This will come as a surprise to no one, but if you go to see the movie 300, you will probably get exactly what you expect.If you're a fan of Frank Miller, and are looking for another film with the style and attitude of Sin City, you'll find 300 to be an equally artistic film. Every shot is carefully calculated down to each droplet of computer generated blood, and nearly every one of those shots could be printed and framed as art. (It would be a very gory museum, but nonetheless...)
If you're looking for great scenes of battle, 300's got 'em. The creation of the Battle of Thermopylae is well put together, separated into four or five "acts," with each one presenting very different objectives, tactics, and gimmicks. The film expertly changes things up to avoid becoming one senseless, desensitizing mess after another.
My problem is that my expectations were a little off going into this movie, just slightly. I said to myself I was just going hoping that it would look great, and as I've said, it delivered in every way on that count. But I also went hoping that the comic book trappings I knew would be there wouldn't be quite so pervasive. I'd hoped that maybe the work of director Zack Snyder (who delivered the absolutely kick-ass remake of Dawn of the Dead a few years back) would maybe elevate things a bit.
It comes down to character and dialogue. In my opinion, comic books (or graphic novels, take your pick) absolutely suck at these two things. I know there are fans who would leap to the defense with some examples to the contrary, and yes, there are exceptions to this rule. But by and large, one does not enjoy this medium if one does not have a high threshold for shallow characters and wooden dialogue.
My threshold, when it came to 300, was simply not high enough. There were a number of good one-liners sprinkled throughout, but it was not enough to save the horrible, cliche speeches of the narrator who would simply not shut up and let us see for ourselves what was happening on screen.
I had my expectations about right, but hoped for more, and I shouldn't have done that. In the end, the movie was exactly what I thought it would be -- absolutely beautiful, fun on a visceral level, and excruciating on an intellectual level. And it all balanced out for me at right about the C grade I expected I'd be giving it.
I suspect you can pick your own review for this movie before you see it too, and be right on the mark.
1 comment:
You make a good point about the scenes as framed art. That is a key that makes 300 work, it's the non-stop eye candy. I love the forced intimacy the camera has with the actors which only intensifies the battles. 300 pushes outside the confines of traditional film blocking. This film will challenge the medium to grow and become more advanced in the use of blue screen technique. As will Sin City. We are living in an exciting time of film making. The new school directors are reshaping all the rules. I’m thrilled to see the growth from here forward. 300 is a fun film to disect. It certainly keeps the water coolers buzzin.
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