Genre: Drama
Synopsis: A soldier comes back from Afghanistan to find his wife and daughter murdered. He goes looking for the killer…sorta.
About: This was actually made into a movie. When it’s coming out? I have no idea. Judging by the quality of the script, my guess would be never.
Writers: Jeff and Josh Crook
This was written by Jeff and Josh Crook That’s appropriate because they JUST STOLE 2 HOURS OF MY LIFE. Welcome to screenplay hell folks.
You know I’m kinda glad this script came up because I recently got into it with the guys over at Filmspotting after their review of Taken, which I thought was an excellent film. Their problem with the film though, was that they thought the first 30 minutes were boring as hell, and that the screenwriters should’ve started with the daughter getting kidnapped. I argued that that was the dumbest idea in movie history. Why would we care about a daughter we didn’t know? The reason Taken works so well is the buildup in that first act of showing how much Liam Neeson’s character wants to reconnect with his daughter. Without it there is no movie.
But to even mention Rockaway in the same sentence as Taken is disingenuous. Cause this script sucked. The story’s about a guy coming back from the war only to find out that his wife and daughter have been murdered. So he goes on an investigation to find the killer and get retribution. The problem is, unlike Taken, we’ve never met the wife and daughter. I have no emotional connection to them. So why the fuck should I care whether he gets retribution or not? But if that were Rockaway’s only problem, it might have had a fighting chance.
Unfortunately, the script is horribly written. I mean really bad. The dialogue is simplistic and on-the-nose. And for a movie about revenge, it would be nice if your main character actually did something. Trane (yes, his name is “Trane”) just wanders around from place to place, getting in fights with people, then occasionally decides he wants to refocus his efforts on finding that darned killer. Lol. It’s bad folks. And you have to realize something. This movie got MADE. People put millions of dollars into this.
There are no real obstacles to Trane’s mission because Trane is rarely involved in his mission. He’s too busy walking around and talking to old friends/enemies. There are gang members, old rivalries, and oh yeah, let’s not forget “The Russians”, lol. Because every movie about “the streets” has to involve “The Russians”. Apparently the Crook brothers play a looooooooooot of Grand Theft Auto. This script was so bad, I had to create a new category for it.
link: I refuse to post a link for this. However, if you really want the script, if you really want to put yourself through the torture, e-mail me.
[x] laughable
[ ] trash
[ ] barely readable
[ ] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned from Rockaway: In case I wasn’t clear up above – If your movie consists of someone getting retribution for a person who was kidnapped/raped/murdered, make sure we actually meet the victims before they’re killed. The audience will be infinitely more involved in your main character’s pursuit. Oh, and the second thing I learned: Know how to write.
Carson’s Surprise Advice: Please, PLEASE. If you have to write a movie about a soldier returning from Iraq, please, for the love of all that is holy, give it a twist to make it different from the 862,000 other “just got back from Iraq” scripts. Thank you and good night.
