him in the building; she's a politician who has the power to close down the facility. There's a second assassination, led by Taylor. After completing his mission he visits Rebecca; he's been attempting escape to continue an affair with her. Back at the Institute, it dawns on Dance that Rebecca's the next target for the assassins. He makes a startling discovery - dozens of pills secreted in a drain - the pills that the patients should have been taking. Just as Dance is about to blow the whistle, he's incapacitated and wakes up in a cell. Walsh informs him that he's been a patient in the Institute all along - the staff members have been humoring him, allowing him to interview his fellow patients as a form of therapy. Dance begins to believe them, but knows that his wife could be in danger. He escapes from the Institute and saves his wife, even as he tries to control his jealousy after he sees her in Taylor's arms. Dance leads the assassins back to return with a new target: Walsh.