Variety are telling us that Stomp the Yard helmer Sylvain White has been given the reigns to Frank Miller’s graphic novel Ronin. That’s great guys, your only two and a half months late on that one.
You can read my original article on White’s involvement with the flick by clicking here.
There are some interesting tidbits in Variety’s article though. Ronin has now found a studio in Warner Brothers and they are telling us that Ronin will be shot on green screen like Miller’s 300 and a Montreal soundstage will be used to create an ancient greek battleground for the movie which has been budgeted for $65 million.
That is a huge budget for the flick, but remember 300 made that back on it’s opening weekend so Warner Brothers obviously have similar hopes with the potential of this flick.
Ronin’s a fun novel. Not Miller’s best but could make a really fun movie…
In the story, a ronin, or disgraced samurai warrior, bears the shame of allowing his master to be assassinated by a shape-shifting demon in 13th century Japan. When the master’s sword is unearthed in mid-21st century New York, the ronin and the demon are brought to life and battle gangs of mutants and thugs to try to take possession of the mythical sword.
It’s a shame White is directing but regardless of that, those of you expecting the movie to be as good as Sin City or 300 might be slightly disappointed when the flick is finally released, because the story can’t quite match up to them.
7 Comments
I’ve read Ronin too and I agree that White probably isn’t the best guy to direct it. But then again if you’d told me the guy who made “The Frighteners” was the best guy to make a Lord of the Rings trilogy I’d have told you you were nuts on that one too. Let’s at least give the guy a chance before we pan him.
That said Antoine Fuqua, Joss Whendon or somebody used to high-intensity “popcorn” fare, with mutliple venues and oftimes weird characters would probably be better. Hey, at least it isn’t Uwe Boll.
But I think if handled right it could be better than 300. It’s a story that spans hundreds of years, goes from ancient Japan to the near-future and incorporates some pretty damned mature and innovative concepts. Not bad for a comic book written by a twenty-seven year old over twenty years ago when sci-fi as we know it today, was only just starting out and people didn’t have near the informational data we can draw on today. Ronin’s themes of pollution out of control, technology spreading like a virus and the US’s place in the world being reduced to near-irrelevance is more timely now than when Miller first wrote it. Again, not too shabby for a twenty-something “kid” with only a few years writing experience under his belt.
What a shame Ridley Scott wasn’t offered the project. In his hands it could make a nice companion piece to BladeRunner.
I thought The Frighteners showed tons of artistic integrity from Jackson. In many ways it mirrored Sam Raimi’s work with The Evil Dead… although not for a second am I comparing the two movies together, I’m just saying it was obvious to everyone the talent of both guys in their first movies.
Although I haven’t seen Stomp the Yard, I don’t think it’s a stretch for me to believe that the artistic talent of that movie is silm… to none.
You haven’t seen the movie…but you “don’t think it’s a stretch for me to believe that the artistic talent of that movie is silm… to none.”
OOoookay.
And you’re basing that on what exactly…? The movie got good reviews and made a fair amount of change at the box-office. But you already believe it’s value is slim to none.
I’d really love you to explain in-depth how you came to that conclusion.
The studios aren’t going to put millions of dollars at the disposal of someone who’s talent or artisitic integrity is “slim to none.” Watch the movie first, before you trash it. Then you’ll know what it’s value is or isn’t.
The IMDB user-rating of 2.2 says enough to me.
It’s a fair point to be sure, but I will give you a few reasons why I came to my conclusion…
1. Although I haven’t seen Stomp the Yard, I have seen the director’s previous movie… the straight to dvd I ‘ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer which I can 100% truly say, it showed no artisitc integrity
2. It’s the 44th worst film of all time rated on IMDB, which is usually a good indicator of a film’s value.
3. The movie has a 24% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with 62 scathing reviews out of 82.
4. The trailer was hideous.
Peter-
I asked Matt what he thought of Stomp the Yard, not to argue, rather to get some understanding of why he felt “it was a shame” White would be directing Ronin. Doesn’t make him right or wrong about White, but it clears up why he feels as he does. Matt said The Frighteners “showed tons of artistic integrity from Jackson.” Tons? I disagree. I saw The Frighteners and thought it frickin’ stank -and I wasn’t alone, it only made 29 mil worldwide. But that bomb wasn’t indicative of Jackson’s abilities. I’m glad IMDB rates STY at 2.2 but IMDB doesn’t hold a whole lot of weight with me, anymore than rottentomatoes, The New York Times review or even Roger Ebert for that matter. Grindhouse has royally bombed. I haven’t seen Grindhouse yet, but does it’s failure mean Tarantino stinks as a director?
I don’t judge movies by their box-office results or anyone else’s opinion. I only judge it myself. So I don’t really care what “rating” IMDB’s users give it anymore than I care how much money The Frighteners made. Opinion and numbers aren’t indicative of talent.
I won’t bother seeing a Rob Cohen, Uwe Boll or Jan de Bont flick. Because they’ve indisputably shown time and again they can’t do good work.
All I’m saying is let’s see what White can do with a bigger budget and a better story before we judge how promising he is.
Matt-
I appreciate your intellectual honesty. I was prompted to ask why your opinion of Stomp the Yard was so low since in an earlier post you said you hadn’t seen Crank yet but already thought the concept looked to be like Speed. (BTW, You said you were renting Crank this week and I hope you’ll check it out, it’s good IMHO.) As far as I ‘ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer goes, I think it’s safe to say hopes were low for that one from the start. I haven’t seen it, but since you have then your view of that movie at least substantiates your stated doubts.
Let’s give White a chance, or at least wait for production details before we declare he has no talent. Have doubts or misgivings? That’s okay. Declare it already a shame he’s doing the movie? I think that’s a little harsh, not to mention premature. Besides, nine years ago that’s what they were saying about Peter Jackson too.
We’ll all see soon enough I suppose. Cheers.
Good points Jay Smack.
Crank’s on my rental list but god knows when I will get round to watching the 3 movies I already have before I can get anymore. Time is not something I have as much of as I would like!!
Isn’t the concept of Crank just Speed without a bus? A man has to keep his heart rate over a certain level to stay alive, just like the bus has to stay over 50mphs to stop the bomb going off? I never said the movie was bad, I just believed it took the plot of the Speed movie and changed it a little for their movie. I didn’t need to see Crank to have that opinion. And that opinion of it being a rip off, wasn’t a knock on the film either.
My shame that White is directing, is surely the same as your shame about Ridley Scott not getting the opportunity to direct it? Isn’t that the same thing? I thought the material had potential if given to a proven helmer, and it wasn’t.
I don’t believe I wrote off the movie in my post, I just said I didn’t think the potential of Sin City or 300 was there in the story… no matter who is helming.
You are right though in essence. I write off too many movies to quickly, and once someone has a stigma with me it’s difficult to shake it off so I always write crap about them. It’s a problem, but I’m always the first to say when I got it wrong… i.e. I enjoyed Mission Impossible III after writing the damn movie off for months before hand.