Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

As humankind nears extinction, a
scientific remnant flees deep
underground in City of Ember (2003) by
Jeanne DuPrau. But their power supply
is failing and it's up to three young adults
to take a roller-coaster ride down the
underground river, over the waterfall and
when the boat stops, they see the natural
world, the sky and the moon. The photo
is from the 2008 movie.
Script by David Goyer, screenwriter for
Batman Begins (2005),
Wayne climbs down a jagged rock
crevice. Air blows in his face. The
crevice widens into a low-ceilinged
chamber. Wayne hears the rush of
water. He crouches, advances
through the low chamber. It turns
downwards, steeper. Wayne carefully
slides on his back, lowering himself
into limitless black.
Chapter 25 -- Radio Days and Saturday Matinees
Wayne stands. A roar of water now. He reaches into his coat, pulls out a chemical torch,
cracks it, throwing light into a vast cavern.
An underground river, a jagged ceiling, far above, which as Wayne peers, starts to move. Bats
explode from the ceiling. Thousands descend, screeching, attracted to the light. Wayne
instinctively crouches, but as they sworn around him terrifyingly.
Wayne rises to his feet amidst a cyclone of bats, watching flutter blackness with profound calm.
And he knows the symbol he must use.
King of California (2007) is about pursuit of a purported cache of Spanish gold buried under the
L.A. suburbs. An ancient map and modern surveying equipment lead to stones on a golf course
with etchings matching those recorded in a conquistador's journal. Marking off distances inside a
Costco store, the searcher jackhammers into the display floor and using scuba equipment from
the discount store shelves, plunges into an underground river in search of the loot.
Quantum of Solace (2008), the
22nd James Bond film, Agent 007
uncovers a conspiracy to steal the
Bolivian water supply. While
surviving the intended land
acquisition by air, Bond is shot
down, but skydives into a sinkhole
where he discovers the
subterranean dam constructed for
this evil purpose.
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