WWIII Movie Idea

This is for a movie idea set in the Second Renaissance timeline, but could easily be placed in the broader "Next 100 Years" timeline being used for Sam Rami's upcomming "World War III" movie. I'm sick as a dog while writing this, so its gonna be in multiple installments, but the general idea is to see how you could take a dry, policy dense book like the next 100 years and turn it into a compelling story about the most iconic topic it covers.

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The film opens with narration by our protagonist, talking about how everyone thought the world would have more time to do something about climate change. We see news clips of glaciers falling into the Sea, found footage of people fleeing the rising tide around the world. She mentions how the flood crippled the Chinese economy and forced Japan to maintain regional security. We see images of Japan's rise as a military power, their partnership with the Turks, News footage of maps showing their growing sphere's of influence, the competition for land and resources, images of Japan testing nuclear weapons on the moon, all with the narrator talking about how the Japanese grew out of control and the US needed to get serious about this new threat. We see the arms buildup, soldiers in powered exoskeletons, fleets of drones that block out the sky, and the creation of the and the deployment of the Orbital Command Stations by the US closing with the narrator giving the "then everything changed," line.

ACT I: OPENING SHOTS

We meet our protagonist Jane Doe (needs work) on board OSC Kennedy over Papua New Guinea on Thanksgiving Day 2051, 2pm PST. She's in the mess hall with the other Space Command operators holding a Thanksgiving feast in space. We see the soldiers busting their chops over the different reason they were assigned to the Kennedy during Thanksgiving. The scene establishes levity after the heavier intro, and shows our protagonist at a moment of innocence. We cut to a security cam feed of the scene we just saw at the Command and Control deck of the station. The commanding general of the station is informed that all's quiet while we zoom in on a monitor displaying collision detection of objects nearing the station. Most are following standard orbital paths, but several begin to diverge ever so slightly. Cut to what appears to be a random meteoroid flying through space. The camera pans to reveal the glint of a metallic structure on the pockmarked surface of the meteoroid. We then see the bright firing of course correcting thrusters, and similar flashes against the darkness of space. Cut back to the command deck, and the monitor shows another, more pronounced change in orbits, this time attracting the attention of a staff officer who notes the presence of a large cloud of meteors nearing the station. The Officer of the Watch gives the order to pass the information along to OCS Reagan, saying that its probably nothing.

We return to the mess hall with most of the airmen passed out with Jane talking about the Japanese with a younger comrade. The younger airmen talks about how the Japanese must still be itching for a fight after the US beat them in WWII, to which Jane laughs tells him that when she was a kid the Japanese were still one of America's closest allies, and officially a pacifist nation. The kid brushes this off commenting on how that was probably just an act, but Jane simply says, "you'd be surprised how fast things can change." Before the kid can respond a siren calling for General Quarters goes online. We see chaos on the command deck, as the collision detection screen shows hundreds of small objects on a course to impact the station. The staff makes confused, but professional statements about how attacks seem to be targeted at all three platforms, how laser batteries are firing at capacity, but the number of targets is straining their system, etc. Two things are clear, they are under attack, and their platform is about to be destroyed. Cut to intense scenes of airmen jumping out of bed and diving into space suits. Jane is already suited and helping others while barking orders for her squad while they prepare to board Earth-return vehicles (ERV). A headcount confirms that one airman is missing (one of the guys who was passed out during the mock feast, he'd be better characterized prior to this). Jane orders her unit to stay put while she leaves to retrieve him. He's passed out in the shower, Jane rouses him as he drunkenly mumbles something about hitting his head. We see most ERVs leave the station as Jane gets the man to her unit when the platform is torn apart by the pebble-mob attack. Jane and the man both go flying through the void and the station is ripped apart; a few ERVs are struck by pieces of debris while others enter the atmosphere. Jane rights herself maneuvering thrusters on her suit and watches in silent horror as the station is left in pieces. An ERV drifts into frame and we fade to black.


ACT II: JUMP

Open on Hyten SFB in Chantilly, VA. We see a half dozen officers of the newly formed United States Space Force discussing Japanese movements over the last few weeks in China. They come to a satellite control relay in China, and it is revealed that this is one of the last four relay controlling Japanese assets in space. Destroy the relays, cripple Japan's ability to fight in space, and end the war. Cut to Vandenberg SFB where we find Jane, now an operator for the newly Space Force. The barracks is dingy and poorly lit, a new recruit enters, removing the name of his bunk's previous occupant. Jane somberly looks down from the new solder and leaves for the mess hall when she is called into her CO's office. Jane is given orders to head to Launch Pad 21 for a mission to drop into China and disable a Japanese communications relay. She'll be accompanied by 6 other special forces operators, and a few dozen ground type drones. The other operators will be launching at different intervals from different units to confuse Japanese intelligence. Jane is asked by her CO if she has any issue with working with strangers, to which she replies no. The CO runs his hands through his grey hair and talks about how he knows Jane has been having trouble forming relationships with people in her unit, and asks if she wants to talk about it. To which she replies, "no, thank you sir." and is dismissed. Jane has clearly been avoiding people since the Thanksgiving attacks, and it is shown that the other members of her base are nervous around her because she was a survivor of the attack. Cut to black.

We open on the Vandenberg armory. Jane has arrived and is bullshitting with the mechanic, another survivor from OCS Kennedy. Her armor has once again been repaired, and given a loadout for the mission. We are given an interment look at what Space Forces armor looks like and a lovingly detailed list of all the toys Jane has to play with, not just on the suit, but the drones launching with her, which are bundled into their crates for launch. She's escorted to her drop ship at Pad 21, a small vessel built for 1 person and a handful of drones. The craft lifts off from the small launch pad dropping fuel tanks as it ascends that fly back to the launch pad, until just a small cone-shaped craft remains to fire hypersonic engines that take it into suborbit. As it reaches the top of its arc we see the trails of similar launches across the Pacific rim, which all begin converging along 4 common points across China, Russia and Japan itself. Jane exits her craft at the top of its arc just over China, and her backpack rockets fire to send her down into the atmosphere, along with her four drones which fly behind her. The carrier craft fires its scramjets and darts off. Jane's suit glows at the edges as she re-enters the atmosphere, and deploys drag flaps. With only a few meters before impact, her backpack fires retrorockets, and her suit's legs absorb what remains of the impact. The backpack falls off and Jane hears the impact of her drones, and the closest space force operator she's assigned to. Out of the timbers her drones emerge. They look and move like wolves. Jane receives a ping on her HUD and begins moving toward her comrades. She finds the first one with his own collection of wolf-drones, wearing a Tigershark paint scheme on his helmet. Out of the forest emerges the remaining 4 operators. Acquaintances made, they begin moving toward their target.

Moving through the forests of Manchuria, armored and with beast-like drones in toe, these special forces soldiers almost look more like a band of knights. With the sky pitch black above them, they near the relay instillation and spread out after detecting movement. The base is being patrolled by dozens of ground drones, and the forest is swarming with Japanese armored soldiers. Most are wearing older , largely unmodified Type 49 armor. They do not appear to have detected the American team; one soldier is standing directly below a tree holding the ranking American officer who scans the Japanese relay station. Removing his binoculars, he signals his team to prepare for attack. Jane's HUD displays enemy targets and marks those nearest to her. Jane readies her rifle, a General Dynamics M405 20mm autocannon, and moves slowly between the trees to strike the first armored soldier. One command comes over her radio "Go." Jane fires on the first soldier puncturing the back of his armor before he turns only to fall over with three more shots to the torso. Jane's drones attack two of her target's patrol drones and shots ring out across the forest. Jane moves to take out the next target as her drones race through the trees, firing motor rounds and smoke grenades from their backs from intermittent commands from Jane. Her next target has still not recovered from the confusion of the initial attack and goes down without ever seeing Jane. But shots begin peppering the edge of the forest, as the base's defense drones begin firing artillery at the tree-line to drive back the invaders. Her third target has figured out what's happening and is laying suppressing fire against her and her drones. Jane falls back to a large rock and orders her drones to push her target toward her. One is destroyed, but her target backs towards her rock only to be cut down by one of her teammates just as she prepares to kill him herself. A hail of laser fire damages the base's drones, no doubt the airborne drones attached to the American unit. They don't last long as anti aircraft lasers return fire and the soldiers are treated to an impromptu light-show as laser fire dances above and below the clouds. The ranking officer gives the command to advance.

They begin laying down fire against the ground drones defending the base and are within 10 meters of their target when a single shot takes the head off of the soldier with the Tigershark paint scheme. Successive fire destroys two drones and acompanying motor rounds fail to do much damage but kick up enough dirt and debris to confuse their sensors. Through the smoke on the far right of their column a Japanese soldier in heavily modified Type 53 armor slams into the ranking officer, and blows the man in half with a flak cannon attachment to a 30mm rifle. Jane's unit scatters, drones attempt to fire on their attacker, but his coordination with his base's drones continues to provide him with suppressing fire. Jane's unit attempts to retreat, but as they near the tree-line the soldier in the Type-53 armor puts three rounds through another one of the Americans. Jane is now one of three remaining, and as the base defense drones continue to hammer the tree-line with fire, their attacker appears to be gone. The drone fire quiets and Jane takes stock. They're down to just 4 drones between the 3 of them, 3 soldiers including their CO are KIA, and they have no additional air support. Jane sees their attacker as he leaps from the trees and buries a knife between the plates of one of her comrades. Jane fires on him but he's simply too fast. He moves in for the kill, but Jane deflects his knife with her rifle. He makes multiple attempts to strike with the knife, but Jane manages to make the worst be a deflection by her helmet. Friendly fire rings out from the trees and the soldier leaves.