Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Way Back (WAYBC)

The Way Back
(WAYBC)

IPOed 6 Feb 2009 @ H$18
Status Development (Filming starts March 2009)
Release Date TBA 2011
Release Pattern MOD/WIDE
Directed by Peter Weir (Master and Commander, The Truman Show)
Starring Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Pride and Glory), Ed Harris (Gone Baby Gone, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets), Jim Sturgess (21, Across the Universe), Saoirse Ronan (City of Ember, Atonement)
Genre Drama, WWII
Studio TBA
Written by Peter Weir

About The film will focus on a group of soldiers who engineered a grueling escape from a Siberian gulag (Soviet labour camp) in 1942, walking thousands of kilometers through the Gobi desert and over the Himalayas to India and freedom. Farrell plays a tough Russian prisoner, Harris an American, and Sturgess portrays a young Polish inmate meanwhile Ronan will play a young Russian girl who joins up with them. The film is based on the memoirs of Slavomir Rawicz. Comparisons are Defiance, Hart's War (also starred Farrell) and The Shawshank Redemption.
My 5 cents WWII has recently seen a resurgence at the box office as of late, seems that the big companies have finally realized the public aren't keep on Middle East inspired war flicks. Farrell is taking on good roles which we hope can transcend into box office sales, whereas Sturgess and Ronan are two bright young stars which will be tested with this material.

Recommendation Despite my interest of seeing this movie its a fact that Farrell has yet to really set the box office alight, a great performance with In Bruges was yet followed by another stinker in Pride and Glory. I can see it playing out like Defiance, so $18 feels very high and I would consider shorting. The cast and director do boost some quality so even an Oscar type release could be in the cards that normally means limited to eventually wide release-however if the leads don't handle the accents and seem genuine, the film could be a bust. SHORT

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