40k Film Ideas

I've had a dumb idea in my head for a while I kinda like.

There's a big, stagnating war taking place on a vast, super-fertile agriworld supplying food to an entire solar system. Imperial Guard are holding back an Eldar incursion on the edges of a highly populated area. A group of soldiers and their veteran sargeant are suddenly taken out between fights by an Inquisitor who is commandeering them for a mission of utmost importance, once he refuses to divulge any specific info on. All they know is an important general has gone missing and they were to find him. It's also the beginning of winter, so fighting is about to get worse, again, so they want him back sooner rather than later.

Basically, a cold Heart of Darkness, IG don't trust the Inquisitor but keep tight on it, after fighting off ethereal and graceful Eldar attacks in the encroaching snow and ice, traversing a long, vast river and miles and miles of freezing forests, it eventually slips that the general had gone rogue, took his platoon with them and turned traitor to Chaos. The further into the cold wilderness they go, the spookier it gets and after Chaos corrupted IG attack in the night, the Inquisitor gets a call in and orders Space Marine reinforcements because the general is apparently too far gone now to take on alone. They're fucking huge and just like the visions of Angelic Imperial Wrath they ought to be to the IG.

Eventually they get to the ancient castle ruins the general has taken over. It looks a crumbling Gothic castle keep just sitting amongst foggy, undulating hills. It's thoroughly corrupted with organic looking stone splitting apart revealing tendon and flesh within. They fight the corrupted IG and eventually the insane, daemonic general who planned to mass sacrifice his men to let in Chaos and devour both sides fighting for the planet. They kill him and the Inquisitor takes the guard with him off the planet, their fate left unexplained.

>What would a good 40k film look like?

Something like ADB's Night Lords or Titanicus where there are normal humans thrown in amongst the more grimdark elements. So, probably something involving the Imperial Guard, with maybe Chaos or Tyranids as antagonists, probably better with Orks. Tyranids would be seen as too similar to Starship Troopers and to have Chaos as a good antagonist you really need a good understanding of the Imperium which a new audience wouldn't have. Let's go with a trilogy, following some Guardsmen.

First film:
IG deployed to fight Orks, find a much larger Waaaaggghh than anticipated. Spess Marines come to save the day.

Second film:
IG sent to a different planet, but stop somewhere else because of Eldar being spotted. Fuck with the Eldar for a bit. The Eldar were there trying to stop Chaos (ala Dawn of War), enter Chaos as the main baddies. Set up for final showdown in 3rd film.

Third film:
Massive battle. Everyone dies. Because grimdark.

Then we do another movie every 6 months and rake in the money as GW tries to outdo Marvel.

that movie was retarded.

i like this trilogy set up.

Here's how the trailer goes.

-Open to a black screen. Games Workshop and 40K logos are shown. The sounds of blowing wind and distant gunfire are heard, faintly. The voice of the Vitrian Dragoon, Zogat, sounds out softly.

Zogat: “You men of Tanith… there are very few of you, I understand?”

-Fade-in to a close-up of trooper Caffran, his face caked with mud and uniform in disarray. Behind him, above the edge of a sodden crater, the devastation of a wrecked plain rife with shell-holes and barbed wire is visible. He nods, and speaks quietly.

Caffran: “Barely two thousand. All that could be salvaged from our homeworld when it died.”

Zogat: “What happened to your world? What happened to you?”

-Caffran turns, showcasing the blue dragon tattoo on his temple, and stares into the distance.

Caffran: “Tanith was a glorious place. A forest world, dense and… mysterious.

-Cut to sweeping shots of mountains, valleys, and plains, all overgrown in verdant trees. Caffran’s voice continues over the scenery.

Caffran: “The trees could move, you see. Made it somewhat difficult to get around.”

-Cut to shot of two men watching the shifting forest from a hilltop.

Caffran: “So, we developed good instincts.”

-The same men make their way through the forest.

Caffran: “How to find our way with no point of reference…”

-One of the men looks about intently, gazing at the sun for but a moment before continuing.

Caffran: “How to read the land…”

-The other man bends low to investigate a series of tracks on the forest floor. He points in the direction they lead.

Caffran: “How to move unseen and unheard…”

-The men silently creep up over a rise. A large beast comes into view, grazing on some low foliage.

Caffran: “And how to kill.”

-One of the men shoulders a rifle, and fires a single shot.

If I were to make a Tau movie, it would be Heart of Darkness with farsight

-Cut back to Caffran, who smirks slightly.

Caffran: “Turns out the Imperium of Man could use people of our particular skills.”

-Cut to wide-angle shot of troopships descending onto a plain filled with lines of tents. A stone city can be seen nearby. The sounds of celebration are heard.

Caffran: “We were the first regiment ever mustered from Tanith. We were eager to serve. Eager to fight for our home.”

-Cut to the regiment’s insignia, waving steadily in the breeze beneath a blue sky.

Caffran: “But then Tanith died.”

-The sky above the insignia turns a dirty red, filled with fire. Screams are heard over the roaring flames. The insignia falls over as the camera pans upward, showing the forests of Tanith ablaze. Hordes of Chaos spawn surge over the hills. One turns to look at the camera, and lunges for it. Cut to black.

Zogan: “And only two thousand of you survived.”

-Cut to Caffran, his face a mixture of anger and grim satisfaction.

Caffran: “All thanks to Gaunt.”

-Cut to a dropship, its rear bay open. Shots of hellfire spatter against the interior as a man in the uniform of a commissar urges more men into the vehicle. His face is intentionally kept above and out of the frame.

Caffran: “Gaunt saved us. Gave us a reason to fight again.”

-Cut to the same uniformed figure, pacing before the assembled troopers. They watch him intently, their faces showing signs of pain, frustration, and sorrow.

Caffran: “Showed us that we could still fight for our home.”

-The uniformed figure draws a bolt pistol, and holds it high. In response, the troopers hoist their own weapons in unison and fix bayonets.

Caffran: “Showed us that we could still make the enemy pay.”

-The troopers thrust their weapons forward, and a close-up shot shows the skull and daggers of the Tanith emblem on the silver blades.

Caffran: “We’re the vengeful spirits of a dead world, you see.”

-A series of rapid cuts ensues, showing the Ghosts in combat. Mkoll quietly and bloodily slits a foe’s throat. Corbec hefts his lasgun and urges his squad forward.

Caffran: “We’re the ghosts of Tanith.”

-Rawne levels his pistol at an offscreen target. Larkin fires a single shot from his weapon.

Caffran: “We’re HIS ghosts.”

-The quick cuts continue, culminating in an overhead shot of the downtrodden Ghosts, centered on Milo, who lifts his head up as a new voice calls out.

Gaunt: “Men of Tanith!”

Cut to Gaunt, standing on the crest of a muddy trench. He faces away from the camera, toward a fiery battlefield backlit by a golden sun. His uniform is torn and bloodied, he holds his smoking bolt pistol aloft, and his cape flaps wildly in the wind. The camera zooms toward him as he draws his chainsword and thumbs it on. He slowly turns, gazing directly at the camera, and asks:

Gaunt: “Do you want to live forever?”

Gaunt hefts the sword high and charges away from the camera. His cape whirls around, obscuring the shot as the view fades to black. Rising out of the darkness as though emerging from the smoke of battle, the title appears:

Caffran: “Gaunt’s Ghosts.”

I've often said the sure fired way to make it work is to make it about the battle of one planet. Probably humans fighting eldar, eventually chaos roll in to fuck everything up

i dig it

>Opening scenes are Tyranid swarms engulfing entire planets, flowing around them as a mass in space, map zooms way out and pans across the universe to another planet near the center
>Cut to a dark room, an Ordo Xenos Inquisator is being interrogated by an Ordo Hereticus
"The back of the Ordo Hereticus' hand made a meaty slap as it struck *name*. "We'll start from the beginning, scum. What are your qualifications and standing orders?" Demanded the Inquisitor. "Inquisitor *name*, Ordo Xenos, I was sent to investigate the genestealer presence on the planet **", *name* stammered, spitting out a tooth and glaring.
Use this section to introduce the Inquisition and their role
>Story starts as he tells about being sent to investigate a Genestealer infestation
>Series of short vignettes focusing on Tyranid presence in the Imperium, introducing the audience to the Tryanid race, narrated by the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor.
>End scene with urgent transmission which the Ordo Hereticus leaves the room to receive
>Pan back out, swarms are still overtaking planets, brief cut of ork camps being overrun on a planet, swathes of flame fired from a gargant cut down the swarm before being pulled over and covered
>Zoom in on a crystaline mass glying through space, 'nids closing in behind
>Zoom in through sretts of craftworld to the Seer Council room of Lyanden
>Show Eldar deploying fighters, jeavy casualties
>Show a Wraithknight striding through a massive webway gate only to be destroyed
>cut back to imperium

Just the whole Kraken war, especially the corsairs swooping in to save Lyanden, emphasive the tense politics between the imperium and eldar and the uneasy truce they come to to fight the nids, I wanna see a scene with wraithlords and dreadnaughts forming a firing line side by side.

Eisenhorn.

>Imperium vs eldar
>Has a guardsman talking over the violence
>It is the 41st millennium
>I am an imperial guardsman
>I server and fight for the betterment of humanity
>Though I feel our purpose has no grace
>Something in my head tells me this wrong yet I still push on
>Sees then takes aim an eldar
>For it is the 41st millennium
>hesitates and lowers his rifle
>and there is only..
>Executed by commissar for incompetence
>Commissar speaks now
>WAR

youtube.com/watch?v=oaJBV-Ey7ZQ

ur retarded

It would have to be an armed insurrection with IG holding out against cultists and the like. No idea it's anything but another WWII drama. Then out of nowhere for the last 30mins we find out it's a Fallen leading the insurrections and at 15mins before the allies lose, drop pods from heaven. Dark Angels deploy. Save the day. Only to nuke the planet from orbit--no survivors. Secret is safe.

Can't be done, mass-market and Hollywood budget just wouldn't work with 40K. Making it mainstream is what's killing the lore now, so unless there's a philanthropist who wants to pay for it all Hollywood would never fund film that captured the essence of 40K.

>"Titanicus" by Dan Abnett
>Pitch it to Netflix
>Pacific Rim meets Battlestar Galatica.
>Animated mini-series consisting of 8-10 episodes

Let me tell you about the animation, user:
old school grandiose gothic hand drawn frames on freaking butcher paper and with god damn charcoal and muted pastels combined with motion capture and CGI so detailed you can the individual pores on a warhound's princeps.
Fuck if I know how to combine the two but that's how it should be.

> pew pew
> BOOM!
>Screee
> *unintelligable screaming*

There's a German fan 40k film out there that I personally think is pretty damn good. A bit slow at times, not the most well-told story, but the ending is perfectly 40k and gets the tone of the setting down.

youtube.com/watch?v=0J4_r0ds138

I would take this, twist up the story a little and dust it off to provide a good look at one section of 40k that I feel most encompasses the universe - fairly normal humans trying their best to get shit done and going up against something they don't understand or aren't prepared for. None of Dan Abnett's 'walking in the desert for 40 minutes.'

40k isn't mainstream nerdy enough to get a following. StarCraft could because blizzard is hip.

>Catachan
>Inquisitorial Storm Trooper
>Rouge Trader?
>Tech Priest

Thats some crew

youtube.com/watch?v=JjaYW5Cnr5k

>What is all sci-fi

The thing is, you would have to set it in a place and with a faction that is not crazy deep in the lore. That way you can introduce the audience to it gradually. The only way this will work is with Imperial Guard or the Space Marines.

>A brutal war of attrition with a virgin, easy-to-like Guard Regiment that is pitted against the Chaos-aligned PDF.
>As the war wears on, the characters are gradually killed off leaving the younger one to gradually grow more hardened.
>Give it a strong anti-war message to get it past the SJW radar and get them behind it.
>Like Saving Private Ryan, only there is no overarching goal, there is no grand rescue mission, no home to get back to, no family to defend.
>This gradually dawns on the protagonist and the audiance as he fights, and fights, and fights without ever knowing why, or who, or when or for what reasons.

>Theirs was not to make reply,
>Theirs was not to reason why,
>Theirs was but to do and die:
>Into the valley of Death
> Strode the Sixth Cantarans Regiment

Isant Event Horizon 40k the movie?

>personal drama

Nope! It's going to be Zach Snyder remaking 300. But this time it'll be Space Marines versus Traitor guard!

At least it will look pretty...

10/10 would get hype over

...

...

Definitely not from a Marine's viewpoint. So Either base it on Inquisition or Guardsmen.

Inquisitors retinue would give a very varied cast from all walks of the Imperium.

you know what? If someone just made that i'd be pretty happy.

Kek I could dig this

I like this one personally, but there are few good ones out there.

Why would I want a show with primarchs? It'd literally be Big Brother.

HBO series of the Eisenhorn trilogy. One season per book.

>Ctrl+f "Ciaphas Cain"
>0 results

I am disappoint.

>On lifeboat pod after ship gets attacked
>I'm sorry sir
>It's not your fault the ship was attacked, Jurgen
>No, I mean I'm SORRY sir...
>What? oh OH EMPEROR DEFEND MY NOSTRILS!

I would introduce the serious with five films released at the same time, they would seem unrelated and throughout the films more and more 40k attributes would be seen until at the end it's fully immersed, then before the credits roll the "it is the 41st millenium' starts to play out with images and scenes to help introduce the setting more.

And then if the audience wants more we make the first real film of the series.

I'm so unbelievably hard right now

In the grim darkness of the 41th millennium

I'd have it around the third war for Armageddon, with the point of view of a Steel Legion mechanized infantry sergeant roaming the desert with a compagny to fight sparse ork camps, meeting up with other regiments from other planets pictured in stereotypical ways (this part would be mostly slice of life with a few small scale skirmishes). Everyone is going to the rendez-vous point but the sergeant insists to divert his squad to help a few civilians on the way to the meetup. Company commander urefuses but the squad gets help from an elysian lighr buggy crew, a catachan sentinel and the remnants of a squad of chem dogs. Theres some heroic sacrifices of munor characters but the orks get routed and the civilians rescued.

While they are on the way to the rendez vous Yarrick gives an inspiring speech in front of a massive force of guardsmen for a new offensive. The assault begins and is a masdive slaughter for everyone involved, but our heroes, due to being late and not coming from the planned side are behind enemy lines, they see a space marine drop pod in the distance and fight their way to it. Emphasis on the fact that space marines are totally different from the human they once were and litteral angels of death. The squad, their friends and the marines fight their way to big boss. Heroic deaths all around and only a few guards and two space marines get to the boss. The marines get wounded in the fight but the last chem dog sacrifices himself to allow clear shots from the wrecked chimera multilaser turret, the astartes missile launcher and the last standing guards special weapons.

The boss dies and the rest of the imperial forces make junction with the squad, some congratulations, slice of life, promotions, space marines thanking the sarge.

Last seqience is a zoom out with cuts showing that the battle was just a minuscule part of a planet at war in a system at war in a sector at war in a galaxy at war.

There's only war

The aesthetics and feeling of the first part of the movie would be like those movies about the gulf war, with soldiers joking, playing cards, talking about what they will do when they get demobilized but getting more and more tense as we move to the climax. I'd show it on screen by having more and more references to the Emperor, soldiers praying and chanting more and more often, the interior walls of the chimera getting cluttered with pages of prayers, and a makeshift altar, and finally the encounter with the space marines.

Just get Peter Jackson to turn the Forges of Mars Trilogy into the new LotR
He didn't actually want to do the Hobbit, that's nothing to judge him for

Or make an HBO deal with the Eisenhorn or Gaunts Ghosts IPs

The script already exists. It just needs to be picked up.

Legion of the Damned: The Movie, now.

Whatever it is, I see Jason Statham as a space marine

Jason Statham as Corpus-Captain Zechariah Kersh.

First of all forget all notions of doing the Horus Heresy or any stupid shit like that.

The 40k movie needs to focus on an imperial guardsman, from their quiet life on a fuedal backwater to being mustered to fight for the emperor against orks in some futuristic hive they are completely out of element in, on a scale that shows both the power and wastefulness of the Imperium. During the second act a space marine whose drop pod was blown off course links up with the guardsman's squad and enlists them to help him assassinate the Warboss, and we see how batshit insane powerful space Marines are, ripping up the Ork monsters that have been eating las fire like candy the whole movie.

The group kills the Warboss but the space marine dies in the process. Everyone gets medals. The guardsman packs up and seems to be about to be sent to yet another warzone when a mysterious man calls his attention.

He's wearing an inquositorial Rosarius, and his name is Gregor Eisenhorn.

Have the first part open with the guardsmen being hyped that knights will be joining them at muster, especially the mounted guys that the audience will mistake for knights, then while the knights are being loaded onto the ship and the guardsmen look on in awe, enjoy the audience try to figure out why a feudal world has giant mechs or a spaceship.

...

...

I know there's a fair few 40k fans at Weta (You should see some of their armies), so there'd be interest towards that end.

this is pretty solid casting, mah nigga Titus Pullo as Leman Russ is perfect

It's kind of hard to get an audience to understand 40k without introducing them to the cosmic horror aspec that underlies the entire setting, and no major studio is going to throw a lot of money at an obscure IP without testing out the waters first, so....

Have the focus be on some low level AdMech priests salvaging a ship somewhere that turns out to be Chaos corrupted

Space Marines (preferably a more vanilla chapter like Dark Angels, but to stay consistent with canon it may have to be gray knights) show up at some point later in story, they shouldn't be major characters.

Since the setting is so weird, you may need an audience surrogate character, I was thinking maybe even a person left in cryosleep during the age of progress, and then gets woken up by the AdMech. Maybe they had a disease or condition that forced them into cryo( like in Blue Gender).

So basically Event Horizon but upping the Medieval High Tech to eleven

may be more fitting that the guardsmen to be utterly forgotten by the historians and command, even after they sacrifice themselves/fight the warboss, too.

Wasn't it Gaunt who said "For every hero commemorated, a thousand martyrs die unmourned and unremembered?"

...

ikr. Its the perfect way to get people into the universe so all the other ideas in this thread would be able to happen.

I'd have it start with a retinue of Marines in a transport vehicle. It'll follow them as they die one by one fighting Demons. Eventually the last two end up killing the leader of a group that starts hunting them for sport early in the story. Lots of action, very little plot, incredibly high stakes as you have no idea who'll die next. And someone always dies next.

Part of my reasoning is that right now there seems to be more a market for horror films than big budget war films, they already know how to market them and turn out a reasonable profit, if you can make one good, simple 40k movie at a modest budget, the studios will be more inclined to try more ambitious projects using the license.

make it a tv sires.

You see it from multipel pov.

Space marines, inquisition, imperial guards men, imperial citizen. Eldar, tau, orcs and so forth.1

And like in game of Thrones lots of dead and degeneracy. Its after all a grim dark future.

Flashbacks to the golden age and the time of the hours heresy. lots of stuff.

maybe make it that you follow more likey the houses/clans/chapter then persons.

Titan house and you have the navigator houses.

Orks vs Iron Warriors.
Mostly just RIP AND TEAR with Judas Priest - All Guns Blazing, Debauchery - Storm of Iron and Exodus - Toxic Waltz playing on background. In breaks between good violent fun - orkz making kunning planz and iron warriors fixing heavy ordnance while grots steal lighter dakka.

>General
>Platoon

This might be more suitable for a miniseries, but I think it covers everything
>PDF from a high tech agriworld are formed into their first regiment
>their Commissar is basically exposition
>just fight traitor militia with no major Chaos influence
>soon they get redirected to deal with Ork raiders on a nearby Hive planet
>first few engagements go somewhat bad due to missing equipment, once the heavy armor and artilery lands the tide is turned
>an Ork Warboss manages to crashland on to the planet, his leadership and new forces equalize the playing field
>instead of consolidating their forces and trying to break the Orks with sustained attacks all over their lines, the Guard receives orders to retreat from several outposts and dig in at the main hive city
>the Ork attack is brutal but held off, rumors start that Marines have been deployed
>after a few days of waiting and conflicting reports of Ork activity the Guard is ordered to make a massive armored attack against a detected Ork camp
>the convoy passes through several abandoned Ork outposts where the Orks have been brutally slaughtered
>finally the siege happens
>the moment their guns break the Ork defenders manning the anti air Drop Pods crash almost beyond the IG view
>Marines burst out and immediatelly and effortlesly slaughter their way away from the IG, towards the centre of the camp
>the IG fight on to secure the outpost while slowly advancing towards the Marines
>constantly receiving scattered reports of Marines slaughtering the Orks all over the place
>the camp is mostly secure by now, the Marines emerge from the bunkers looking pissed
>turns out both this attack and the IG digging in were attempts to draw out the new Warboss
>suddenly receive info that the Warboss is moving to attack the Space port
>Marines immediatelly pursue, the IG follow as best they could
>ends in all of them reaching the Warboss, killing him
>the Marines fuck off while the IG are left behind to ensure the Orks are cleansed

From the perspective of the Inquisition would be the best way to sample the universe. It provides a few human characters that people can empathize with, a built-in moral quandary and access to the many weird beings and locations within the Imperium. Make it a fall from grace story as the general audience would want the protagonist to have values that somewhat reflect their own. So you can either have the good intentions leading down the path of ruinous radicalism or a lifetime of shit hardens them up into a puritanical fanatic.

Oh wait, that's just Eisenhorn. Just turn that into a movie. Done.

I had a somewhat similar idea.
It starts with Deathwatch marines in a drop pod. It would show each marine and what is he doing during the drop and then a flashback showing something important in his life. Then the pod lands amongst their massed enemy and they just start killing.

>Ciaphas Cain
I was originally going to suggest it but wouldn't it just boil down to Lots of Narration?
I still would like to see one, but idk if it would work

makes me wish I've read anything of Gaunt's Ghosts

The problem with Ciaphas Cain is the same reason they haven't made a good Flashman movie: Most of the humor is derived from the contrast between what the protagonist is saying and what he's actually thinking. Also, unlike Flashman, Cain doesn't actually do anything overtly sociopathic.

40k universe:
Trailer
Stained glass mural depicting the Emperor upon his golden throne. Voice over
"For ten thousand years, the God Emperor sits upon the Golden Throne, guiding us through thr stars(mural of Astronomicon with battle barges in flight like those propaganda posters) and within our hearts (imperial saint mural fighting xenos and heretic).

(Pans to crowd of worshippers) "Billions upon billions of imperial souls all labouring in his name. But there is a cancer. And it's name is Chaos"
(Mural of daemons/devil)
"The imperium is beset on all sides, threats within and without, threatening to overwhelm us, to turn us from His light."
Camera follows a hooded figure
"So it is up to us, to safeguard His Imperium, to safeguard His people."
(Hooded figure joined by his acolytes, one nods to him, they begin walking out)
"We are.... The Inquisition"
End Trailer

the end of times now

It begins in a diner/restaurant where dirty deals are made. A Jabba the Hut esque man is negotiating a deal to sell xenos artifacts (it's the genuine Eldar gear, Master, guranteed to make you... etc etc) The man inspects it, asks 'How breathtaking, I simply MUST have it!!!' They negotiate and as they are ending, she asks to know where he gets them from. The man starts pushing, the 'Hutt' gets nervous and then, an almost impercetible gesture, and suddenly pandemonium.

His henchmen spring up, guns already leaving their holsters, but they are too late. A blur and suddenly, their heads are detached from their body. A laspistol fires, another headless corpse collapses. The other patrons start running. The man tries to run but his hand is stuck. It's pinnned to the table with a dinner knife. He's pissing his pants, he stutters "W-who are you?!"

"I am Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn. And I believe I asked you a question."

All films are already 40k. That's the point of the setting. Just squint a little and add skulls to taste.

youtube.com/watch?v=SyPggk6x310

that's not the point of the setting

>t. civilian

I'd do the Horus Heresy.

Done right it could easily become bigger than Star Wars.

It will be a generic action movie with some things pointing that the universe is bigger and more detailed then it looks, like the new Dredd movie.

I won't give a single fuck about explaining the universe. The best introduction to wh40k was Dawn of War intro and it explained nothing.
The movie will start with a battle between guard and orks,with all the guards eventually slaughtered. It will also set orks both as antagonists and comic relief at the same time.

Intro rolls in, "in the grim darkness" quote appears for some time.

The main movie starts in a giant steel room.Thousands of guarsman stand in straight lines,while commisar in front of them is reading them some fake propaganda "letters from anonymous guardsman"
Some marines also stand nearby.
Guard go to dropship,we are introduced to one squad of newbies on their first mission.

So just like 40k.

40k would work best as a TV series

Or how Marvel does it.

TV series and Movies for big characters and Storylines

>plot over action
>mass market

Pick one

>GW in association with Veeky Forums and /tv/ presents...

Keanu is Ollius Pius

Less "THE movie" and more of a precursor film about Humanity's first contact with the Immaterium. Still fits to a T though.

Make a TV series about a Scion slowly recovering his memories from his life before the schola.

A synopsis for a film idea I had rattling around in my head for a while. It focuses on a fresh agri-world Guard squad, sent to fight on a distant world, and slowly come to question whether the Imperium is really worth saving.

1 of 4)

In the far-future of the 41st Millennium, the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Mankind rules over a million worlds, and trillions of souls. It is a time of dogmatic religion, crushing bureaucracy and unceasing war. For over 10,000 years, billions have fought and died defending humankind from the unceasing threats of both xenos without and traitors within, all in the name of the immortal God Emperor of Mankind, sat immobile upon the Golden Throne of Terra.
On the backwater agri-world of Acre, farm boy Levi Trever has turned 16. Though used to the gentle life that the endless fields of Acre affords, Levi is not happy with his doldrum existence – he’s eager to follow the footsteps of his father before him, visit distant worlds and bring honour to his family. He wants to become a career soldier and join the ranks of the Imperial Guard, much to the dismay of his widowed mother.
After leaving his home behind him in the dead of night, taking his mother’s car with him, he makes his way to the regional capital in order to sign up to the Guard, where he is eagerly accepted into the fold. Training is brutal but basic, given that a soldier is considered less valuable than the equipment he carries. Here he meets the nine other men and women in his given squad including the cheery and confident Luciana Kovac, level-headed but introverted Brutus Nikola and veteran sergeant Eli.

2 of 4)

In response to orders to muster troops for the upcoming Sabbat Crusade, they are soon shipped off world, and are stowed for interstellar transport aboard the battleship Shield of Caladon. As the ship enters into the chaotic dimension of the Warp, the squad can faintly hear the muffled wails of the hellscape outside the thick walls of the ship, and a seed of doubt is planted in Levi’s mind.

After a month of travel, the Shield of Caladon emerges from the Warp to reinforce Battlefleet Sabbat, in orbit above the world of Formal Prime. Facing withering ground-to-air fire, the squad is rapidly deployed by Valkyrie dropship into the heat of battle, where the doors open to reveal a scene from hell. Tens of thousands of soldiers scramble to advance under a hail of enemy gunfire, and mighty tanks drive onwards to reach their enemy – an enemy that is all too familiar, a twisted corruption of themselves, a formerly loyal planet fallen to the dark influence of Chaos.

The loyalists are eventually victorious, but at a heavy price. Levi’s squad is down to six members, and the next day is assigned to an armoured transport and the task of scouting further into traitor-held territory, reporting back if any enemy presence is seen. Once eager and optimistic, the team is now quiet and focused on the job at hand. Some Guardsmen in the team feel betrayal towards the military command after the complete tactical failure of the initial assault. Brutus recounts his mother’s death, lynched at the hands of a fanatical Confessor on Acre, who had falsely accused her of witchcraft and heresy.

3 of 4)

The transport drives through the remains of an Imperial settlement, now destroyed by the traitorous forces. Mutilated bodies are impaled on posts stretching down the road through the town. Crimes are written in blood beneath each corpse – ‘COWARD’, ‘THIEF’, ‘WEAK’. In the centre of the city is a shrine to some dark god, encircled by the impaled heads of Imperial officials and priests. More crimes are seen – ‘RAPIST’, ‘GLUTTON’, ‘LIAR’. Most of the squad are repulsed by the display. Some see it as just, with justice rarely applying to those high in the circles of Imperial politics. The shrine seems to emanate power, and barely audible over the wind, dark whispers are heard from every direction. They quickly carry on towards enemy territory.

As the vehicle progresses, the landscape becomes increasingly twisted and barren. In the distance the muffled sounds of a major battle is heard, and the command is heard over the radio to take a lightly defended listening post at the outskirts of a strongly held fortress city.

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Fog slowly envelops the landscape as the evening falls upon the world. A silhouette comes into view standing in the road – an old man, covered in scars, with the symbol of his god branded into his forehead. Surrounded at gunpoint, Eli attempts to interrogate the man for anything he might know. However, he rants out the death of the Corpse-Emperor, the coming of Khorne and the inevitable victory of Chaos. Not seeing any use in the madman, Eli produces a las-pistol and executes the man on the spot. Brutus explodes with anger over the murder of what he considers an innocent person. Eli defends his decision as anything a loyal Imperial officer would do, and that to question that decision could also be deemed as a traitorous act. In a sudden frenzy, Brutus pulls out his combat knife and slashes Eli’s throat, before violently stabbing him repeatedly on the ground. The rest of the remaining squad are too shocked to respond.

Brutus, covered in the blood of his former sergeant, slowly stands up. He explains that if to stay loyal means to have total disregard to human life and support a corrupt regime, then he is proud to call himself a traitor. Turning to the others that felt the Imperium is unjust, he invites them to help him take the chimera, and surrender themselves to the side of Chaos. The vox operator tries to report to command, but is quickly killed by another squad mate. Brutus says that anyone who doesn’t join will be spared, as they are not to blame, but will be left behind, abandoning Levi and Luciana.

Knowing that they will not last long alone behind enemy lines, and that the rest of the squad hasn’t got far to travel to meet with the traitor forces at the listening post, Levi and Luciana decide to try take back the transport and escape back to the rest of the regiment.

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After following the tank tracks back to a small broadcast centre, they attempt to approach the station under the cover of dark. However, they are spotted while within the compound, and the alarm is raised. A desperate battle ensues as Levi and Luciana attempts to hold off the fanatical forces, including the guardsmen from their former squad. Now resigned to their deaths behind enemy lines, Luciana plants a grenade in the opening of the chimera’s fuel intake, which explodes as the traitors swarm past it.

The only survivor of the explosion reveals himself to be Brutus. With murderous intent in his eyes and the symbol of Khorne branded into his chest, he challenges Levi to die like a man and fight hand to hand. In a rage of religious fervour he accepts the challenge.

While Brutus is physically larger, Levi’s agility allows him to slowly plunge a knife into his heart as Brutus resists. However, as the knife enters his ribcage, he smiles, and notes that it’s all the same in the end – that they’re both the pawns of some unimaginable power, fighting for causes that they know deep down are ultimately evil. Brutus dies, and Levi and Luciana console themselves that killing their former friends was their duty.

The next morning, they are seen on the side of the road by an advancing tank column, followed by the regimental command. Levi and Luciana are sent to the field medic to treat their wounds, and are immediately assigned to a new squad, as they prepare to fight the enemy once again.

Add in flashes, just split-second glimpses, of how things really are. The shot of the stained glass emperor replaced for just a second by a shot of the actual emperor's desiccated body connected to the horrifying life support system that is his throne, etc.

The dialogue you picked is just perfect for a trailer-- but I find the whole flashback-to-tanith-and-the-founding thing a bit cheesy.

I feel like a trailer with that should be of scenes of themes that relate to the lines, but not literally, you know.

It's an imaginary trailer, I am criticizing an imaginary trailer. I dig the idea, man. Gaunt's Ghosts best movie

This but instead of Exterminatus

Steel Rain !

And a fairly normal space marine chapter like the Fist/Smurfs/Black Templars go and purge the shit out of the chaos hive

This part would only be the last 30 mins and the focus would still be around the inquisitor.