Date: 3/30/09 Title: "DEATH WISH" Author: FRANK WANG Submitted by: FRANK WANG Submitted to: HSCL Format: SP Pages: 125 Time: CURRENT Locale: RUSSIA and U.S.A. Genre: ACTION/SUSPENSE THRILLER Analyst: Hollywoodscript.com PREMISE: Hotshot scientist Sean Berkeley has made the breakthrough discovery of his young career: a revolutionary DNA sequencing protocol that could lead to cures for some of the world’s deadliest diseases – or could be used to create the next bio-terror plague. Sean will become caught up in a nefarious web of corporate criminals, ex-KGB spies, and the CIA, all of them determined to put Sean’s technology to their own use. With the safety of the world in jeopardy, will Sean be able to set things straight? Concept: VERY GOOD Characterization: EXCELLENT Dialogue: EXCELLENT Story Line: VERY GOOD Setting/Prod. Values: VERY GOOD Freshness of Story: VERY GOOD SYNOPSIS: When Dr. Sean Berkeley is called into the office of his pharmaceutical CEO boss Ron Miller, the young scientist doesn’t know what to expect. A three-week trip to Russia, generously compensated, to train a world-renowned Russian virologist in the use of Sean’s revolutionary DNA sequencing protocol? It doesn’t sound like such a bad deal. Sean is initially wary, but when Mr. Miller assures him that the trip is part of a joint Russian-U.S. vaccine development program, how can Sean say no? It is only a week after touchdown in Moscow that Sean, working in the lab of Dr. Makar Smirnov, begins to suspect that something is truly amiss. His DNA protocol might not be being used to create vaccines – in fact, it might be serving to help create a brand new virus, one with the potential to become the next global pandemic, and an ultra-lethal weapon in any terrorist or government arsenal. The CIA, having been tipped off by a suspicious secretary at Miller Pharmaceuticals, is following Sean’s “business trip” closely. Subjected to a quick and secret interrogation on Russian soil, Sean is unready to divulge his fledgling suspicions to the Agency – a scientist, of course, does not speculate wildly. But back Stateside, CIA agents Jack and Adam get him talking, and we learn what Sean has seen in Smirnov’s lab. While Sean remains unsure, Jack and Adam are certain that a virus has been created…and surprise! – Sean is ordered back to Russia as part of a risky, covert CIA operation in order to steal the virus and bring it back to the supposedly safe hands of the American government. But the CIA, of course, isn’t the only group aiming for the virus, aptly known as “DEATH WISH.” Mr. Miller, in cahoots with an ex-KGB freelancer named Boris Lebedev, plans to place it in American government hands as well – but for a steep price. Little does Mr. Miller know, however, that his old friend Boris is playing both sides, and has similar plans, along with another ex-KBRer, General Vikenti Kozlov, to extort the Americans into buying the virus for a cool five billion dollars. Quietly leading them in their scheming plot is the elusive “Joker,” an American double-agent of notorious Cold War renown but unknown identity. The stakes escalate rapidly once word gets out of the deadly virus’s leak at Smirnov’s Lab, and the chase is on, with Sean and Adam pitted against General Kozlov and his Russian henchmen in a deadly race to lay hands on the few specimens of DEATH WISH in existence. The success of an extortion attempt of unprecedented grandeur, not to mention the fate of the world, lie in the mix. When CIA headquarters loses contact with Sean and chalks him up dead, it appears they are left with no choice but to deal with the devil and buy up the virus. But Sean is alive – and ready to put his life on the line to save the world from the virus he unwittingly helped to create. With help from a beautiful Russian doctor, Galina, and a CIA agent with faith in him, Sean will prove that he is much more than the average geek. Meanwhile, a Fifth Avenue penthouse explodes, virus-infected Russian officers die painful deaths, key players are knocked off by professional killers, a plane downs into the Atlantic, and through it all Sean must elude the vengeful eye of General Kozlov’s Russian security services as he struggles to contain an outbreak that threatens to spiral out of control. A final twist at the end reveals the true identity of the “Joker” – and reminds us that no one is above the venal temptations of this world. COMMENTS: Our modern era is defined by the technology we use, technology that both enriches our lives and threatens our very existence. This tightly-wound suspense thriller pivots on the all-too-real scenario of medicine gone mad, and is an exciting platform to explore the intersection of corporate greed, bio-weapons proliferation, and the still tenuous relationship between the United States and Russia, nearly two decades after the end of the Cold War. The protagonist is a man caught up in something he never intended to be involved in, but who rises to the occasion when the duty of his conscience calls him to do so. The characters are multi-dimensional and enhanced by punchy, clever dialogue. A seat-of-your-pants third act provides some great action and an exciting and entertaining payoff to a well-structure plot, people by characters intriguing, funny, and deadly all at once. DEATH WISH is a deft combination of themes – at once “Outbreak” and “Bourne” – that turns our concerns over bio-terrorism into excellent fodder for action entertainment. TO CONTACT WRITER DIRECTLY |