Black Ops: A Call of Duty Story (2020 film)

Premise
Based on the popular video game, Black Ops: A Call of Duty Story tells an exciting story of deniability, espionage, and psychological warfare at the height of the Cold War.

The film borrows most of its plot from the game, but makes a number of small changes in order to tell a more concise and cohesive story.

Filming and Release
Black Ops: A Call of Duty Story set to be filmed on location in Los Angeles, Berlin, and Indonesia. Filming in Southeast Asia became too difficult to plan, due to controversy of the film's planned depiction of the Vietnam War.

Black Ops: A Call of Duty Story is planned for a July 2020 release, and was produced under Universal Studios.

Cast and Crew
In casting for the film, director Doug Liman outlined that he wished to have many of the voice actors from the video game reprise their roles, provided they had substantial live action film experience. Directed by: Doug Liman
 * Sam Worthington as Alex Mason
 * Michael Fassbender as Jason Hudson/Interrogator
 * Thomas Jane as Frank Woods
 * Ice Cube as Joseph Bowman
 * Gary Oldman as Viktor Reznov
 * Ravil Isyanov as Nikita Dragovich
 * Gene Farber as Gregori Weaver
 * Derek Jacobi as Daniel Clarke
 * Mark Bramball as Frederich Steiner
 * Arnold Vosloo as Lev Kravchenko
 * Diego Luna as Carlos
 * Alec von Bargen as Fidel Castro
 * Rob Lowe as John F. Kennedy

Music by: Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor

Plot Synopsis
In 1968, Alex Mason, an SOG soldier, wakes up strapped to a chair inside of an interrogation room. An unknown person begins questioning Mason on the events leading up his capture, so that he can explain the meaning and origin of a radio broadcast of a seemingly random string of numbers. Throughout his story, the film cuts back to the interrogation, where upon the interrogator questions Mason's actions.

Mason recalls how he, along with squad mates Frank Woods and Joseph Bowman, and Carlos, a regional contact, went on a secret operation during the Bay of Pigs invasion to assassinate Fidel Castro. Mason kills who he believes to be Castro, and goes to escape with the others. However, Mason bails out of the plane to destroy an anti-aircraft gun and is left behind, where the real Castro reveals that Mason merely killed a body double. Castro then gifts Mason to Dragovich, a Russian ambassador.

Mason is taken to Vorkuta labor camp in Russia, where he befriends former Soviet officer Viktor Reznov. Over the course of two years, Mason is subjected to intensive brainwashing, conducted by Dragovich. Eventually, Mason and Reznov plan an elaborate escape, but Reznov gives himself up to allow Mason to escape.

Back in the US, Mason is ordered by JFK to assassinate Dragovich and any of his associates, and is placed under the handle of CIA operative Jason Hudson. Mason finds files sent by an anonymous Russian defector, who he believes to be Reznov. The files detail three others with ties to Dragovich: British scientist Daniel Clarke, Russian commander Lev Kravchenko, and German doctor Frederich Steiner.

Mason and Hudson, along with Hudson's partner Gregori Weaver, apprehend and interrogate Clarke in Hong Kong. He reveals that he was contracted by Dragovich to mobilize Nova Six, a chemical weapon. Clarke is then killed by Russian mercenaries, and Reznov helps them escape.

Sometime later, Mason, Woods, and Bowman travel to Vietnam to locate Kravchenko, another one of Dragovich's men. They are soon captured, and Bowman is killed in a game of Russian Roulette. After escaping from the Viet Cong, Woods and Mason find Kravchenko. Mason is injured in a fight with him, and Woods tackles Kravchenko out of a window with a live grenade, presumably killing them both. Mason is then saved and tended to by Reznov.

A few days later, Hudson and Weaver travel to the Ural Mountains to meet with Steiner, who claims he is willing to cooperate with the CIA. However, before they can reach him, they see Mason kill Steiner, while shouting about Reznov.

Back in the interrogation room, Mason insists that Reznov killed Steiner. The interrogator tells Mason that Reznov died at Vorkuta. Mason, confused, begins to drift off and go catatonic.

To snap him out of it, Hudson, who reveals himself as the interrogator, enters the room and releases Mason, who punches Hudson and runs off. While stumbling through the CIA building, Mason hallucinates and realizes that he was brainwashed by Reznov to kill Dragovich, Kravchenko, and Steiner in revenge for the trio killing Reznov's squad with Nova Six.

After Hudson catches up to him, Mason finally discloses the location of the numbers: a tanker ship in the Gulf of Mexico that he saw when captured in Cuba.

The US military bombs the ship, and Dragovich is considered KIA, but his body in never discovered, leaving Mason without closure.

Sequel
A sequel, based on the second game in the series, is set to be released in 2023. The film will be aptly titled ''Black Ops II: A Call of Duty Story. ''Doug Liman will return as the director, and much of the main cast is set to reprise their roles.