Sgt Rock (DC Comics #4 of 5)

Genre: War

Premise: There really isn't one. No main storyline. No character goals except crush the bad guys. Sounds alot like a comic book doesn't it? It's basically a period piece about World War II. The script ends with a big shodown in a bombed out village between GIs and Nazis. During this fight, most of the good guys are killed.

About: the draft I read is 123 pages and dated July 15th, 1996. An adaptation of the DC comic, intended to be liveaction. Another pet project of Joel Silver for fifteen years. Many directors attached including McTiernan, Harlin,and Ridley Scott. Arnold, Willis or Stallone were intended to star. It's in Development Limbo at Warners.

Writer: Brian Helgeland (LA Confidentia) based on David Webb Peoples (Blade Runner, Unforgiven) based on DC Comics.

Sgt Rock is not a super hero. He's an ordinary guy who has had extraordinary experiences on the battlefield. Understandably, the idea of a Sgt Rock film was born during the Rambo/Chuck Norris phase of the early 80's. But, also at this time due to lingering memories of Vietnam and a lack of World War II films, the story may have appeared too oudated. Joel Silver has put this film through various rewrites, however, and has even hired four filmmakers at various times: John Milius, Jeffrey Boam, Steven DeSouza, Ebbe roe Smith, and Janet peoples. Obviously something is keeping Sgt. Rock from seeing the light of day, so I'll try to offer up some possible explanations as to what might have prevented the birth of this series.

Both stars who were considered have other World War II projects they feel more passionately about. Arnold ended up developing With Wings as Eagles, and Bruce Willis worked on bringing Combat! to the screen. Arnold was to have played a German immigrant who joins the US Army to fight the Nazis who drove him from his homeland. (Doesn't this seem perfect for a McBain trailer in The Simpsons?). Bruce Willis would be a much better choice.

This film ends up like a poor version of Saving Private Ryan. There's even an "Easy Company" quite like Tom Hanks' group of boys. Rock is like Tom Hanks and Tom Sizemore, Kluzewski is Ed Burns, Farraci is like Vin Disel, 4-Eyes resembles Jeremy Davies, Marlboro is a strong, silent type just like Barry Pepper. (There's also strangely enough a character called Ice Cream. I'm not joking. That's just ridiculous). There's also a Senator's son who joins to "try" himself as a man much like Charlie Sheen in Platoon. The bad guy is a very boring SS Colonel, who comes off like any generic Indiana Jones nazi. There really isn't much of a motive to his bad guyness either. Basically, this lack of reason describes the main failure to this entire story.

There are some good parts: one of the characters has reoccuring dreams about his pregnant wife back home he acts out in his sleep, it's funny seeing the various characters interact together, and generally the series does well at holding one's interest barely enough to keep reading.

There's wit and charm here. With a few rewrites maybe even entertainment. And shoot, if GI Joe can make it to the screen then why not Sgt Rock? Probably because a bankable star is needed for this hard, iconic role. Until then, this script will probably remain just a dream project.

Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)
[X] Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)
Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)
Hot Rod (Good)
Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good)

Isla Roles: I believe this is the first script I've read so far with basically no female roles.

Tip: When writing something as conventional as a war movie, you always have to be thinking about archetypes. Because odds are your audience has seen a dozen similar films and is readily going to compare your characters to all of the other ones they know. For example, I could easily compare Sgt Rock to Indiana Jones, Platoon, Combat!, Sands of Iowa Jima, Cross of Iron, Saving Private Ryan, The Big Red One, The Thin Red Line, Band of Brothers, and Flags of Our Fathers among others. That's alot of stories to overcome in order to make something original!