Jack the Giant Slayer, directed by X-men’s Brian Singer, is set to bring the fairytale of Jack and the Beanstalk to the big screen in suitably epic fashion.
In keeping with the tendency of modern effects-laden blockbusters to modernise and amplify the original tale, Jack (played by Nicholas Hoult, About a Boy, Warm Bodies) is no longer just a boy who accientally plants a giant vine that takes him to the rarefied realms of a giant whom he must outwit in order to make his escape, taking many of the giant’s most treasured and valuable possessions with him.
Now, thrust into a land where an entire race of giants, dispossessed of their once terrible (in the truest sense of the word) rule of our realm, are set on reclaiming all that they lost centuries before, he is the rescuer of a plucky, more-than-capable princess (Eleanor Tomlinson), a slayer of giants (one of which, with two heads, is played by Bill Nighy and John Kassir) and, at a guess, the saviour of mankind who stands a fairly good chance of becoming a legend himself.
Not bad for a farmhand with a poor ability to handle commercial transactions, and let’s be honest, not much of a future in horticulture.
Admittedly he is helped along by a heroic band of the king’s regiment led by the dashing Elmont (Ewan McGregor) but brave and daring and accomplished though his deeds may be, he will still have to face the opposition of the king (Ian McShane) to his taking of the princess’s hand in marriage.
All this while the king contends with a dastardly plot to take his crown by his chief advisor, Lord Roderick (Stanley Tucci), once again confirming that threats don’t just come from without; they often come, sadly, from within.
While all this narrative busyness could very easily result in a showy CGI-overwhelmed spectacle with little in the way or compelling characters or decent plot, the fact that Singer, who made the X-Men franchise a must-see viewing event thanks to his fastidious attention to these very elements, inspires confidence that this could be one movie that defies the trend of superficial show-pony blockbusters.
Here’s what Singer had to say about the movie in an interview with totalfilm.com in April 2011:
“It’s a very traditional fairytale, probably the most traditional thing I’ve ever done. But it’ll also be a fun twist on the notion of how these tales are told.
“Fairytales are often borne of socio-political commentary and translated into stories for children. But what if they were based on something that really happened?
“What if we look back at the story that inspired the story that you read to your kids? That’s kind of what this movie’s about.”
The movie opens in the US and Canada on 1 March this year with other countries to follow later in the same month.