300

[Buefox75]

So, I finally was able to watch 300 last night. I'd missed it in theaters and have kicked myself since.

Whew. It was probably the most testosterone-charged movie I've seen in a long time. I was blown away, entirely. It may have been inaccurate historically and it may have been "demeaning" to the Iranians but I haven't been that charged up after a movie in a long while.

The green/blue screen effects really made it possible to set some amazing mood shots and the actors really gave it their all. Gerard Butler has come a long way since Dracula 2000.

I liked that there wasn't a huge effort to cram a sweeping backstory into the film, and the establishing elements, like the Spartan training and the discarding, weren't played for more than they were.

I think I'll go home and watch it again...and again...

[DJ Doena]

I really liked the movie except for two things.

Most of the traitors where deformed (the priests on that mountain, the one who couldn't wield a shield) and it made the impression that "ugly" people aren't trustworthy in general.

The second thing was this scene with the boss' wife before the Spartan council. I got the feeling it tried to give the movie some depth where there really was none. IMHO the scene should be cut in a DC because it slows the movie down without making it better.

[Jon]

I haven't seen it yet and do want to, but I heard it came into criticism for racism, because of that same complaint, Karsten. Iran banned it because historically they are Persian and felt it was a metaphor for the present. I think the film was defended on the grounds that it is faithful to the comic, which in turn is defended as simply being entirely from the Spartan point of view, and present their history as a glorious legend.

[SailorRipley]

Most of the traitors where deformed (the priests on that mountain, the one who couldn't wield a shield) and it made the impression that "ugly" people aren't trustworthy in general.

What are you talking about? Ugly people AREN'T trustworthy!

 

All in all, I still think it's a good movie but that's about it. I really didn't catch the racism overtones, or maybe I was too busy complaining about how fake the whole thing looked. I didn't even know this was based on a comic book (graphic novels nanay, they're still freaking comic books), which I usually don't enjoy.

[DJ Doena]

Iran banned it because historically they are Persian and felt it was a metaphor for the present.

That on the other hand is IMHO total BS. I've never seen any Iranian in that movie only Persians and Spartans. But I've never seen Italians in Spartacus movies, too - only Romans.

And if you really want to look at it from that angle, it would present itself as such: A technological superior but decadent country attacks with an huge army. But the totally outnumbered defenders hold the line to the last man based on their faith and dying in the knowledge that they defend their home country from the enemy.

And now one could ask the question of who is really who.

[Touti]

Going to watch 300 now.  Back in 2 hours to post my comments.

[Touti]

Well.  What to say ?
 

I hated it from beginning to end.  I had to force myself to watch it to the end, I even fast forwarded the last 8 minutes.  So why did I hate this when I consider myself easy public ?  Because it's totally uninteresting. 

Spoiler: Alert (hover to show)

1: I think the green/blue/whatever effect is very annoying.  It could have been nice for the opening and until Leonidas reaches adult age but full colors would have been nice afterward.

2: Special effects are ridiculously cheap.  The giant wolf at the beginning looked like a friggin cartoon, the effects in "An American Werewolf In London" were better thant that...........20 years ago.  Blood spills during the battle scenes look completely unrealistic and although there's huge amounts of blood, it seems to disappear into thin air because you never see any of it anywhere on the ground or on the shields.

3: Since this is based on people that actually existed for real, I was expecting something more realistic, not orcs and monsters.  I didn't expect a cheap fantasy movie.  That really bothered me.

4: I'm glad xerxes didn't speak more often because the voice they give him doesn't match his face and body language at all.  It's almost laughable.  Every time a word came out of his mouth I was expecting Luke Skywalker to come out and call him "Daddy".

5: Dialogs are utterly stupid.  Not that I expected miracles but that's real bad.

6: Too many scenes that were already used thousands of times.  Leonidas walking away from his wife who calls him, moves toward him and give him a jewel she was wearing. Then him giving it to a messenger to bring it back to her. The son who gets killed after the battle while his father is looking at him, the father who then says something about hate being the only thing he can feel now.  The woman offering herself to the political asshole who then calls her an adulterous whore in front of the council.  All clichés that we've seen over and over and over again.

Overall: A bad script, re-using ideas from others with absolutely no new ideas or creativity, badly played by bad actors.  Whoever came up with this is trying to impress beyond his abilities.  Another perfect example of hollywood's new trend of picking a cheap script, cheap actors and use them as a base to make a new visual computer program..........

For me it's a bad buy, not worth breaking my 10$ rules, I regret buying it.

Score: 1/5

[RossRoy]

I hated it from beginning to end.  I had to force myself to watch it to the end, I even fast forwarded the last 8 minutes.  So why did I hate this when I consider myself easy public ?  Because it's totally uninteresting. 

 

It's a blind buy for me.. Not really reassuring! 

[Touti]

I hated it from beginning to end.  I had to force myself to watch it to the end, I even fast forwarded the last 8 minutes.  So why did I hate this when I consider myself easy public ?  Because it's totally uninteresting. 

 

It's a blind buy for me.. Not really reassuring! 

Don't rely only my evaluation.  Others who posted before me liked it and everybody at work yesterday told me it was a great movie.

[RossRoy]

Don't rely only my evaluation.  Others who posted before me liked it and everybody at work yesterday told me it was a great movie.

Well, it's too late anyway, so we'll see when I get to watch it what I think.

[Touti]

The movie is called 300 because it's about 300 men.  I didn't read anything about it before buying it so I didn't know that, I thought it was something happening in 300 A.D.  It's very possible that I was disapointed because it's not at all what I expected.  I thought I was going to see an epic movie about something "true" that happened 2300 years ago.

I was kind of left on my appetite and that probably counts for a lot in my evaluation......but I maintain that they gave a xerxes character a really stupid voice that doesn't go with his face.

[Rick]

The movie is called 300 because it's about 300 men.  I didn't read anything about it before buying it so I didn't know that, I thought it was something happening in 300 A.D.  It's very possible that I was disapointed because it's not at all what I expected.  I thought I was going to see an epic movie about something "true" that happened 2300 years ago.

I was kind of left on my appetite and that probably counts for a lot in my evaluation......but I maintain that they gave a xerxes character a really stupid voice that doesn't go with his face.

Agree on the voice not matching the face, but the voice did match the size of the character. He must have been 7' tall.

For those who haven't seen it I'll use the nifty new spoiler feature for my next comment 

Spoiler (hover to show)

He was portrayed as a "beautiful" person. A perfect god like being (in fact he refered to himself as a god). Part of his beauty was his pretty face. When he and Leonidas met, Leonidas said he would "make the God bleed" before he died. That was the whole big scene at the end where he laid down his shield, spear and helmet. His throw was not meant to kill Xerxes, only to wound him and scar that pretty face of his. Had they given him a face of a 7' tall man the wound/scar would have not meant as much.

Anyway... just my  (BTW - sorry you didn't enjoy it. I sure did)

[Touti]

Spoiler (hover to show)

He was portrayed as a "beautiful" person. A perfect god like being (in fact he refered to himself as a god). Part of his beauty was his pretty face. When he and Leonidas met, Leonidas said he would "make the God bleed" before he died. That was the whole big scene at the end where he laid down his shield, spear and helmet. His throw was not meant to kill Xerxes, only to wound him and scar that pretty face of his. Had they given him a face of a 7' tall man the wound/scar would have not meant as much.

Anyway... just my  (BTW - sorry you didn't enjoy it. I sure did)

For me it's a question of credibility.  The first most important thing in the movie is that I can allow myself to believe the story and embark in it.  For that to happen, characters have to be credible, if I can't believe in the characters I can't believe in the story and it turns me off.

This voice they gave him is not credible, they could have done the very thing you are describing without giving the guy a voice that doesn't belong.

[Achim]

Well, Touti, it was made after Frank Miller's graphic novel... So, no realism expected, really.

If you want to see something closer to the real thing, I would expect "The 300 Spartans" (1962) to deliver a little better. Note: I have not seen The 300 Spartans myself and can therefore not judge it at all!

[RossRoy]

I gave in after so many people told me how great this is, and watched 300. I just finished watching. Well, I have mixed feelings.

The visuals are great, but being based on a Frank Miller comic, that's no surprise. Too much green screen and computer effects for my taste, but still, it was enjoyable. The basic background story is nice, it is based on 300 men defending "freedom" after all, so what's not to like about that?

But, there are so many cliché it's not even funny. I won't enumerate them, but you could see all of them from miles away. I don't know how it is in the graphic novel, but the movie feels really thin to me because of all the cliché.

All in all, this, to me, is a no more than a popcorn flick. Something to get out among friends to pass time.

I'd give 2.5 out of 5