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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Topic: 300
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 03-10-2007 01:03 PM
Location: Carmike 8, Lawton, OK
Auditorium: #5 (THX hardware, but not officially certified)
Format: Christie DLP, 2048 X 858 pixels, JPEG 2000, LPCM 5.1 audio
I found 300 to be a pretty decent action flick, with the show's quality strengthened by the graphic visuals lifted directly out of Frank Miller's graphic novel. Three stars out of four.
300 is NOT meant to be interpreted as an accurate historical account of the Battle of Thermopylae, which was but one of many events in the Greco-Persian War. We don't hear anything about more famed Greek leaders like Themistocles who guided a lot of the larger overall strategy in the war. 300 also leaves out the fact 700 Thespian warriors died in the final assault as well. Probably the biggest fact left out is how King Leonidas' famed last stand at the "Hot Gates" bought the retreating Greek army enough time to regroup, then rebuild and ultimately smash the Persian army and force Xerxes to retreat to Asia (where he would be murdered by one of his close associates years later). But, again, this is essentially meant as a comic book movie, not a representation of historical accuracy. Anyone who goes in expecting the former is making a very serious mistake, one that is their own fault.
If you leave out some of the monstrous fighters, replace the goofy hunchback with a man named Ephialtes and have Xerxes standing less than 8 feet tall and speaking in a voice not altered in ProTools you would have something a little closer to what actually happened.
This movie probably could have been handled better in some of the action sequences, but all the CGI blood splattering was actually sort of fun. It had me thinking of old Sam Peckinpah movies like The Wild Bunch and Cross of Iron. The depth of field blurring effects on the blood spatter was also kind of cool, but it didn't exactly match up with the generally more deep depth of field in the rest of the frame. How come the Spartans weren't getting drenched in all the blood and guts they were slicing and spearing out of those Persians?
The dialog? Ridiculous. Again, this is a comic book movie. Comic books and graphic novels are meant to have stupidly ridiculous dialog. Just like pro wrestling. It would be more stupid to have the characters talking like they were out of a Merchant and Ivory flick. I did groan with nausea when Leonidas said, "have your breakfast and eat it hearty, for tonight we dine in Hell!" Who, besides a pirate, uses the word "hearty?" Ugh.
Greco factor? There's a few scenes that amp up that meter. If you like pale, skinny red-heads (I dated one years ago) the scene with the "oracle" might have some value. Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) has her breasts bouncing in a love scene with King Leonidas (Gerard Butler). Nipples like pencil erasers. Hehe. Xerxes has a harem full of bare breasted slaves.
Anyone who liked the look of Sin City should like how this movie looks as well. This one was shot in Super35 instead of video, but I suspect everything was put through a 2K digital intermediate anyway. Some of the more deliberately grainy shots revealed limitations of the 2K digital cinema format.
The audio had a lot of dynamic energy to it right from the opening title logos and onward. My only complaint with the sound is I felt there could have been a little more surround action.
Music score choices were odd. When the heavy metal guitar stuff happened it threated to drag the show in to anachronistic territory previously mined by movies like A Knight's Tale. I think such movies need to stick with the more traditional (and safe) orchestral scores.
Few people appreciate good film title sequences. I liked the opening and closing titles of 300. The closing titles were particularly cool. Frank Miller's artwork was extracted into 3D space and animated, along with all sorts of red animated blood splatter.
One thing I did not like about the style of 300: certain choices in the camera moves. It's that Toyota commercial and MTV music video nonsense again.
Zack Snyder heavily over-uses the effect where a slow motion camera shot is suddenly sped up, mainly to amplify the energy of a Spartan's weapon striking an enemy. There's also a decent bit of artificial slam-zooming effects too (the new Battlestar Galactica TV series uses the hell of that on CGI sequences).
Those kinds of visuals work only in small doses. When over-used, those camera effects turn into shtick. And the style gets damned silly. It may not seem silly now. But pop this movie into whatever video player is used 20 years from now. Take a look at it then. You'll tell yourself, "I actually thought this sort of shit was cool?" For example, watch the movie Tommy sometime. Even for a 1970s show, that movie was a bit out there. But there's parts of it now which seem so dated and so extremely silly that it's hard to not be squirming in your seat with your skin crawling and fighting vomit from coming up in your throat. One room in hell may feature endless looping video of Ann Margaret riding a couch cushion and writhing in gallons of pork and beans that exploded out of the TV set.
Anyway, I recommend 300. Just unplug your brain as much as possible when watching it.
quote: Dave Williams
Actually there is a difference. Comic books are for babies, graphic novels are for grown up loser men who can't get a girlfriend.
That's a pretty judgmental comment, even if only meant as a joke.
If some grown adult has much of his life wrapped up in comic books and has no business/monetary advantage in doing so (and has no social life as a result of it) then, yes, I would agree he is a loser.
However, regular people should feel free to indulge in seemingly geeky things from time to time and give the response, "fuck you," to anyone who has a problem with it.
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Scott Norwood
Film God
Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 03-11-2007 06:50 AM
I'm just amazed that the reviews for this are so good. I genuinely hated it.
First, it visually unappealing--probably the ugliest film that I've seen in months (years?). The CGI wasn't so good and had all the realism of primitive 1950s technology (think of the misregistered opticals in the crowd scenes in Ben Hur), combined with all the artifacts and shortcomings of today's CGI, combined with an excessive amount of digital-looking film grain. The whole film was mostly but not quite monochromatic and that sort of look served only to distance me from the story and characters (what worked for Letters from Iwo Jima did not work here).
Second, it was just boring. The story didn't engage me (and I am a fan of Greek and Roman history), the acting was wooden, and it just felt like a video game (which I suspect was the point). This could have been a great story and great film, but "300" just didn't fulfill that promise at all. Too bad.
In many ways, this reminded me of Troy--a terrible film that could have been great, except that Troy didn't look this ugly.
I want those two hours of my life back.
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David Stambaugh
Film God
Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 03-11-2007 07:43 PM
I'm kinda with Scott on this one. It was just barely visually interesting enough (in an ugly kind of way) to keep me watching, but aside from that I didn't think it was very good at all. It just didn't work for me. I would not recommend it.
Saw it today at the brand new Regal 15 here, in probably the largest house. Curved screen with side masking, plush seats, very spacious. Very nice theatre, will be my new first choice unless they screw up further down the road. The image and sound quality were excellent. Me likey. Only flaw in the show was just as the end credits rolled and the lights were cued up, the dowser closed, the sound cut off, and the masking changed. The projector was still running though, lamp on. Oh well.
No slamming doors today.
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