Hype: Agora

It's been a while since a sprawling, big budget historical epic hit our screens and showed us the capabilities that films have to transport us into another realm. The last great historical epic I suppose was arguably Gladiator, which undoubtedly set the bar high on building extravagant sets, mixing that with unthinkable special effects and topping it off with some of the greatest on screen performances in, well, ever. Ridley Scott has since topped this up with the Orlando Bloom vehicle, Kingdom of Heaven, which I don't believe was universally loved. Then there was Oliver Stone's Alexander, which was almost universally unloved, and then ofcourse there was the Brad Pitt Spartan epic Troy, which seemed to split people pretty much right down the middle.

It is time to rejoice however, as Alejandro Amenabar returns to English language filmmaking with the Roman-era historical epic, Agora. The story concerns the life of Hypatia of Alexandria a Greek scholar of astronomy and philosophy, played by Rachel Weisz, who comes face to face with the rise of Christianity as it sweeps the empire in the 4th Century AD. The film also stars up and coming young actor Max Minghella, (Syriana, Art School Confidential, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men) who plays Davus, her slave, who whilst falling in love with his master, is also falling for the hope offered by Christian belief.

The teaser trailer looks grand to say the least, and if we've come to expect anything from Amenabar (The Sea Inside, The Others, Abre Los Ojos) then the intricacy of the script will match the granduer of the setting with some aplomb. The release date is set for December 18th 2009, but lets hope we dont have to wait that long.