Naman Shrestha
Helmed by William Kaufman, ‘Shrapnel’ is an action thriller film that stars Jason Patric as Sean Beckwith, a rancher and a former Marine whose daughter, Leigh, mysteriously disappears with her best friend on the Mexican border during a trip to Mexico. When he receives little to no help from the local authorities, he decides to take matters into his own hands and cross the border in search of her missing daughter. With the assistance of a former Marine and his good friend Max Vohden, Sean finds out that a dangerous Mexican cartel is the reason behind his daughter’s disappearance.
The crew now prepares themselves to go against the deadly cartel and try to rescue Leigh. Besides Patric, the crime movie features a talented bunch of actors such as Cam Gigandet, Kesia Elwin, Mauricio Mendoza, Teresa Decher, Efrain Villa, and Guillermo Iván. Given the themes of kidnapping and cartels in Mexico, which are not unheard of in real life, you are bound to wonder if ‘Shrapnel’ is based on true events or not.
Shrapnel is an Original Creation
‘Shrapnel’ is not based on a true story. In fact, the collaborative efforts of the screenwriters Chad Law and Johnny Walters gave birth to the explosive and enthralling storyline of this thriller film. Alongside Walters, Chad Law, who has a reputation for coming up with stories packed with high-octane action and drama sequences, created a set of compelling characters and intricate plotlines to keep the viewers hooked from the beginning to the end. The duo made the most of their creative minds and brilliant penmanship to conjure up a gripping yet seemingly realistic screenplay for the William Kaufman directorial.
Reportedly, Chad Law is the one who came up with the script of ‘Shrapnel’ more than a decade ago, after which he worked with co-writer Johnny Walters to put it together and give it the finishing touches. In an interview with Action Reloaded in July 2023, co-screenwriter Chad Law was asked if he could share a few of the inspirations that pushed him to write the action sequences and the main character of the film. He revealed, “…that all started when I saw a real story on the news several years ago that played out of course in a very different way.”
Law further expanded, “A different way than I wished it had gone and it just got me thinking — what if this happened but they actually f–ked with the wrong dad, you know? Bit off more than they could chew? And that’s where it all started. And then of course I think we’d all like to think we’d go to the distances that Sean, the character, goes to protect our family or loved ones. That’s sacred ground. You don’t f–k with family. And that’s not new to movies, of course, it’s nothing revolutionary. We’ve seen it in everything from ‘Commando’ to ‘Taken.'”
Believing that he made a good addition to the genre, the screenwriter even mentioned a couple of classic action movies that he paid homage to and took some form of inspiration from — ‘Die Hard‘ and ‘Rolling Thunder.’ When it comes to the reason why you might find the themes and elements of ‘Shrapnel’ familiar and true to life is that they have been explored in several movies and TV shows in the past. For instance, the 2017 action drama film ‘Taken Heart’ also focuses on the kidnapping of a daughter by a human organ trafficking cartel, after which her mother, Kate Johnson, takes matters into her own hands and embarks on a mission to infiltrate the cartel and rescue her.
Taking the aforementioned factors into account, we believe you are likely to find a number of resemblances in the themes between ‘Shrapnel’ and ‘Taken Heart’ as both of them involve a protagonist facing off against a cartel to save their daughter. So, all in all, it is safe to come to the conclusion that although it consists of several realistic subject matters, ‘Shrapnel’ is a work of fiction and is not rooted in reality.
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