300

[MavsX]

oh well if theres boobies then i have to see it now....

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

i read a review that said if they played the slow-mo in real-time, the movie would be about 45 minutes long.

but i'm still trying to see it tonight. i'm still pumped.

ha ha! after seeing it, I thought up the same line to post here.

This movie kicks butt. I think I'll make the drive next week to see it on IMAX. It does look very cool, it's got a few great characters, and its a great story told well. Maybe to many severed body parts than is necessary to tell the story, but it is war. It's got a couple flaws (the abundance of slow-mo felt like a perfume commercial at times, and I was left with a couple plot questions). It's no Braveheart, and not quite Gladiator. But it does a good job of putting Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, and Alexander to shame.


The review flacolaco posted is hilarious. I think there is a vicous debate among some reviewers about whether the movie is extremely pro-bush, or extremely anti-bush (the slate.com one is hilariously anti). Of course the movie-makers say don't be stupid. You would think that if both sides of an argument are claiming something as entirely representative of their side, maybe it's not really representative of either.

[Big Boy Laroux]

YAY for boobies!

saw it yesterday. damn IMAX was sold out early, and i didn't feel like going to a midnight show. but it's good enough that i'll go again to see it in IMAX.

I agree with Nash13. It started VERY Slowly.

what follows are minor spoilers, so read if you want.

Very entertining movie. Visually stunning. amazing fight sequences.

now my nitpicks:

Takes about 30 minutes before you get to any fighting, which are the best parts (or at least it seemed that long).

one of my biggest pet peeves was with the narrtor/storyteller. we're supposed to believe that this guy is a master storyteller and that people hang on his words... yet his voice annoyed the ever-loving crap out of me. it was like nails on a chalkboard to me for some reason.

i didn't like the addition of "freaks" to the storyline. that was not in the novel. Not talking about the hunchback or the ephors, they're in the book. I mean the appendage-less woman in Xerxes harem, or the weird fat guy with the Bone/Knife arms. just so, so strange.

I also didn't like Xerxes drag queen painted-on eyebrows. i read a review, and i agree with what it said - it's nice to see RuPaul getting work. weird to think that Xerxes is Paulo from LOST (who is Paulo? good point. he's the worthless new guy).

and one part that REALLY annoyed me was the death of the captain's son (there was no captain's son in the book). so these guys are amazing warriors, but the guy can't hear a single horse charging up behind him when there is no other action taking place?

decent lines, but certainly not great (the graphic novel is more about the images than the dialogue). and there is definitely overacting. and butler's lisp annoyed me.

I saw this with a friend, and when we left, he said, "it was good, but it didn't get you like Braveheart." I immediately told him that even mentioning 300 in the same breath as Braveheart does a HUGE injustice to Braveheart. 300 is a good movie. breathtaking, too. but you are never really, truly attached to what is going on, because it simply does not feel real (even though it's based on a true story). I feel that the freak addtions add to that, plus the fact that you can tell it's a "green screen" movie. and the blood is tarantino-esque. The ending, which is supposed to be powerful, doesn't have the gripping. emotional effect that it should have because of these things.


ok, review over. i still think everyone should see it, even though i like to nitpick. i'd still buy it when it comes out on DVD, the action scenes are that good.

[Big Boy Laroux]

UL, what were the plot questions? if it had anything to do with the queen and the council, that entire storyline was not in the novel... guess they had to lengthen the movie somehow.

[Usually Lurkin]

I'll spoil some nits also:

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

and one part that REALLY annoyed me was the death of the captain's son (there was no captain's son in the book). so these guys are amazing warriors, but the guy can't hear a single horse charging up behind him when there is no other action taking place?

along those lines, if they can hit a dude on a horse with a spear from a cliff a mile away and hit a charging rhino in the eye from 500 yards, why can't the king of sparta hit a giant Xerxes from 50 yards?

I thought these things were fine (great even) for the plot, but could have been told a little better. It's not that the son dies in battle, it's that he dies just standing there, while nothing else is going on. Just doesn't fit with the "Sparta" that they developed well.

Neither did the wife submitting to the dirty politician.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

UL, what were the plot questions? if it had anything to do with the queen and the council, that entire storyline was not in the novel... guess they had to lengthen the movie somehow.

ah, that makes sense. That plotline didn't really move the story anywhere it wasn't going without her.

If they had to add stuff, I would have liked to have seen more of the politics in the rest of Greece (the Athenians, Arcadians getting together, excited to join Sparta on the warpath, seeing them go home to rally troops afterward also, building the myth of Leonides, etc.) But maybe I was too heavily influenced by "the 300 Spartans")


Oh, and BBL, did you notice the use of the Invencible Flying Wedge by the 300!

[Murphy3]

I'm pumped about seeing this one...thanks for all the info. I've been waiting for this movie since I saw the previews in the theatre several months ago..

[Nemesis]

As long as I only have to see dude say "oursss arrrrowwwsss willlll blockssss outsss theeee sunsss" ONE more time... I will be happy...that shit has got old..

[Nash13]

Nemesis, that whole scene and the scene that follows are phenomenal.

[Nemesis]

that's great... I just don't want to see it again on the previews...

[Windmill360]

xerxes was creepy. reminded me of the alien from the stargate movie.

[Ninkobei]

freeking awesome show. starts out fairly quick, just the way you'd want it to.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Originally Posted by Usually Lurkin

I'll spoil some nits also:

along those lines, if they can hit a dude on a horse with a spear from a cliff a mile away and hit a charging rhino in the eye from 500 yards, why can't the king of sparta hit a giant Xerxes from 50 yards?

I thought these things were fine (great even) for the plot, but could have been told a little better. It's not that the son dies in battle, it's that he dies just standing there, while nothing else is going on. Just doesn't fit with the "Sparta" that they developed well.

Neither did the wife submitting to the dirty politician.

in the book, as soon as stelios jumps forward and kills the one persian (the guy requesting that leonidas lay down his spear), all of the persian archers open fire. leonidas is being hit with multiple arrows as he's throwing his spear. so of course it makes more sense that he might miss slightly. not sure why they omitted that from the movie. it makes more sense.

oh, and to correct myself from earlier. the captain does have a son, but he is not shown specifically at any point. it just mentions that the captain's own son dies in the battle, and the captain goes crazy. i just hate how they chose for the son to die in the movie.

and the rhino thing was created for the movie, too (the elephants were in the book, however).

[chiliwili]

Best movie of the year. I watched it this afternoon.

Can you say great?

[Windmill360]

I think the action scenes are easilly by far the best of any history/epic tale movie. Coriography is up there with the matrix.

[mqywaaah]

This is by far the best epic tale movie I've ever seen. Mad props!!! Moviehouse was so jampacked, wow! Not to mention there were a lot of babes watching. Ow and yeah, anyone liked the scene where the oracle danced seductively? I did.

[mqywaaah]

Xerxes is definitely gay, no doubt.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

in the book . . .

I took a look at the book yesterday ($30 though? I left it there.). That final spear throw made much more sense the way it was drawn. Leonidas was full of arrows. I didn't realize that none of the council stuff was in the book. I liked that addition, I just thought the wife didn't do much in the movie. And the audience I watched with literally laughed at some of the slow-mo sex. It could have been that the audience was full of teenage boys, but I think the movie was taking itself way too seriously at that point. I did like the addition of the freaks and the rhino. I liked the son, too, just thought his death was out of character. The book did a much better job of tracking the 3 days they were there. I didn't have a strong sense of time in the movie. The drawings were rougher than I expected, given the slickness of the movie CGI. Overall, I think they did a fair adaptation. Would have been very interesting, though, if they had been true to the book, and done the whole two hours just in the battle.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Yeah, $30 is pretty expensive. I got it at Amazon for about $15. Miller's artwork is pretty rough in general. One of his trademarks, I guess. Not sure if you've read any of the Sin City stuff or not.

Anyway, I liked the rhino scene, too. But I hated the "fat guy with knives for hands". Not that this is supposed to be a completely historically accurate movie or anything, but the events did actually happen. that scene brought the movie into the fantasy realm, even though it was a short scene. I can buy rhinos and elephants, and even giants (just one big dude), but that knife-hand character sucked.

And mqywaaah, best epic ever? No way this was better than any of the LOTR movies, or braveheart and gladiator. Best fight scenes? I can see that, but certainly not best epic movie ever. In my opinion, an epic movie has to convey emotion, or an emotional attachment to the characters. 300 had the potential to do this, but I think that aspect of the movie fell flat.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Oh, and windmill, the Choreography was good, too.

[Nash13]

$70 million opening weekend for an R rated movie is really good.

[Murphy3]

yep...especially since the projections were about 35-42 million.

[XERXES]

Originally Posted by mqywaaah

Xerxes is definitely gay, no doubt.

I beg to differ.

[Big Boy Laroux]

we've been saying that about Xerxes for years now.

[XERXES]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

we've been saying that about Xerxes for years now.

All we've been saying for years is what a freakin' hetero he is. half warrior. half diplomat. half poet. half sage. half samurai. half cowboy. but ALL hetero.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by XERXES

All we've been saying for years is what a freakin' hetero he is. half warrior. half diplomat. half poet. half sage. half samurai. half brokeback. but ALL hetero.

yep.

[mqywaaah]

Originally Posted by XERXES

All we've been saying for years is what a freakin' hetero he is. half warrior. half diplomat. half poet. half sage. half samurai. half cowboy. but ALL hetero.

That I tend to agree with...

[Darth Ape]

"300 is the gayest movie ever made that can't be classified as porn.... You have the butch gym queens of Sparta (I mean can any chisled man run around in speedos and a cape and call himself straight?), and the pierced, shaved, and bejeweled bar queens of Persia. It's gay-on-gay violence, pure and simple."

credit a reader from andrewsullivan.com

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.co...ay_is_300.html

[rmacomic]

Saw it.

Hated it.

I've seen so many movies lately that are similar (epic battles, guys w/swords, rousing speeches) that this one bored me. My girlfriend is a classics major (Latin and Greek), and loved it. She dug the history and that they actually used lines that she is currently translating. I guess if you have that kind of attachment to it you might dig this movie, but I thought it had the same problems as Sin City, visually good, but horrid dialog, and WAY to much voice over.

It's a shame too, I love Millers work in print, but so far have been extremely disappointed in the film versions.

Oh well...everyones a critic.

[Five-ofan]

i dont think i could have been more dissapointed. honestly i dont see how you can say this was better than troy. actually come to think of it it was worse than troy. there were a few cool action scenes(his jump climbing the mountain was cool to me for some reason) but it was just crap aside from that. if you are going to show boobs, dont show deformed womens boobs(meaning xerxes harem) I do want the soundtrack to this movie though. I thought the music was great. As for mentioning this among great epics its nowhere near braveheart, gladiator or the LOTRs movies. this has been a dissappointing year or so for "epic" type movies that i really wanted to see. first eragon was terrible and now this.

[Flacolaco]

I already downgraded this from "not in the theater, but I'll netflix it."

Now I say, "I won't netflix it, but maybe it it's on tv sometime and its the middle of the summer and there's no sports on, then maybe I'd watch it"

[alexamenos]

Originally Posted by Darth Ape

"300 is the gayest movie ever made that can't be classified as porn.... You have the butch gym queens of Sparta (I mean can any chisled man run around in speedos and a cape and call himself straight?), and the pierced, shaved, and bejeweled bar queens of Persia. It's gay-on-gay violence, pure and simple."

credit a reader from andrewsullivan.com

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.co...ay_is_300.html

gotta hand it to sullivan here, this is his area of expertise.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

I already downgraded this from "not in the theater, but I'll netflix it."

Now I say, "I won't netflix it, but maybe it it's on tv sometime and its the middle of the summer and there's no sports on, then maybe I'd watch it"

how about ill watch it for free on the internet? alluc.org man. get with the times

[Murphy3]

The movie kicked some serious ass...just got home from seeing it....

[rabbitproof]

Overall, the movie was kind of suck to suck.

Nice CGI work.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

I already downgraded this from "not in the theater, but I'll netflix it."

Now I say, "I won't netflix it, but maybe it it's on tv sometime and its the middle of the summer and there's no sports on, then maybe I'd watch it"

while it certainly wasn't the best movie ever, this would be a mistake. the action scenes lend themselves very well to the big screen.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

actually come to think of it it was worse than troy.

good to know how to value your movie opinion
The only thing I can imagine being worse than Troy is perhaps a second viewing of Troy. 300 at least didn't pretend to be anything more than a cool battle between good and evil. It had the potential to be, but they didn't overreach like Troy and Alexander.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by Usually Lurkin

good to know how to value your movie opinion
The only thing I can imagine being worse than Troy is perhaps a second viewing of Troy. 300 at least didn't pretend to be anything more than a cool battle between good and evil. It had the potential to be, but they didn't overreach like Troy and Alexander.

achilles had some amazing fight scenes in troy. The crap with his wife and the politician was much worse than any overreaching troy did. In fact the storyline with his wife and the politician was the worst story since it turned out the kid in superman returns was actually his kid.

edit- and brad pitt was ALOT better than butler. the more i think about it, the more obvious it is that troy was better and to be honest its really not even that close(and this is damn sure not because of the greatness of troy)

[sike]

overrated.....clapclap, clapclapclap!

[sike]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

The movie kicked some serious ass...just got home from seeing it....

it did kick ample booty...but it also sucked the life out of a great story. Bland direction, poor acting, and cheesy as all get out lines. Some lines that are good in comics...totally blow in live action.