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The Wall Recap

In East Germany, Dr. Wolfgang Gerstner leads the Kleins to a warehouse and from there to an underground passage. He explains that it leads beneath the Berlin Wall and into No Man's Land. Gerstner gives them directions to follow once they emerge from the other side to clear the minefield. After thanking Gerstner, the Kleins cross over only to find Colonel Josef Batz and his soldiers waiting for them. Batz takes the family into custody while Gerstner watches, satisfied.

Jim goes to a golf course to get his briefing from a valve box. He is informed that Gerstner runs a black market business in East Berlin and smuggles refugees to the West for a high fee. Batz protects his partner's operations but recent negotiations to bring down the Berlin Wall threaten their business. To prevent the negotiations, the two men have kidnapped the daughter of Karl Bruck, a negotiator working to reunify the two countries. Gerstner has placed Brock's daughter Ilse into a coma and is offering her return if Bruck sabotages the negotiations. The IMF must find and rescue Ilse before it's too late and take care of Gerstner and Batz.

At the team briefing, Jim reviews the plan to go through Checkpoint Charlie. He and Casey will go in as father and daughter, Grant on his own, and Nicholas and Max as truck drivers bringing in tractor parts. Once in the country, the team will use a warehouse for their operations. The West Germans have put a press blackout on Ilse's abductions and the IMF only has 48 hours until the negotiations begin. They figure that since Gerstner only has Batz to protect him, they can use that against the doctor.

The IMF heads overseas and Nicholas and Max are pulled over at the checkpoint for an inspection.

Gerstner goes to the warehouse and deactivates the security system. Entering his secret room, he makes sure that Ilse is stable and then tells the comatose girl that she'll pay the price if her father doesn't cooperate.

The soldiers search the IMF truck but find nothing, while Jim and Casey go through. However, when Grant goes through separately, he is immediately taken aside while Max and Nicholas are waved through. Grant is brought to security headquarters where Batz tells him that his papers are clearly forgeries. While Grant stalls for time, Nicholas and Max pull up outside and tap into Batz's phone line. Once it's 10 o'clock, Grant informs Batz that he is a captain in the Cuban Armed Forces, trained in Russia and working under Major Alexei Kirov of the KGB. He used forged papers so that he would have an excuse to meet Batz privately once he was arrested. Batz doesn't believe him but Grant tells him to call Kirov and confirm his credentials. The colonel makes the call and Max and Nicholas intercept the call. Nicholas impersonates Kirov and confirms Grant's credentials, and then tells him to cooperate. Once Batz is satisfied, Grant tells the colonel that he's there to confirm reports of corruption and black market activity within Batz's organization and asks for all of the security files.

Max and Nicholas meet Jim and Casey at the warehouse. Claiming to be a refugee, Jim calls Gerstner and asks for a meeting so that he can buy his way to the West. The doctor agrees and they meet at a soccer stadium. The doctor is hesitant to begin immediately, but Jim insists and Gerstner agrees in return for five times his usual fee. Jim and Casey agree and Gerstner tells them to come with him to his clinic and pay half of the money in advance.

While the other IMF agents are in the field, Nicholas and Max build up a fake prison cell in the warehouse.

At the clinic, Jim pays half of the transit fee and Gerstner hides them in a secret room. He tells them that they'll leave that night and to wait until then. Once he leaves, Jim signals the team and Grant tells Batz that he's leaving for an appointment. Batz has his men follow Grant but the IMF agent easily loses them in the streets. The colonel then calls Gerstner and warns him about the KGB investigation, warning him that they've gone too far by abducting Ilse. Gerstner reminds his partner that they're to avoid contact and not to call him again, and assures Batz that he can handle Ilse. He then takes out a gun and goes back to the hidden room.

Grant returns to the warehouse and sets up a camera to record the inside of the fake prison cell through a one-way mirror.

Gerstner releases Jim and Casey and prepares to shoot them, saying there's been a change in plans. Max and Nicholas arrive, dressed as East German soldiers, and gas Gerstner unconscious. They then put him in the fake cell in the warehouse, and Grant drugs the water with timed hallucinogens rather than use noticeable injections. Max comes in and interrogates Gerstner about his black market activities, leaves, and Grant turns the lights on and off, making the hallucinating doctor think that days have gone by. While Nicholas makes a Batz mask and Jim applies fake bruises, Casey waits until Gerstner passes out and then applies fake stubble to make him think considerable time has passed.

Once Gerstner is fully disoriented, the team wakes him up and stages a scene where the doctor can see Grant beat Jim, demanding to know about Gerstner. Max goes into Gerstner's cell and makes sure he catches a glimpse of Nicholas-as-Batz and Grant talking outside his cell. They discuss how the West is offering $1 million for Ilse's return and amnesty for the kidnapper. As Nicholas-as-Batz tells Grant that Gerstner was responsible, Jim closes the door, cutting off Gerstner's view. Gerstner insists that he's innocent and accuses Batz of selling him out. He finally cracks and confesses and the IMF get it on tape.

As Grant edits the tape, Max gives Gerstner an injection and informs him that he's to be shot. Nicholas, out of the Batz disguise, brings Jim and Casey in. Jim attacks Max, grabs his gun, and "kills" him and Max. Gerstner promises to get them past the Wall if they free him, and tells them the address of his warehouse before he passes out from the injection.

Grant goes back to security headquarters and shows Batz an edited version of Gerstner's tape that omits the part where he gave up Batz. He tells the colonel that the doctor escaped before implicating anyone and that Batz is to find and capture him. As Batz turns away to start the search, Grant switches the VHS tape for an unedited one with Gerstner's full confession. He then tells Batz to give it to Kirov and leaves.

The rest of the team go to the warehouse but set off the security system. The power goes out, shutting down Ilse's life support machine. They find the secret panel, break in, and manage to reconnect the power to revive her. Jim then has Casey stay with the girl as she recovers while they bring in Gerstner.

Kirov and his KGB agents receive a tip and go to arrest Batz in his office. The major has no idea who Grant is and shows Batz the full tape of Gerstner's confession, implicating Batz.

Max brings the unconscious Gerstner into the warehouse while Jim tells Ilse that her father will meet them on the other side of the Wall. Grant checks in and warns the team that Kirov is on his way. They wake Gerstner up and Jim prods him into taking them through. Still suffering from the hallucinogens, Gerstner sees Nicholas and Max. Confused because he thought that they were dead, Gerstner thinks that he's dreaming. When Grant informs him that Batz has confessed, Gerstner staggers into the hidden room only to discover that Ilse is gone. He hears police sirens in the distance and crawls into the escape tunnel.

Outside, Casey hides Ilse behind a false wall in the IMF truck. The team then gets in and drives to Checkpoint Charlie. Jim, Casey, and Grant proceed on foot while Nicholas and Max drive the truck to the checkpoint. One soldier goes inside and starts to notice the false wall. However, Kirov's men are waiting for Gerstner as he emerges from the tunnel and shoot him. The soldier in the truck goes to investigate the gunfire and the other soldiers wave Nicholas and Max through. When they arrive on the western side of the Wall, the IMF reunited Ilse with her waiting father.

Written by Gadfly on Oct 6, 2018

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