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300
Rider of the Gr... — Mon, 03/12/2007 - 21:04
I saw this last night with Smurven, his girlfriend, and one of our roomies last night and it was incredible in every single way. I dont even know where to start describing it, it was just that good.
Basically the movie started by detailing how Spartan raised their male children (which in case you didn't know is extremely brutal and for the sole purpose of making them good soldiers) by telling how the king of sparta was raised. at one point in the flashback, right near the begining, it showed the king, as a boy, fighting a huge wolf. The wolf's eyes lit up kinda cornily, it looked like it had lightbulbs in it or something, and i was immeadiately concerned that this movie would have terrible special effects. But it turns out that the effects were a little off because it was just some guy telling a story. So that was cool. As a whole the effects were amazing, as in, i could barely notice them. Everything looked real.
The movie was even shot well. There was none of that shaky camera crap that war movies have been using, you know, the one that where ppl are fighting the camera is vibriating like crazy so you cant actually see anything? This movie's battle scenes are all perfectly shot so you can truly appreciate the amount of kickass Spartans lay down.
There was something different about the movie's colors too. They definately weren't normal, i dont know how to explain it, it just made the whole movie look like it was aged somehow, and it was amazing, the way the movie LOOKS is amazing.
As far as plot goes the movie is filled with suspense and action. I literally had goosebumps the entire time. And even when a battle was over and the excitement was fading, there'd be something awesome to keep the adrenline up.
The only downside of this movie was the 8 hours of previews we had to endure before it started. well, previews/commercials. i dont mind a couple previews before a movie, but seriously, i dont want the movie to start half an hour later than it's supposed to either. and i dont know who decided to start running commercials, like commercials you see on TV (most of them recycled from TV), on the big screen but i've never wanted to hurt anyone as bad as him.
Anyway, as far as the movie goes, it's amazing. 11/10
lordslumber — Mon, 03/12/2007 - 22:36
Over the last few years there have been a lot of movies with old-time fighting. Gladiator, LOTR, Troy, etc etc. This one had is own way of doing the fighting that makes itself different from all the rest. Like RiderOTGP says, no stupid shaky cam to use as a crutch for all things action. And you are constantly like, wow, that was SWEET what the Spartans just did, even though its frequently unbelievable. Its unbelievable in the way a storyteller would exaggerate the story. Since the movie is about 300 soldiers defending, the battles scenes are more closer to the action than in movies like LOTR or other large-battled movies. It makes the action more personal, exciting and enjoyable.
Overall, the movie pulled some of the same humor (at least I think its humorous) that Sin City used. The narrator and characters use larger than life dialogue and boast themselves up hugely all the time in an entertaining and often hilarious way. Having never read Frank Miller, I can't say how well they adapt it from the graphic novels, but I assume its from his style because its in both Sin City and this movie.
300 was tons of fun to watch, and I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested in tons of over-the-top violence. If you liked Sin City, you'd probably like this movie too.
Biggest annoyance of the movie? I was annoyed how they talked up "freedom" a couple times in the movie. I'm getting tired of people talking up freedom. I'm pretty sure Braveheart said "freedom" enough times for all of us. Am I the only one that thinks the word "freedom" in movies is cliche? This movie was not about freedom, so lets not pretend it is. How is it free to live a life as a warrior in service to your king since you were born until you get old enough to finally be allowed to marry (. To me, that was the weakest part of the movie. I would have been fine if they had gone off to fight for the insult Xerxes had given them alone, without the whole "freedom" bit. Too proud to be ruled, great, but don't call it freedom.
SadExchange — Wed, 03/14/2007 - 07:34
Sorry I didn't post earlier about this movie, I saw it Saturday afternoon with Xcog here in Rochester and even at the 1:00 p.m., it was packed, but after seeing that the movie grossed 70 million in the first three days, I'm not surprised.
I had such high expectations for this movie and all of them were fulfilled. I don't know, I love movies set with some type of historical accuracy, like Gladiator, and Troy to name a couple, but 300 had it all. The two above reviews were exactly right about not having to have a shaky cam to show the violence in the battles and fights and I thought the camera distance from all of the action was at the perfect length.
The colors did add a ton to the movie to. The different tones of the different shots were great and I could go on and on about how much I liked this movie, but I'm just gonna go see it a few more times instead.
I would like to say that one of the main reasons I couldn't really attach myself to Braveheart was the whole freedom business. Freedom in that sense seemed so generic and with how present it was in every conversation and situation, it just seemed like the writers couldn't come up with anything deeper and now every time I hear freedom in a movie, it slightly reminds me of that and only makes me think less of Braveheart, sorry to say.
But, aside from that rant, WATCH THIS MOVIE. It easily has my vote for Movie of the Year, and I'll be heading to the theater again this weekend after I see Sevendust!!
gauntlet — Wed, 03/14/2007 - 20:39
Agreed. Simply an awesome movie.
I was pleasantly surprised by the humor this movie had - as lordslumber mentioned above - I think provided some much needed depth to the movie. For me at least, it made the characters more interesting.
Favorite scene: the slow-mo fight scene where they focus in on one Spartan as he efficiently and very smoothly kills 10-15 Persians.
I hope to see this movie again in the next week or so on the IMAX screen.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
(After Xerxes offered to make Leonidas Warlord of his Empire, if he would only kneel before him) [i]Wow, that is generous, but you see, there is a problem, after killing so many of your men today, I pulled my leg, (Stretches) and thus kneeling is impossible.[/i]
[i]There's no reason we can't be civil.[/i] [Stated while his soldiers slit the throats of wounded enemies.]
SadExchange — Wed, 03/14/2007 - 20:50
I loved how cocky the Spartans were, they were good, but they knew it. A great quote I remember was around the same area where Xerxes was talking with Leonidas and they were talking about culture and the Spartan leader said, "I know, we've been sharing our culture with you all morning." Just those little humorous bits added a lot to this movie for me.
Rider of the Gr... — Wed, 03/14/2007 - 23:47
i didnt mind the freedom stuff as much because it was my impression that historically the greeks were pretty proud of their culture for their great thinking, democracy, and freedom etc. but even so, i would have appreciated it if, for every time they wanted to mention freedom, they instead killed another persian...because the fight scenes were HOT
kyle_a — Fri, 03/16/2007 - 02:46
Rider, you might want to study up a bit more :-) Those with Greek heritage may be proud of their ancestry (I'm thinking My Big Fat Greek Wedding here), but Sparta was a pretty oppressive society. That's what happens when you have a military state that practices eugenics.
For a historical perspective on the movie, see [url=http://www.livescience.com/history/070312_300_movie.html]Sparta, Spandex, and Disturbing Distortions of '300'[/url].
With that said, the cinematography in the movie was spectacular. Wired had [url=http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,72775-0.html]a good breakdown of how faithful the visuals were to the original comic book[/url].
On a related note: dispite the historical distortion, I loved the movie. On the other hand I was disturbed to see how many young kids (middle school and younger) were in the theater as we left.
Rider of the Gr... — Fri, 03/16/2007 - 12:29
Wait, so you're saying a movie that was based on a comic book isnt completely historically accurate??!?!!? OMFG NOOB.
Yeah right i want to study up, not. i know sparta was a harsh town to live in, but werent they also "free" in the sense that there was a senate in which all non-slave land owning males had a say in politics? Wasnt that pretty cutting edge for the time? Obviously they dont seem that "free" to us today, and maybe they didnt look that free even to other greeks, but how did they view themselves? if they really hated their lives that bad i doubt they'd go on suicide missions to defend their crappy city. again, this paragraph is based on assumptions and is not at all grounded on any research of any type.
Anyway, the most important thing is that all the truly important historical facts are perserved in this movie. let me list them out:
1) The Spartans are in the running for Most Kickass People of All Time. I'm pretty sure they've beat out pirates and they're pretty solid contenders with ninjas.
2) Ok, there was only one reason.
kyle_a — Sat, 03/17/2007 - 00:03
Wait, who was the one who brought historical accuracy into the discussion?
[quote]
i didnt mind the freedom stuff as much because it was my impression that [b]historically[/b] the greeks were pretty proud of their culture for their great thinking, democracy, and freedom
[/quote]
OMFG NOOB indeed.
[Edited on 16-3-2007 by kyle_a]
kyle_a — Sat, 03/17/2007 - 00:43
As to the truly important historical facts that were preserved...
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconic_phrase]Laconic wit[/url] was likely the inspiration for the humor several other posters have mentioned. The following lines, all based on various historical sources, may seem familiar:
[list]
[*] The Persian envoy demanded earth and water as symbols of surrender. When the Spartans tossed him and his companions in a deep well, they told the envoy's party that they could "Dig it out for yourselves."
[*] Before the Battle of Thermopylae, Dienekes the Spartan was told the Persian arrows would be so numerous as to blot out the sun. He responded with "So much the better, we shall fight in the shade."
[*] When Xerces offered to spare his men if they would give up their arms, Leonidas responded, "Come and take them."
[*] Leonidas' encouragement, "Eat well, for tonight we dine in Hades."
[*] When asked by an Attican woman (not the Persian envoy as in the movie) "Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?," Leonidas' wife said, "Because we are also the only ones who give birth to men."
[*] "With it or on it!" was a traditional saying when warriors departed, referring to their shields.
[/list]
gauntlet — Wed, 04/04/2007 - 22:49
I had not heard of the term "Laconic wit" before -- that's awesome. It had to be the inspiration for the humor in 300!