I went to see the movie, 300, directed by Zack Snyder, today. I have to say that I enjoyed the movie immensely. It is ultra violent, highly stylized and a great action flick. It's not for history buffs. At least, I doubt that this is a true representation of acient Greece.
The movie is an all out action flick about King Leonides and the city of Sparta being overrun by the army of persians led by the God King Xerxes. The source material for this movie though is not a history book, but the graphic novel "300" by Frank Miller. I felt like the movie was an all out rush of adrenaline for me. So many intense action scenes featuring beheadings, mass death and sword fighting. I just felt a rush from scene to scene. It did seem to drag a bit toward the end and maybe could've been cut a bit more in the editng room, but I have a feeling they were leaving room for some soundtrack montages. But, all in all, I really enjoyed the film.
Again, no marvelous acting. This movie is about style. And it has a lot of it. It's got a very unique look to it. I've read it was shot with a lot of green screen elements and the backgrounds were added later. But it's more than that. Shot on film gives it a grain which usually doesn't happen with the modern green screen films of today. Many of those are shooting digitally, which gives them an intensely polished look. This movie isn't like this at all. He's playing with colors in the film to make the red capes of the Spartan men just pop off the screen. The other colors are very subdued. It makes for a very breathtaking look. He's also got the bodies of the men in the movie as part of the style. Miller's graphic novel had these intensely buff men of Sparta fighting the Persians and Snyder's film has that too. Which must of required tons of intense physical workouts all the time by the entire cast. But it does lend to the style of the film. It gives it this graphic novel come to life look.
The movie also has fantstic sound. I mean really big sound. It's amazing. See this movie in a good theater to take advantage of all the amazing rumblings, fighting noises, screams of the armies, thundering armies, etc.
Overall, I'd say I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it if you like highly stylized, violent films. It's not for everyone. But I liked it a lot. It was a good movie to release tension and just have a good time. I've seen a lot of films that require concentration lately with subtle story points, etc. This movie was the complete opposite. It has a very clear simple story and purpose. I just sat back and watched all the fighting, cool look and cool filmmaking on display.
You can find out more at the official website.
Come back again, and I promise to have more movie reviews coming. Until then, i'll be at the movies....
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