Paul WS Anderson to helm volcano disaster flick, Pompeii

I've always sorta looked at Paul W.S. Anderson as a junor Roland Emmerich. Or maybe a better Uwe Boll. His movies are almost always terrible, with lousy acting(mostly by his comely wife Milla Jojovich) and questionable special effects. He's done a couple of good things in the recent past, though, that lead me to believe he may be turning things around. Death Race was actually really good, and Resident Evil: Afterlife was by far the best of the series. He has a 3D version of The Three Musketeers coming up which looks like a frantic mess, but will likely makes tons of cash. He'd probably be smart to stay in his comfort zone and not tackle anything too big like a historical epic surrounding one of the greatest disasters in human history.  Oops.

THR is reporting that Anderson is set to direct Pompeii, surrounding the two-day volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that buried the city.  Since that wouldn't make for much of a story, it will also deal with a slave who wants to marry his owner's daughter. But he doesn't know that she's already promised to a corrupt senator and that he himself has been sold. Just then the mountain erupts, but the slave is trapped on a ship headed to Naples, separated from his true love. His best friend, a gladiator(???) is trapped in the city coliseum with no hope of escape. The slave resolves to get back and rescue the people he cares for most. 

Ugh. It's like a disgusting molten soup of Titanic and Volcano and I'd rather be stuck in a lava flow than watch this. Yet watch it I shall. If my confidence weren't already waning, the thing is written by Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler. What's their claim to fame? Batman Forever. Yep, Bat-nipples!

No casting is underway yet, but one HAS to assume that Jojovich will play the chick. She's always the hottie in Anderson's movies. It's almost like she's threatened to withhold something from him if he doesn't cast her in everything. Not sure what that could be but I bet it rhymes with "wrecks", which is exactly what I think this will turn into. Plans are for production to begin in the spring of 2012.