The first image released from Pompeii reveals that Game of Thrones‘ Jon Snow (Kit Harington) knows at least one thing: how to get shredded for his role as a Celtic slave-turned gladiator – who, in the film, must race against time in order to save his kindly master and the latter’s daughter (i.e. Harington’s love interest), when the infamous Mount Vesuvius erupts.
As expected, a trailer has been released for Pompeii, following hot on the heels of the first look at Resident Evil franchise screenwriter/director Paul W.S. Anderson’s upcoming ancient world melodrama/3D disaster flick. Story isn’t so much the focus of this preview; rather, the highlights include footage that shows the horrifying aftermath of the Vesuvius meltdown (which occurred back in 79 A.D.). In addition, we get a nice tease of Harington as the buff pretty boy hero of the film, along with a montage of clips that showcase the flashy spectacle and 3D action that everyone has come to expect from a Paul Anderson movie (no, not that Paul Anderson).
Jared Harris (The Mortal Instruments) and Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) play Harington’s master and sweetheart in Anderson’s Pompeii flick; meanwhile, Kiefer Sutherland (24) is the scheming Roman senator whose plans to marry Browning’s character for his own gain, having previously been responsible for the deaths of Harington’s family (leading the latter to become a slave). Think of him as the Billy Zane to Harington’s Leo DiCaprio, given the narrative qualities shared between Anderson’s Pompeii and director James Cameron’s Titanic (see: both effects-heavy movies using a swooning class-defying romance story to frame a real historical disaster event).
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The Pompeii script was written by Anderson, Janet Scott and Lee Batchler (Batman Forever), Michael Robert Johnson (Sherlock Holmes) and received an additional revision by Downton Abby creator Julian Fellowes. Suffice it to say, this is probably going to be the sort of pop-action genre treatment of history similar to Anderson’s camp-tastic version of The Three Musketeers; not exactly the most grandiose or dignified of cinematic natural disaster/ancient world epics around, but it should make for decent popcorn-munching entertainment (at the least, worthy of a one-time viewing).
Rounding out the Pompeii cast in supporting roles are Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix trilogy), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Thor: The Dark World), Paz Vega (Grace of Monaco) and Jessica Lucas (Evil Dead)
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Pompeii opens in 2D and 3D theaters on February 21st, 2014.
