Hey there all you true believing reader dudes and dudettes... Harry here with another script review from the fighting mad Mysterio... You see, not only had Hollywood turned its back on Mysterio's wondrous cardboard cut-out effects... Not only did they pull the curtain on his dry ice and water mists... But then they didn't include him in the SPIDER-MAN movie... so he's getting fired up and angry mad... His revenge? A petty one. He is going to find and discover and discuss... the deepest of secrets... and this time he spies so you can spy I SPY...
Hey Harry, Mysterio comin’ back at’cha with another little early sneak peek script review. What’s the script this time out, you say? Here’s a clue: You spy, we spy, now… ‘I SPY’.
That’s right, yet another big screen adaptation of another popular television show. “I, SPY” was a show which ran from ‘65-’68, and before Murtaugh and Riggs or Crockett and Tubbs, it starred Robert Culp as Kelly Robinson, a drinking, smoking, womanizing tennis athlete reluctantly drawn into becoming an agent of the Pentagon under the senior eye of experienced agent, Alexander Scott who was played by Bill (‘Jello’ pudding pop-eating) Cosby.
Now that was the TV show, and now this is the proposed script for its big budget translation to the big screen.
The script is written by the Cormac & Marianne Wibberley team, who originally wrote the initial script for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s upcoming, “The SIXTH DAY” (which I previously reviewed) dated May 29, 2000.
This is their second script to a major film, written for Columbia Pictures.
The plot has Alex and Kelly trying to recover a stolen hi-tech, $250-million military F-22 fighter plane from being sold by a suspected European arms dealer, who intends to sell it to any third world country or individual with an agenda. As always with such a sophisticated high-tech weapon, in the wrong hands it could lead to worldwide implications.
* MINOR SPOILERS *
The script opens nicely with a ‘Bond-esque’ moment as Agent Scott infiltrates and storms into a highly guarded Federale prison compound in Venezuela. It’s here that Agent Scott is sent in to rescue a captured pilot who was in charge of piloting the F-22, which skeptically went down under his control and ended up in the hands of arms dealer, Arnold Gundars.
Now with all modernized adaptations, there are changes made to fit the current times, so let’s get the BIG change out of the way.
Alex is written as the straight-laced white CIA agent, which would’ve been originally played by Cosby. And Kelly (originally Culp), instead of being a white tennis athlete, is now written as a young, black basketball superstar. Someone like Lakers’ Kobe Bryant came to mind as a template when reading this character.
But before y’all devout “I, SPY” fans start crying “blasphemy”, take note that times change and with such, in the manner it’s portrayed and handled, it works for the better part. It adds a nice modern attribute to this buddy-buddy pairing, which I liked. Plus the fact that Kelly is now a basketball player is not just a throw away, but is incorporated into the plot of the script.
The banter between the two is obviously here, as are situations which set up Kelly in spy situations not completely familiar to him. The way in which Kelly enters Alex’s world is amusing at times but never is completely far removed from that of his own. He’s a superstar known worldwide, which the CIA intentionally uses to their advantage especially when he’s placed as a plant, among the rich and famous, to infiltrate Gundars extravagant parties scooping for information, while Alex watches him in the shadows.
Like it’s predecessor, the script as enough locales, gadgets, and espionage situations similar to any Bond flick, but has the advantage of being a buddy-buddy film set in a Bond world. It’s a fun, carefree film that never takes itself too seriously not unlike the TV show.
The only real fault that this early draft has, in my opinion, was the finale, which I felt could be a bit more suspenseful and grander in scope. The film though, ultimately rides on the two characters and chemistry of Alex and Kelly. Kelly right now is a much more interesting character with far more to do, than Alex. Alex could quite possibly benefit from a little more backstory and maybe a deep, real moment between he Kelly to ground his character and solidify his relationship with Kelly.
To the best of my knowledge, other writers have been brought on board as of this review, so changes will indeed be evident in future drafts.
Until then, time to get back to the spying game… big time.
-Mysterio
(who’s still waiting for the big-screen version of “QUINCY”.)
e-mail @:
Mysterio_9999@yahoo.com
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