Movie Review - 300

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I've been wanting to see 300 for a while now; I'm so glad I saw it in the theater! The audience I saw the movie with was great; there was a lot of clapping and cheering, especially when Queen Gorgo commits her single act of violence near the end of the movie.

The violence isn't as bad as I thought it could be; it was nowhere near as violent as, say, Kill Bill 1 or Sin City. The best way I can describe it is Gladiator with red paint.

The movie is visually stunning. I read somewhere the director has a background in T.V. commercials. You could pull some beautiful stills from this film. There are multiple "bullet time" shots. While the color in the film has a "washed out" quality to it, the use of color to convey tone or emotion is incredible. It is not like Sin City in visual style. It looks much more natural than that.

A lot of people have compared the film (visually) to what you would see in a video game. I would have to disagree. Maybe if they did games in high def. I think the film is more accurately compared to what someone would "see" in their head if they were listening to a recounting of the events in the movie. That's not an articulate way to describe the film, but it's the best I have right now.

The nudity in the film is sparse compared to what I thought it would be. But I also think that it was done artfully.

There's been a lot of controversy surrounding 300; people have been saying it's racist, sexist, etc. I think you bring whatever troubles you to the movie theater, or bookstore, or any outlet of media. Queen Gorgo is possibly the most progressive, strong, non-bitchy female character in a swords-and-sandals flick I've seen. I also think the claim of racism is unfounded; it's a very basic symbol to depict 'white' as good and 'black' as evil. I've also read that historians are complaining about the lack of historical authenticity in the film. While I am normally all for historical authenticity and faithfulness to source material, the film doesn't take itself as seriously as the historians (which is one of the reasons why I think the film works so well) do and is quite honest about what its' scope is.

I definitely didn't go to see the movie to get an education on Sparta. If I wanted that, I would order the Discovery Channel special. I went to get entertained. The film doesn't lie about the type of film it is, and gives the audience exactly what they want: nudity, violence, a good deal of bloodlust (prepare to have your bloodlust level increase by fifty points when you go to see this), and some cool special effects. Throw in appeals to nobility, integrity, honor, and commitment to duty, and you have a winter blockbuster. I think the simpleness of the film is it's strongest point.