15 | March | 2025 | A Screenwriters Perspective: Current and Past Movies.

It turns out that the medical condition that the main character Nate, played by Jack Quaid called congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), is a real and very rare condition. Producing a movie about something like this is at the very least an extremely unique idea for an action movie. The downside of this is that Nate is stabbed, beaten, burned and almost killed nonstop throughout this movie.

Jack Quaid is the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan and has been acting in mostly small movie roles for around 13 years. Recently, Quaid has broken through with two recent lead actor roles, the last film “Companion” released in February 2025. The career path for someone like Jack Quaid, who has all of the contacts and opportunities within what can be high-paying field is always easier, for the most part avoiding the many years of waiting tables and hoping for that first miracle break that so few in Hollywood ever find in their lifetime.

As far as this story, it’s about a 30-year-old banker, Nate who falls in love with a co-worker, Sherry played by Amber Midthunder, and later tries to save her after she is kidnapped when three armed men rob the bank. While the story is simple, the many scenes of violence, and elaborate fight scenes Nate goes through to rescue Sherry are greatly enhanced because Nate can feel no pain. I thought the added problem Nate has with not being able to chew food (for fear of biting off his tongue) was too farfetched within this otherwise crazy action movie.

There is a surprise twist ending in this film that caught me by surprise and was very well done.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this film are, this time around an accurate 82% and I recommend this movie for the good acting and original idea.

For the new movie “Black Bag”, what is most significant is the extensive list of named actors in this production: Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, Pierce Brosnan, and Gustaf Skarsgård.

This film violates the #1 rule of screenwriting – “Show Don’t Tell”, as this screenplay is almost 100% dialogue. This is a movie about a complex series of events involving a group of spies that requires the complete attention of the audience, due to the many twists and turns, the number of characters, and the complex dialogue. The main spy, Kathryn St. Jean, played by Blanchett, might be a mole in the agency, and her husband George Woodhouse, played by Fassbender spends the majority of this movie trying to find out if his wife is a counter-spy. Unfortunately, a spy movie with limited action scenes can become boring after about an hour – with the good news being that this film is only 93 minutes long, with a very unusual and abrupt ending that I did not like.

I cannot understand the extremely high ratings for this movie, directed by Steven Soderbergh of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, with my rating only 75% and a passable review, only because of the acting and the number of relevant actors.