It's unfortunate that my technical savvy isn't good enough to spatter this entry with fake spots of blood. It would be entirely appropriate for this movie, since it seems that a good portion of it was devoted to blood splatter captured in slow motion. The movie also spends a lot of time on dismemberment, stabbings, muscular bodies and women's breast. It should have spent more time on better dialog. I know, I know, that's not the point of this movie. This a movie about men who are brave and strong, so they have to speak that way. But when your audience would rather see you disemboweled than say another sentence, I think a rewrite should be considered. Maybe it was just me who wanted them to shut up and die already.
The historical situation that this movie presents is an interesting one: the few against the many. We've seen it so many times, but not necessarily in this particular way. The look of the film is very close to the graphic novel and is completely suggestive of a video game. Read any one of the numerous other reviews which detail the similarities to find out more. But what is fascinating about the look of the film is the look of the actors. All the Greeks, very Caucasian; all the Persians, very multicultural. Is anything implied in this? I realize this is history being retold here, but aren't there other stories to tell from history that aren't so potentially problematic? I hope there are, and I also hope that better writers are enlisted for the screenplay.
Don't misunderstand me, I liked this movie. The action sequences were intense and very well put together. Some of the characters were strong: King Leonidas, Queen Gorgo, and the Spartan Captain were all compelling characters. You just didn't want them to talk too much. Bad dialog, and in this movie some really cliche and bombastic dialog, can ruin a good action flick. Can't we go back to just a one-liner here or there in an aciton picture instead of whole scenes full of overwrought dialog?
BTW is anyone else keeping track of how many movies Gerard Butler's character actually lives through? I haven't seen them all - yet - but count only The Phantom of the Opera as one in which his character lives. Ooops, did I just give the ending away to this one?
at March 10, 2007 8:00 PMWhat did you think about Brian's take that they were trying too hard to be like LotR? What with the cave trolls appearing at the end and the Gollum-like dude?
I won't be seeing this movie. Hell, I couldn't stand the History Channel's "documentary" about it. There is all this talk of heroics. I guess I just don't find this stuff heroic. Just bloody.
Posted by: Kate at March 14, 2007 8:56 AMI think the movie had to reflect the graphic novel in some way just because Frank Miller is protective with his material that are being made to a movie because he has seen a lot of comic/graphic novel that were turned into movies and it did not turn out that great. A lot of the guys that watched the movie were more into the graphics and fight scenes then for a better dialog. I thought the CGI technology was amazing. I found some clips of behind the scene on zannel and it is so intriguing to see how the movie was made by blue screens.
Gerard Butler were also in like Tomb Raider, Shooters and The Games of Their Lives...I didn't even remember him being in Phantom of the Opera until you mention it.
Posted by: Kevin at March 14, 2007 3:24 PMyeah, there were some very lotr-esque sequences in this movie, especially the giant/cave troll and the hunch back/gollum. there was even one shot of the troops lined up that made me think of the opening sequence in lotr. it will probably be hard for any epic movie to avoid being like lord of the rings.
btw, faramir from lotr was the narrator in 300. i liked him so much better in lotr. i really wanted him to die in 300. sadly, he lived. :-(
I saw some behind the scenes stuff too and that was why i really wanted to see the movie. the fighting style that they crafted for the movie was interesting. i appreciated the fact that it did have a unique look for a film and that it tried to keep with the graphic novel's style. funny thing about the graphic novel, i don't recall seeing pages and pages of dialog in that. :-)
ps my fav gerry butler film: reign of fire.
Posted by: hope at March 14, 2007 11:10 PM