Genre: Action/Thriller
Premise: Shot in the head and left for dead in Tijuana, an international arms dealer wakes up with no memory of who he is, and must figure it out in time to complete a major deal.
About: This is one of the Will Smith slap casualty projects! While Netflix has not officially canceled the film (they’re saying they’ve “slowed development” on it), director David Leitch exited the movie, which was the guy Smith wanted at the helm. Oh, and all of this was announced BEFORE Netflix’s stock value got cut in half. So that would imply that the movie is dead. Then again, so was the hero in Fast and Loose. And guess what? He came back to life! Brother Joe and Erich Hoeber wrote the spec. Their credits include, Red, The Meg, and My Spy.
Writers: Joe Hoeber & Erich Hoeber
Details: 119 pages
I don’t think there’s a bigger nightmare for a writer than having an A-list star attached to his project in a real way (not one of those shaky attachments, but an *actual* attachment), only for the project to dissolve right in front of their eyes.
Yes, projects fall apart all the time. But this one was solid and it fell apart in the most unexpected of ways. Will Smith decided to become John Wayne for 45 seconds. Imagine if you’re Joe and Erich Hoeber, sitting down to watch the Oscars. Having a few drinks. Grilling a few burgers.
Then…… SLAP! And your project is kaput.
However, when a project gets this much exposure, it’s possible to get a replacement actor. So maybe we’ll still see Fast and Loose somewhere down the line. To its credit, it’s got a nifty Jason Bourne like first act that pulls you in. But what about the rest? Does it work?
It isn’t every day that you wake up in a Tijuana trash sight with a bullet in your head. But that’s what’s happened to Riley. Actually, I’m getting ahead of myself. We don’t know Riley’s name yet because *Riley* doesn’t know his name yet. Riley doesn’t know a darn thing about who he is.
A local doctor takes Riley to his home to help him recuperate. After five long weeks, the doctor gives Riley something he found in his anal cavity. A pod that has in it the name of a hotel in Mexico City. Riley says bye, heads to Mexico City, and is immediately greeted by a shocked hotel manager who takes him to his room.
There, Riley finds three different passports with his picture on them. He eventually finds a “whenever you want to go” plane ticket to London and flies there. Less than five minutes after landing, he’s attacked by two thugs. Out of nowhere, a giant African man named Gerald shoots these men dead and shuttles Riley away.
Long story short, Riley is an international arms dealer and he’s got a team of criminals he works with here in London. But no sooner do we learn that then Riley is approached by a woman named Erin Hardwick who informs Riley that he’s CIA and that this whole arms dealer thing is an undercover job.
Keep in mind, Riley hasn’t told ANYONE he doesn’t remember who he is. He just goes along with the situation, pretending he’s in-the-know. This places Riley in a very unique position. With no memory of his past, both of these lives – CIA agent and International Arms Dealer – are open to him. He gets to choose which one to go with. And the deeper he goes into both, the harder it is for him to make a choice.
This reminded me of that 2011 Liam Neeson movie, “Unknown,” although that script had a better opening. We got to see Neeson’s character check into a hotel with his wife, only to lose his memory after that. Then, when he goes back to the hotel later, his wife has no idea who he is. It was a great first act as the writer very cleverly withheld certain information from us in the opening that led to that “WTF” moment.
Fast and Loose is a little more straight forward. We know almost immediately that Riley is involved in crime. That’s why he was disposed of. So it’s not a surprise when that’s confirmed. It’s slightly surprising when we find out he’s CIA. Though maybe I’ve read too many scripts because I was already thinking, “I wonder if he’s a real criminal or if something else is going on.” Still, it’ll probably be a shock to the average moviegoer.
In addition to this, the script *does* have a compelling question at its center.
If you woke up with no memory one day and found out you were both a super rich criminal with a lavish lifestyle and an undercover CIA agent who makes pennies… which path would you take? Cause remember, you have zero connection to the past. It’s not like you’ve spent 10 years moving up the CIA ladder and making friends with all those people. You have no attachment to anyone since nothing before that shot to your head exists.
What would you do?
It’s a twist on the undercover blueprint we’ve seen so many times before: going undercover then getting just as close to the criminals as you are your fellow agents. That’s the formula that started the whole Fast and Furious franchise.
But here, each side starts off equal. So the decision is a lot tougher. I enjoyed that.
What I didn’t enjoy was the suspension of disbelief required to go along with Riley’s response to the whole thing. You see, Riley doesn’t tell anyone that he’s got amnesia. I guess that sort of makes sense with the arms dealer crew. Who knows what they’d do if they found out you don’t remember anything about them. But he’d definitely tell the CIA. There’s zero reason not to.
Not telling either *does* create a more entertaining dynamic for the movie. But this is a trap all us writers fall into. We want something to happen so bad that we overlook the fallacy of it. We convince ourselves that it makes enough sense to keep in. But it doesn’t make sense in this case and that undercuts the believability of the movie.
The script does offer a great lesson for screenwriters everywhere. This is still a game where you have to get a big actor onboard to get a project moving. So you should always be thinking about things you can do to the character that would make him appealing to actors.
The Hoeber’s do this by creating a Mirror version of Riley. So whenever Riley is near a mirror or any reflective material, a cooler suaver chance-taking version of Riley appears, giving unfiltered advice to Real Life Riley.
After Riley wimps out on killing someone, Inner Riley takes him to task. “Will you just do me one favor? Please?” “What?” “Put you hand in your pants.” “What??” “Put your hand in your pants, fish allllll around, and then tell me if you have any balls whatsoever!”
I would bet my entire left foot that Will Smith signed on due to Mirror Riley. As I’ve established here many times before, actors love opportunities to play different characters in the same movie. And this was a clever way to allow an actor to do that. It was also a great tool to give Riley someone to talk to. This way, he could voice his concerns about what’s going on and have someone to bounce those thoughts off of.
This script seems to be in line with most of the Hoebers’ other scripts. It’s a solid screenplay but it’s definitely not elevated in any way. And so after we realize that he’s a bad guy and he has to make a deal with some Russian kingpin, the script starts to feel like every other action-thriller.
Still, it’s a solid screenplay in that “workmanship” way – screenwriters who know how to deliver a professional script that production, directors, and actors will like.
[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[x] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned: Any time – and I mean ANY TIME – your character is not revealing something that, in real life, he would reveal? Think long and hard about that choice. Cause I promise you – PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE – any reader is going to be thinking, “There’s no way he wouldn’t say something.” This is the case with Riley not telling the CIA he’s got amnesia. You must be *truthful* as a writer. That means staying truthful to the characters’ actions and decisions. The second you start making characters do things they wouldn’t do in real life, you open the door for readers to check out of your script.
