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Frank Miller's 300 - Movie Review
Warning: Some Spoilers Below
It's an intriguing premise, a movie based on a comic based on sketchy historical accounts of events of long ago. I dread High School History students learning of this story for the first time from this movie, but while there are obvious liberties taken for the sake of art, they thankfully do not detract much from the story.
That said, 300 is much like the first Frank Miller movie, Sin City, in which the director falls head-over-heels in love with the source material, making, for all wants and purposes, a cinematographic comic book.
But that's not a bad thing, if you're a comic lover, like me.
Each frame is lovingly rendered. Hit the pause button on your DVD player (when you finally get this one), and you can print out whatever frame is stuck there and hang it on your wall. The details are crisp, the motions fluid and the staging is wonderfully done.
This however, leads to some problems in the viewing. Watching 300 can be a sensory overload. Each excrutiatingly well-rendered slow-motion frame (thankfully, not as excessive as Matrix Reloaded, but it gets close) sears your retinas. For those who are worried this is nothing more than a two hour battle, don't worry, the other scenes are just as good. For those wondering about the "R" rating and whether it's worth another watch, the Oracle scene will have you waiting for the next showing... or rushing to the net cafe to download the DVD rip.
There's more than you can assimilate in one two hour sitting, and you'll be so numb to the violence by the time the movie draws to a close that the final battle may be, frankly, a bit anticlimactic.
As for the story, Frank Miller is on a roll here. While he takes liberties with the story of King Leonidas, he thankfully doesn't utterly destroy it, as was done with the sappy, romantic Troy, to attract a wider audience. Freed of the cornball pulp-detective flavor inherent in Sin City, the 300 takes on a more serious, if still slightly corny, air. Every line is a memorable one, as befits a comic-based movie, and the dialogue is a fitting match to the onscreen action, razor-sharp and bombastic.
The liberties Miller does take, such as making the traitor Ephialtes a malformed, mutant Spartan, or the subplot involving Leonidas' wife serve merely to make a point. For pacifists, the strongly warlike rhetoric, unyieldingly violent response of the Spartans to foreigners (killing an unarmed messenger just to make a point? In the name of freedom?) and the seeming Caucasian versus Asian slant of the movie may grate. Conspiracy theorists, on the other hand, will see it as a Republican-funded recruiting film for the US Army...
But go along with it... it's accurate in flavor, and reflects Spartan attitudes well. I kind of think Miller missed on a trick by not featuring Leonidas' burial (oh, come on... you do know he lost, right? I mean, it's history!), but heck, that's forgiveable.
One real peeve is Persian "monsters" that wouldn't seem out of place in a Lord of the Rings movie... it's kind of silly, but thankfully, they don't feature in the more important scenes. The excessive blood and gore are kind of... errh... excessive, but then again, this is based on a hardcore graphic novel. Fans of Heavy Metal and other "adult" graphic formats will feel right at home. This movie is a certified visual orgasm.
Is it worth a watch? If you've wondered about those expensive digital theathers, this is a good movie to pop your cherry. Well worth your money, definitely.
Warning: Some Spoilers Below
It's an intriguing premise, a movie based on a comic based on sketchy historical accounts of events of long ago. I dread High School History students learning of this story for the first time from this movie, but while there are obvious liberties taken for the sake of art, they thankfully do not detract much from the story.
That said, 300 is much like the first Frank Miller movie, Sin City, in which the director falls head-over-heels in love with the source material, making, for all wants and purposes, a cinematographic comic book.
But that's not a bad thing, if you're a comic lover, like me.
Each frame is lovingly rendered. Hit the pause button on your DVD player (when you finally get this one), and you can print out whatever frame is stuck there and hang it on your wall. The details are crisp, the motions fluid and the staging is wonderfully done.
This however, leads to some problems in the viewing. Watching 300 can be a sensory overload. Each excrutiatingly well-rendered slow-motion frame (thankfully, not as excessive as Matrix Reloaded, but it gets close) sears your retinas. For those who are worried this is nothing more than a two hour battle, don't worry, the other scenes are just as good. For those wondering about the "R" rating and whether it's worth another watch, the Oracle scene will have you waiting for the next showing... or rushing to the net cafe to download the DVD rip.
There's more than you can assimilate in one two hour sitting, and you'll be so numb to the violence by the time the movie draws to a close that the final battle may be, frankly, a bit anticlimactic.
As for the story, Frank Miller is on a roll here. While he takes liberties with the story of King Leonidas, he thankfully doesn't utterly destroy it, as was done with the sappy, romantic Troy, to attract a wider audience. Freed of the cornball pulp-detective flavor inherent in Sin City, the 300 takes on a more serious, if still slightly corny, air. Every line is a memorable one, as befits a comic-based movie, and the dialogue is a fitting match to the onscreen action, razor-sharp and bombastic.
The liberties Miller does take, such as making the traitor Ephialtes a malformed, mutant Spartan, or the subplot involving Leonidas' wife serve merely to make a point. For pacifists, the strongly warlike rhetoric, unyieldingly violent response of the Spartans to foreigners (killing an unarmed messenger just to make a point? In the name of freedom?) and the seeming Caucasian versus Asian slant of the movie may grate. Conspiracy theorists, on the other hand, will see it as a Republican-funded recruiting film for the US Army...
But go along with it... it's accurate in flavor, and reflects Spartan attitudes well. I kind of think Miller missed on a trick by not featuring Leonidas' burial (oh, come on... you do know he lost, right? I mean, it's history!), but heck, that's forgiveable. One real peeve is Persian "monsters" that wouldn't seem out of place in a Lord of the Rings movie... it's kind of silly, but thankfully, they don't feature in the more important scenes. The excessive blood and gore are kind of... errh... excessive, but then again, this is based on a hardcore graphic novel. Fans of Heavy Metal and other "adult" graphic formats will feel right at home. This movie is a certified visual orgasm.
Is it worth a watch? If you've wondered about those expensive digital theathers, this is a good movie to pop your cherry. Well worth your money, definitely.
. Anyways, yes it was a good movie but it wasnt "Gladiator good". 
