10 Best Movie Screenplays Since 2010

Dante Harper's Sci-Fi/Blockbuster

Dante Harper's spec script was warmly-received in screenwriting circles and gave a glimmer of hope to all us newbies out there. Finishing third on 2010's Blacklist and based on the novel by Japanese writer Hiroshi Sakurazara, the script sold for a hefty old sum.

All You Need is Kill is a kind of ultra-violent Groundhog Day, mixed with a bit of Starship Troopers and Source Code for good measure. It follows Cage, a kind of robo-soldier defending the earth from aliens who finds himself reliving the same day of an impossible battle over and over again. Eventually, he begins to use this power to perfect his combat skills and lead his army to victory.

The script reads at a frighteningly fast-pace, is truly ambitious in scope, and succeeds completely despite its heavy use of flashback (often seen as a no-no in screenwriting circles) and became one of the most original spin-offs of the sci-fi/blockbuster genre we've ever had. What really sets the film apart is that immediacy with which you are thrown into the action. There is practically zero set-up and zero exposition. It's like being in your own video game, re-spawning after each death, having learned just that little bit more since your last regeneration.

There are some differences between script and screen, not least the cretinous decision to lose the title in favour of Edge of Tomorrow. Is it me or does that title suck in comparison? Other changes where also made in the script-to-screen process such as the character of Cage evolving from being a raw recruit in Harper's story as opposed to the disgraced officer which Cruise plays on screen (Hollywood loves its disgraced hero's fighting for personal redemption, after all). The conflict between Cage and the Mimics is also far more localised to the beach and marine barracks in the screenplay which improves the cohesiveness of the overall story, whereas Cruise finds himself up in a helicopter in no time in the film version.

Given how Harper had to balance time-travel, huge fighting sequences a blossoming romance and the complexity of Cage's character, that the script stays together as a whole is a testament to the writing here.