Action adventure trilogy.
THE COMBINATION
By Mike Teitelbaum
amazingsite@msn.com
Accidentally the possessor of the computer instructions needed to activate an advanced hydrogen bomb factory in Syria, a foreign correspondent has to destroy the factory to save his daughter.
Theme/Controlling Idea
In the battle between honoring public duty and achieving personal goals, you can choose honor without becoming a martyr.
The Problem
If the correspondent rejects public duty, he saves his daughter's life, but loses his honor by allowing a belligerent nation to perfect a nuclear bomb.
If he chooses public duty, he prevents the nuclear extinction of hundreds of thousands, but risks his dauthter's life as well as his own.
Value System
Positive value - Honor
Intermediate/contrary value - Passivity
Negative value - Dishonor
Negation of the negative value - Dishonor masquerading as honor
[The Comments Summary was prepared by the Reader, a moonlighting anonymous studio reader.]
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LOG LINE:
A newspaper reporter must rescue his kidnapped daughter from the grips of a ruthless Syrian terrorist who is building an underground factory to manufacture nuclear weapons.
COMMENTS SUMMARY:
A political, action thriller with dynamic action sequences, a tight storyline,
and a fair amount of humor thrown in for good measure. Similar to the best of
the James Bond films, our hero is continually thrust from one high stakes
situation to the next, each one building in danger and intensity. When he
accidentally comes into possession of the combination required to activate a
nuclear plant secretly being built in Syria by a German company, agents from
Turkey and Syria seek to obtain the combination from him. As he is chased from
one European country to another, his girlfriend is murdered and his daughter
kidnapped. He has no choice but to travel to Syria to save his daughter from
certain death. Along the way he rescues a turncoat female secret agent, who
joins him in his quest.
The main character, who is present in every scene, is likable and well-drawn...
we empathize with a normal guy thrust into this unusual situation. The writer
keeps a smart balance between the action and the more emotional elements of the
story. The strong, likable characters draw us into the story and give it color
and style. THE COMBINATION is certainly worth strong consideration for an
action feature.
SYNOPSIS:
Richard Remington, a newspaper journalist, leaves his fourteen year old daughter Aisha in Geneva for an assignment. After interviewing a friend at the Syrian Trading Company in Munich, he passes the gorgeous Renate Stubeneuser on her way into the building. Moments later, the building explodes. He rushes over to the dying Renate. In her last breaths, she hands Richard a decorator combination lock and whispers the first few numbers of the combination before expiring.
Suddenly, Richard is thrust from one high stakes situation to the next, each one building in danger and intensity in this political action thriller.
Unknown to Richard, the code required to activate a Syrian nuclear bomb factory is secreted within the lock, which Richard hangs like a locket on a chain around his neck.
As Richard leaves the site of the explosion, he is seen by Ahmet Zeydan, a Turkish terrorist. The Turks and Syrians have been long-time enemies who share a disputed border.
Richard immediately becomes the object of the Turks, Syrians and the CIA, all who seek the code for their own purposes.
After being detained at the Munich police station, Richard scurries to the Paris office of the New York Herald, where his editor warns Richard to stay off the story of the explosion.
The Turks track Richard to Paris, kill his girlfriend and give chase to him through the streets of Paris. In a hail of bullets, the CIA saves him from the Turks, but Richard keeps mum about the lock.
Rushing to Geneva to protect his daughter, Richard arrives just after the Syrians kidnap Aisha and carry her off to Damascus. Richard is given 48 hours to turn over the code to the Syrians or they will kill Aisha.
Before he can leave Geneva, Richard is captured by the Turks, who must prevent him from delivering the code to the Syrians. During his escape from them, Richard rescues Monica, a Syrian secret agent posing as a travel agent. Together, they head for Damascus. While passing through the Swiss Alps, the Turks rocket their train. Monica and Richard heroically detach the burning engine and save the hundreds of passengers from sure death.
Monica, falling for Richard, renounces her
Syrian connection, disguises Richard as a woman, and helps him sneak into Syria,
where he overcomes his fear of water, rescues Aisha, destroys the nuclear bomb
factory, steals a Cessna plane, avoids Syrian fighter planes and lands on a U.S.
Navy aircraft carrier.
***
The foregoing is the first screenplay of a trilogy. The treatment for the second screenplay also is available. For coverage, go to Mike.