300 is about Spartans kicking ass. And this movie will kick your ass too. In fact, this review (spoiler free) actually nails it fairly succinctly. Gave me a good laugh while he was at it too. No really, it's basically about guys fighting. And man, they look good doing it. Frank Miller's works are very cinematic to begin with - but it remains strangely surreal to see it brought to life on the screen. In a backwards kind of way, it's actually a bit like watching a book unfold on the screen. If you've seen Sin City (another movie based on Frank Miller's work) then you know what I mean.I should probably point out however that I haven't actually read 300 in its graphic-novel form. So I might nitpick a few things that readers have already simply come to accept. Firstly, the most obvious thing is that the story is told from the Ancient Greek's point of view. A lot of mysticism is portrayed in a life-like fashion. Beastly animals appear larger than life (elephants, rhinos, wolves). The "Oracle" literally floats in the air as if swimming underwater. An unstoppable berserker rips weapons lodged in his wounds out and continues to fight...
...but then strangely, there are plenty of moments when we are torn out of that world into modern day because some other elements are seen from our point of view. Leonides assures his wife that he's not distracted by the beautiful Oracle who he refers to as a "drunken teen." When the narration tells us the Persian army resorted to "magics" we see that they've been lobbing explosives. It's as though the story couldn't decide how to present the material.
Speaking of which, I'd also like to touch on the fighting itself. I've heard people ask, "was it really just 300 troops holding back the Persians?" Well, it's important to understand that these were 300 professional soldiers and in those times, a single pro was like 10 regular brawlers. And they even touch on that during the course of the film (other Greeks join the battle but Leonides tells them, "I brought more soldiers than you did." I also can't stand people who complain who don't pay attention when they watch movies...
One thing that did bug me a little was that the first part of the story focussed a lot on tactics. In fact, it's an important plot point as to why a certain character is rejected from the front-line. However, as story progressed, the fight scenes seem to depict the individual soldiers as solo brawlers just like the other Greeks (highly skillful fighters at that, but solo nonetheless).
Still, it's quite a masterful cinema experience. I only regret not arriving in time to get tickets for the IMAX presentation of the film.
2 comments:
Lawd!!! IMAX??? I would have died of massive coronary heart failure if we had seen this in IMAX!
It did f%$&ing rock though!
well... ok, maybe you wouldn't have been able to handle all the ab-licious dudity in IMAX size. ^_^;
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