Reviews of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT 31

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  PTSD
  A review of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT
  by **DELETED ACCOUNT** on 12/03/2004
  I happened upon this script by pure accident, and since I'm considering a story about a soldier dealing with PTSD, I was very interested to read it. The synopsis is engaging, so I started to read. First, let me say that I read it cover to cover in 2 sittings. It was engaging and had great story elements. The dialogue was good, and could stand a tiny bit of tightening.... I happened upon this script by pure accident, and since I'm considering a story about a soldier dealing with PTSD, I was very interested to read it. The synopsis is engaging, so I started to read. First, let me say that I read it cover to cover in 2 sittings. It was engaging and had great story elements. The dialogue was good, and could stand a tiny bit of tightening. I am of the belief that dialogue should sound as if it's the most interesting way to say anything. The characters were good, but the duality of Eileen's role (her conflict being internal) could have been stronger. I think there's an underlying structural weakness in that the audience has no real hint at the grim reality of her true weakness. We assume for too long that it's just standard POW problems. If there was some stronger hint that there was something more to her story earlier, you would have me wondering and more engaged. As it is, I felt a lull about 50 pages (don't recall exact page count). The twist is good and it makes for a truly bittersweet resolution. I'm a pretty macho guy and I was nearly crying at the end. I have more to say, but am running out of room....that's a good sign. read
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  Convincing
  A review of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT
  by Harrylime49 on 12/02/2004
  Good story. Brad has done a great job with Eileen. She struck me as very convincing. Post traumatic stress can be a devastaing illness and I felt the writer had captured all those feelings of detatchment, anger and guilt so well with Eileen. I didn't like her much at first. The writer took a risk making her so raw so soon but it paid off. Asthe script develops, we learn... Good story. Brad has done a great job with Eileen. She struck me as very convincing. Post traumatic stress can be a devastaing illness and I felt the writer had captured all those feelings of detatchment, anger and guilt so well with Eileen. I didn't like her much at first. The writer took a risk making her so raw so soon but it paid off. Asthe script develops, we learn to appreciate her painful past and so make allowances. Overall, the story was balanced. With a lot of Hollywood flicks we tend to see things from a Western perspective. At least with this screenplay an attempt has been made to put a human face to the enemy with the creation of Dunya. The visual writing is strong, particularly those early scenes where Eileen and Jeffrey are attempting to escape the Iraqi military across desert with their parachutes wrapped about them. I felt the scenes became a little too short nearing the end of the script. I got confused at one point as to where the characters were. I think the screenplay overran to. It would have been better to have finished when Eileen visits Jeffrey's parents, perhaps with one final scene at Jeffrey's memorial plaque. A good piece of work. Best of luck. read
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  WAR IS HELL
  A review of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT
  by **DELETED ACCOUNT** on 10/13/2004
  Great story. One of the best reads I've had on TS. And with today's war this of course hits home very hard. The reality of this war story is what grabbed me, the wounds the soldiers receive that can't be seen. The writing style is lean and crisp but it still needs shortening. The hypnosis scene is a page that can go. We've al seen it a million times and need nothing more... Great story. One of the best reads I've had on TS. And with today's war this of course hits home very hard. The reality of this war story is what grabbed me, the wounds the soldiers receive that can't be seen. The writing style is lean and crisp but it still needs shortening. The hypnosis scene is a page that can go. We've al seen it a million times and need nothing more than him pulling out the watch and giving it one twirl. Best of luck in the battle zone called Hollywood. read
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  Pretty good war story
  A review of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT
  by atlhalfjap on 10/04/2004
  I enjoyed this a great deal. It was a very fast read, and I only have a few very minor quibbles with it. The first one is Eileen's name, it reminds me too much of Lousia May Alcott from Little women, its the first thing that jumped into my head. If this is not what you had intended, maybe you could lose the "May"? That would certainly take away the reference. On page 106,... I enjoyed this a great deal. It was a very fast read, and I only have a few very minor quibbles with it. The first one is Eileen's name, it reminds me too much of Lousia May Alcott from Little women, its the first thing that jumped into my head. If this is not what you had intended, maybe you could lose the "May"? That would certainly take away the reference. On page 106, the sentence about Eileen's appearance doesn't make sense, "all present"? Huh? Also, there very a couple of clunky descriptions, such as "small town handsome" I'm having a hard time picturing that, as well as "decorated like the midwest." Like I said, those are VERY minor quibbles. All in all, I think this is a great SP. read
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  Good Start
  A review of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT
  by shakespearesmuse on 05/19/2004
  Overall this was ne of the better scripts I have read on this site. Although it did have some problems the dialouge was pretty solid and the lead character was pretty well written. It is a good shell but it needs some fleshing out. The climax needs more, and Eileen needs to fight it more. It all seems to come a bit to easy to everyone. Since the relationship between Allbright... Overall this was ne of the better scripts I have read on this site. Although it did have some problems the dialouge was pretty solid and the lead character was pretty well written. It is a good shell but it needs some fleshing out. The climax needs more, and Eileen needs to fight it more. It all seems to come a bit to easy to everyone. Since the relationship between Allbright and Eileen is supposed to be an important driving factor in this script it should be more developed, and it needs to come around more slowly. Albrights story at the end about his captivity was rather hokey perhaps he could share more about his disease or his hoomosexuality instead of the POW story just to provide some contrast. Also the character of Jeffrey needs some majo work IMO. I don't like him. He is a whinning snivling baby and I don't blame Eileen for offing him. A few mre nit picks: I don't like the title and I don't like the names of any of the main characters. they just don't seem to fit or are to cliche (Albright) or too old fasioned (Eileen).Overall promising work though. read
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  A Matter of Survival
  A review of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT
  by ETMcCleary on 03/25/2004
  It's a compelling story but I didn't feel the tone of the script held up to the premise. Despite the resolution, it is a very dark story. For what it's worth, I don't think Eileen fell far enough. The alcoholism is fine but losing Grant, as his character is written, doesn't feel like such a bad thing. He doesn't feel like he's part of this great life that falls away because... It's a compelling story but I didn't feel the tone of the script held up to the premise. Despite the resolution, it is a very dark story. For what it's worth, I don't think Eileen fell far enough. The alcoholism is fine but losing Grant, as his character is written, doesn't feel like such a bad thing. He doesn't feel like he's part of this great life that falls away because of the drinking. If he really loved her (and this is debatable) he wouldn't have poured her that drink. I also felt that her relationship with Dr. Allbright unfolded too easily. What did he offer her that opened her up? What was so different about him? Now, all that being said, I really did like the script and Eileen's character. I just felt the characters could work a little harder to achieve their goals. read
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  Survival Instict too slow
  A review of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT
  by ardane on 01/27/2004
  Though the premise is timely and could garner a large audience, the execution of this sreenplay is long winded and very slow. The turning points are too anticlimactic and the end climax is trite and unoriginal. The post-climax portion is way too long and the script on the whole should be tightened to a neat 90 minutes (pages).
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  "Survival" Coverage
  A review of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT
  by Snackula on 01/26/2004
  What I liked:Structurally very sound and the story is well told. Good flow to dialogue, nothing felt stilted or out of place. Characters felt consistant throughout.What I Didn't:The story, as a whole, seems very familiar. We've seen people deal with the horrors of war a million times. While there is room for more stories of this nature, there isn't any new perspective brought... What I liked:Structurally very sound and the story is well told. Good flow to dialogue, nothing felt stilted or out of place. Characters felt consistant throughout.What I Didn't:The story, as a whole, seems very familiar. We've seen people deal with the horrors of war a million times. While there is room for more stories of this nature, there isn't any new perspective brought to the premise. The whole script read like an MOW with cuss words instead of a feature.What I Would Change:I think the opening needs work. There is no reason for an audience to bond with Eileen from the get go, and she becomes a drunken wreck way too quickly. I would start in the Iraqi holding cell and give broad strokes of what Eileen and Jeffrey went threw, all the way to the escape, showing that she is a compassionate officer making the best of a bad situation. Then, continue as it's written. I think the story needs to dig a little deeper into all the characters, with David and Grant needing the most fleshing out. read
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  Survival Instinct
  A review of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT
  by LauriD on 01/25/2004
  A nice, vivid opening, though I have a problem with the eyes "snapping"... Felt the whole de-briefing sequence could have been compressed a lot, getting her back to civilian life by pg 6 instead of pg 13. Once she enters rehab it's very slow going, very talky. The war scenes are vivid, but since everything exciting happened in the past the tension is lowered and the rehab... A nice, vivid opening, though I have a problem with the eyes "snapping"... Felt the whole de-briefing sequence could have been compressed a lot, getting her back to civilian life by pg 6 instead of pg 13. Once she enters rehab it's very slow going, very talky. The war scenes are vivid, but since everything exciting happened in the past the tension is lowered and the rehab story seems inert. When we finally learn her "secret," it's something of a let down. The dialogue is pedestrian -- too much "chat" without content or subtext. The characters lack depth and are un-differentiated by their manner of speaking. Eileen was somewhat interesting, but I didn't get any sense of her as a woman; you could change her into a man without any change in the story -- and that's a problem: she shouldn't just be a man in a woman's body. Overall, the story felt too thin, with too much filler and repetition. The mechanics were fine (except for the questionable "we see/hear") and the script reads smoothly, but I just didn't find it engaging, let alone dramatic. Also, I found this structurally too much like "Ordinary People," without that script's depth of character and level of insight into family dynamics. read
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  it's hard for me to take a inking to this...
  A review of THE SURVIVAL INSTINCT
  by tom goldsmith on 01/18/2004
  I just had this conscious feeling all the time that I had read or written this same material before. I'm not saying it's ripped off anything because it'shighly original. It's just I, myself had these same ideas.However, this is a very well written and eventful script. I enjoyed the characters and it was a niceaspect to see the central story set in the Gulf War and the characters... I just had this conscious feeling all the time that I had read or written this same material before. I'm not saying it's ripped off anything because it'shighly original. It's just I, myself had these same ideas.However, this is a very well written and eventful script. I enjoyed the characters and it was a niceaspect to see the central story set in the Gulf War and the characters are overall well done.The Iragi references seem alittle controversial to be made at the moment however but hey, we shouldn't be worrying about uptight Hollywood bosses with reputations to keepAt the end, I felt it was a tad too long, to just cut the loose edges would be my suggestion.But well done and good luck. read