The movie begins in the San Francisco FBI
department. Two police detectives namely;
Frank and Matthew sneak into the building
using their authority as police officers.
They break into a room reserved only for
authorized personnel to steal data from a
computer. They are looking for someone with
specific bone marrow for an unknown reason.
After a few minutes of searching, they
finally land on a man named Peter J.
McCabe. However, he turns out to be a criminal
with murder, manslaughter, and assault charges.
Peter is currently locked in solitary confinement
for breaking an inmate’s leg at Pelican Bay State
Prison. Even though the guy has had no formal
education past grade nine, his IQ is over 150.
Moreover, he has escaped twice and killed two
policemen in the process. The second time,
he burned them alive and used their IDs to confuse
the police. Peter McCabe is not just a fugitive,
he is an extremely intelligent sociopath
who loves to play with people’s minds.
The next day, detective Frank and
the police captain go to meet Peter
in the prison. The reason for their visit
is unknown until Frank finally meets Peter
and reveals that his eight-year-old son has
Leukemia. He desperately needs a bone marrow
transplant and according to all databases,
the only person that matches is Peter.
Despite finding out that he can save a kid’s
life, Peter doesn’t want to get involved.
He messes with Frank and makes him beg before
telling him that he will think about the matter.
Frank tries to change his mind by
declaring that his son is Peter’s only
way of redemption but a criminal like him doesn’t
seek redemption. All he wants is fun and freedom.
Frank leaves the prison in desperation and goes
to the hospital to meet his son max. There,
he is met with more bad news as the doctor reveals
Max only has a few more weeks to live without a
bone marrow transplant. She asks Frank to prepare
himself for the worst but he refuses to listen.
It turns out that Max doesn’t know that
his cancer is back. He is excited about
a new aviation book that his father gifted him
and has no worries about the world. However,
upon sensing his father’s worry, the kid figures
out something is wrong and inquires if he is going
to die. Frank tells him about cancer but lies
that he has found a donor willing to participate.
The kid is joyous but he doesn’t forget
to tell his dad if the transplant
fails, he should know that he tried his best.
Just then, Frank gets a call from the prison.
Peter has finally agreed to the transplant
but wants to meet Max before he confirms it.
Frank is a little skeptical but he
promises to bring the kid the next day.
In the following scene, Peter and Max are
together in a room. Peter asks the kid to
call him uncle Pete and talks to him for
a while before promising to be his donor.
Max runs to his father in excitement but the
criminal has a bunch of demands before they
proceed with written consent. He wants to get out
of solitary confinement and be able to socialize
with other inmates, he wants his smoking
privileges back, and he should be allowed
to use the prison library which also consists
of a computer with access to the internet.
The prison warden is not cooperative enough to
grant such demands at first but after
Frank pulls some strings, he agrees.
Then, we see Peter being given a cigarette
which prompts him to sign the consent form.
Right after the police leave and he is
alone, Peter ties his shoelace to his thumb
and dislocates it. This is the first
step to his perfect escape plan.
Meanwhile, Max is worried that he is going to
receive bone marrow from a criminal like Peter.
His father asserts that receiving blood
from an old person doesn’t make you old,
likewise Peter’s sins have
nothing to do with his body.
In the prison, Peter continues the
preparations and approaches a secret
drug supplier. The man doesn’t want to do
business with him until Peter threatens him.
He wants an ampule of an anti-drug named Narcan
used to treat people who have OD-ed. The supplier
asks what he wants to use the drug for and
Peter claims that everyone will know in time.
While the supplier works on
getting his hands on the drug,
Peter uses the library computer to study the
map of the hospital he is going to be at.
He tricks the guards by pretending to play
chess. Because he is equally good at it,
they never suspect him. In the meantime,
the police force prepares the hospital for
Peter’s arrival and ensures complete safety.
There will be several helicopters flying above
and an army will escort him
to and back from the hospital.
A night before the big day, the supplier
gives Peter his daily dose of medicine.
But he hands him two cups, one of
which contains the drug he asked for.
Alone in his cell, Peter ties the ampule
to a thread and ties the other end to his
teeth. He then swallows the ampule
to pull it out when he needs it.
After that, finally comes the day of the
transplant. Hundreds of guards in several
vehicles bring Peter to the hospital.
He is taken to the OR in restraints
but they have to be removed when he is
kept on the bed. The guards do not waste
time before tying his hands again,
unaware of his dislocated thumb.
The doctor sedates him to initiate the transplant
but just then, Peter drinks the contents of the
ampule. The anti-drug prevents him from
passing out which shocks the doctors as
well. But by the time they catch up to his
plan, he has already pulled his hand out.
He uses a gas pipe to attack the doctors and
guards in the room before making a run for it.
Frank, who had been watching the
commotion from the upper floor,
runs to their aid. He helps them before
turning his attention toward the fugitive.
Peter slides down the laundry chute and wears
a doctor’s coat to disguise himself as one.
Despite having a chain tying his legs
together and a gunshot wound on his leg,
the man isn’t worried. He goes to a
room with laser guns and threatens a
doctor to break the chains with them.
After that, he runs to the emergency
room to get a shot of morphine for the
pain but Frank catches him in the act.
Peter holds a scalpel to Max’s doctor
Samantha’s throat and demands Frank to give
up. When the detective tries to shoot
Peter, Samantha reveals that if he dies,
the bone marrow will be useless and
Max will never get the transplant.
Suddenly a policeman named Wilson
appears from behind a curtain.
He points his gun at Peter,
asking him to let the doctor go.
In a moment of panic, Frank gives up his
gun to Peter so he can defend himself.
The act ensures his departure from the police
force but all he cares about is saving his son.
As Wilson and Peter negotiate,
Frank comes in between them,
refusing to let Peter get hurt. A
shootout ensues where the fugitive
kills another policeman and hurts
Wilson gravely before running away.
When the captain arrives with his team, he berates
Frank for letting people get killed for his son’s
life. Frank is arrested for his erratic behavior
and is to be sent to the police station. However,
when they are outside the hospital, he throws the
policemen into a crowd of reporters and escapes.
Back inside, Max bleeds from his nose,
and dr. Samantha is tending to him.
Officer Matthew is also with the two but
is attacked and knocked out by Peter. He
demands Samantha to reveal where the
cyclopropane is kept in the hospital.
He also promises Max that he will send her back
as soon as she helps him find what he wants.
Not wasting any more of his time, Frank drives a
bike into the hospital and continues looking for
Peter. He goes to Max and makes sure the kid is
okay before helping Matthew. Max reveals that the
fugitive was talking about propane which gives
Frank an idea of where they might have gone.
Keeping Matthew to take care of the
kid, he runs outside. At the same time,
Peter makes Samantha put two tanks of propane into
a bag and asks for directions to the electrical
room. He is planning to blow up the place as a
distraction to escape without getting caught.
However, Samantha takes him by surprise
and hurts him before running away.
She meets Frank in the hallways
who begs her not to tell the police
because they will kill Peter. The
doctor agrees and goes to tend to Max.
Peter and Frank meet outside the room with
propane but Peter has an upper hand because
Frank cannot kill him. He blows up the room and
runs away yet again. The explosion also causes the
entire electrical system of the hospital to shut
down including the ventilators and the lights.
Matthew moves Max to the old building of the
hospital joined to the new one through a bridge.
While trying to follow them, Frank notices
that Peter is also moving to the old building.
As he crosses the bridge, the team
below starts firing at the criminal
but Frank saves his life by shooting at
the light they are using to locate him.
By now, the SWAT team enters the hospital which
means Peter doesn’t have long before he is either
caught or killed. To gain leverage over the
guards, he holds their team leader hostage.
This allows him access to
the control room which he
uses to put the entire hospital in
lockdown by closing all the doors.
Meanwhile, Samantha is told that the kid is in
desperate need of a doctor and she needs to be
in the old building as soon as possible. Frank
hides her from everyone and gets her to the other
building, gaining an appreciation for his efforts
from Peter who is watching them on CCTV cameras.
Still, he doesn’t allow him inside the building.
Frank manages to convince him to let them in,
promising to be on his side.
After being let inside,
Frank and Samantha go to see Max while
Peter plays out the next part of his plan.
He brings the hostages on
the roof as a distraction,
knowing that the captain and his team will
be on the bridge joining the buildings. He
has laid a tank of propane near the bridge to
kill them. Frank figures out his plan and saves
the captain and his team’s lives by blasting
the propane when they are not on the bridge.
Now, the only people in the
building are Peter, Frank,
Matthew, Max, and Samantha. The latter
three are inside a locked room. Outside,
Peter and Frank meet each other
and Peter threatens to kill him.
Max quickly opens the door to save his father
but ends up being held at gunpoint because of it.
Peter then acts out the last part of his plan
and uses the kid as a hostage. They go to the
morgue which has a way to the tunnels
underground. This was Peter’s original
escape plan all along as he had the map of
the tunnel he acquired from the internet.
He makes a hole in the wall and apologizes to
the kid. He would have helped him if he could
without wasting a chance at freedom. Peter
then leaves Max there and runs through the
tunnel. With only half an hour left to sunrise,
he is sure to be lost in the rush hour traffic.
Having found out about his plan,
Frank follows him closely and sees
him driving away in a blue vehicle.
He steals a police car and uses the policeman’s
ID to ask for help from the control room.
After driving for several minutes, he finally
sees the car about to get on a bridge. Calling
the bridge operator, Frank pretends to be
the captain and manages to trap Peter again.
As they face each other in the showdown,
the captain and his team appear on a
helicopter. They fire at the criminal
but Frank takes the bullet to save him.
When Peter tries running away again, Frank
shoots him, causing him to fall into the
sea. With his remaining strength, Frank saves
Peter and he is brought back to the hospital.
The transplant finally takes place and Max is
saved. He returns to consciousness to a happy
father waiting for him. In another more secure
ward, Peter is still alive. He asks the guard if
the kid is okay. Suddenly, the bed starts moving
forward and the guard realizes his gun is missing.
The movie ends as Peter holds the gun to his
head and inquires what kind of car he drives.
