300

[grady]

Originally Posted by b.miller

careful or he'll shoot you with his... gun leg.

i was expecting you to say a crossbow or something like that. gun leg....hmmm....

[Scott Warner]

I saw this yesterday with my company. I'd give it a C.

Good:

• Art direction
  • No surprises here, it's a pretty thing to look at
• Gerard Butler and Rodrigo Santoro
  • Good casting here
  • Gerard broadcasts presence and weight just by appearing on the screen
  • Rodrigo comes off truly despicable and you want him dead from the moment he first appears on the screen

Bad:

• One dimensional characters
  • Which means I don't really care when they die
  • Don't give me the "It's just an action movie" bit - good action movies have good characters with development, which makes the action mean something:
    • Compare the head choppin' moment of this film with say that of Aargon's final slice in 'Fellowship of the Ring'
• Silly script
  • In any movie less stylized the whole affair would devolve into unintentionally funny camp
  • This is probably more of a problem with the faithfulness to the source material but the whole mysticism vs. logic contrast in the two cultures is delivered in pretty clunky fashion
    • Particularly the last line of the movie - yuk
• Highly played out film editing techniques
  • While I like the idea of slowing down the motion on frames taken straight from the graphic novel...
  • ... I am sick and tired of the slow down, speed up bullshit I've seen in about five million car commericals up to this point
  • And really this technique hides the fact that few of the action moments are truly unique or memorable (the wall of dead dudes attack excluded) - there's just a whole lot of severing and poking going on
    • Contrast this with Kill Bill where I'm sure each of you could rattle off about at least a dozen memorable scenes from the movie

So yeah. It was okay.

[adam]

Yeah, that was one of the things that really bugged me about the metafilter discussion - lots of folks were saying to those of us who didn't like it that we "just didn't get it." No, I got it. I can appreciate all these things when they're done properly - but when I'm laughing at things that aren't supposed to be funny and groaning at things that are supposed to be dramatic, something has gone wrong. I mean, I am perfectly happy to turn off all intelligent parts of my brain and enjoy some visceral entertainment - I liked XXX, for fuck's sake.

No criticism implied of those of you who liked it, I'm just objecting to the "you just don't get it" line.

[Dirty0900]

Visually stunning, plot wise er............................

If i was shot in the chest with an arrow or speared id expect to be leaking blood though for some reason not much blood seemed to be spilt. Probably why its a 15 and an 18 here.

[kagenaki koe]

i think my local newspaper/mag had one of the best descriptions of the movie:

it's a juvenile view of manliness.



(i loved the movie btw but i agree with the sentiment)

[luke]

I am yet to see 300, but I was wondering if you like my new signature?

It spawned out of love.

[Tom]

This movie ruled, you shits.

Adam, you're so full of shit. And I hate you.

[Sarcasmo]

Originally Posted by Tom

This movie ruled, you shits.

Adam, you're so full of shit. And I hate you.

Goddamn right.

About the movie, anyway. I have no real idea how full of shit Adam is.

[Strangelet]

Originally Posted by Scott Warner

don't give me that "It's just an action movie" bit - good action movies have good characters with development, which makes the action mean something:

amen to that brother. as a lover of the genre, it's not to be borne all the excuses by both fans and filmmakers to make actionfilms with boxes full of stupid. its like girl movies. do they have to have aretha franklin blasting while three generations of women sing in to hair curlers and plastic spoons? no.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

I concur. (I just looked up the def. for this word and it means NOTHING that I thought it did.) Let me say, I disagree.

The film simply had the Jesus complex removed and chose to display solidarity in a common belief. That belief being freedom.

The creaters of this film achieved what they chose to accomplish I'm most certain of as well.