Straight from AFM, we’ve got the first synopsis and promo image for Paul W.S. Anderson’s (Resident Evil) disaster film Pompeii. While Anderson is best known for sci-fi action pics like the Resident Evil films and Alien vs. Predator, the director took a bit of a departure recently for The Three Musketeers, and he’s set to take on another period flick with Pompeii. The film takes place in ancient Rome and centers on a young slave who races to save the woman he loves and his best friend from the violent eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which threatens to destroy the entire city.Anderson is directing from a script by Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler (Batman Forever), and Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park). If you missed Steve’s interview with Anderson where he spoke about his plans for the film, click here. Hit the jump for the first full synopsis and promo image for the film.pompeii-promo-imageHere’s the full synopsis for Pompeii:

It’s late summer in 79 A.D. and the city of Pompeii glitters at the foot of the mighty Mt. Vesuvius. MILO, the slave of a shipping tycoon, dreams of the day he will buy his freedom and marry his master’s daughter, COLUMBA. What he doesn’t know is that Columba’s debt-ridden father has promised Columba to a despicable Roman Senator to pay off an overdue loan.

Milo does know that his friend, the Gladiator NIGELLUS, is being forced to compete the next day in a seemingly unwinnable battle in the Coliseum. As Milo tries to find a way to save his friend, he learns that Columba has been promised to another man and that he himself has been sold to a new master. Just as it seems things can’t get any worse, Mt. Vesuvius suddenly explodes with the power of 40 nuclear bombs, sending a torrent of 1,000-degree ash and smoke into the city. Lava flows down the mountainside, killing thousands. As Pompeii crumbles, Nigellus is imprisoned inside the Coliseum, Columba is locked inside her family’s villa, and Milo is trapped aboard a ship bound for Naples.

As the people of Pompeii flee the obliterated city, Milo is determined to return to it to save his friend and his beloved Columba. With fire and ash destroying the only world he’s ever known, an ordinary man is tested to his breaking point in this heart-pounding tale of extraordinary heroism.

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