Not since Borat has watching a movie made me snort and chuckle as much as Zack Snyder's adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel.
Not since Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhastan has watching a movie made me snort and chuckle as much as Zack Snyder's adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae. I imagine Zack Snyder as a director who, showing up on set at 6:30 am with his venti latte in hand, started filming 300 with, “We need more lip gloss and body glitter for Xerxes!” And that’s what 300 is — a lip gloss film if ever there was one. It’s the equivalent of Showgirls for male audiences.…
Article comments
26 - Anne
Sheryl, thanks for your opinion, and everyone else, it's great to hear so many different views!
27 - Sheryl
Thanks Anne! You as well. And you are quite right...love the many views. It's what's so great about this country :)
28 - bud
I'm pretty sure this movie was awesome and I deffinitely did leave the theater saying something along the lines of, "FUCK!, that was fucking awesome, I wanna go kick some ass!" If you cant see how this movie was epic, entertaining, and revolutionary you are clearly a terrible film critic.
29 - Delphine
Oh, the sidelines. This is not a movie review, this an opinion piece. To review a movie is an art in itself. There is no objectivity here. I hope that no one would "skip" this film because of sarcastic criticisms.
No one can predict who will like this film. My mother (56 yrs old) went to see it with me and she gasped many times, she was stunned. As were the teenage boys in front of us and the packed theater behind us that was the most diverse crowd that I have seen at a film.
This film WILL confront, and yes, the first viewing I was switching between absolute XTC and defending myself against the queen's monologues and stylized dialogue in general. I thought that this film was beautiful.
I recommend this movie to anyone in the entire world.
To #1 gan, just a little trivia, the denial is so thick in EVERY country and what is this "we" stuff, speak for yourself, also, there is no such thing as a national ego. Maybe someone should stay away from films and art and just go and watch the news.
30 - Jesse Miksic
I respect a healthy criticism for film, but some avenues of criticism are simply un-productive. For instance: "it just oozes political rhetoric" isn't going to stick, because the political themes weren't clear enough to pin the movie as propaghanda. For instance, the Spartans may have been red-blooded Western Civilization whores, but they were the ones being invaded by the largest army in the world at that time. It's a far cry from a transparent Iraqi Freedom allegory.
And: "the worst thing about this movie was the flamingly gay Mr. Clean." You don't seem to realize that all the stylizations in this film were intentional and carefully thought-out. It's almost funny to me that a female reviewer would even make this criticism, which suggests a tweaky low-level homophobia. Xerxes considered himself a God, so a) he was huge, and b) he was androgynous. It's a way of placing him above the level of standard, gendered, 5'2" humanity.
For a little more on the use of effects and exaggeration in 300, check out this astute article from Film.com: 300 Changes the CGI Game.
My recommendation to anyone who gets this far in the comments: if you go see this movie, make sure all your guards are down. Don't expect to have any distance or disinterest, don't come in with an attitude of contemplation or irony, because then you will HATE it. As soon as you start laughing at the over-drama and the cheesy monologues, you're finished. You have to buy in 100% to like this movie. You have to cheer - without even a hint of irony - when Queen Gorgo manages her big on-screen slaying.
Based on the references to "giggles and snorts" and on the comparisons to other movies, and generally on the tone of analysis and disinterest, I imagine this review did NOT enter the movie in a frame of mind conducive to enjoying it.
I thought it was pretty awesome, myself.
31 - sydney
ok, thank god- i thought i was alone.
your review was spot on and was exactly how i felt. especially when big evil transvestite man put his hands on his shoulders- although i was the only one giggling in my group of friends.
so a BIG thankyou for putting exactly what i was feeling into words. the best i could come up with was "at least Alexander had a story-line and we all knew it had plenty of gay innuendos in it"
32 - Carlton
I'd heard a lot about 300, so I expected it to be as good as I heard it was from all of the people who had already seen it.
I was sadly let down due to the poor scripting and nonexisitent creatures. Is this a movie based on history or a continutation of Lost in Space? Honestly, the fight scenes were about the only good part of the movie.
33 - Rose young
I gave the movie an A+ and hope it gets nominated for an Academy Award. It is the best movie I had seen since Gladiator. The Sparta King was perfectly cast. I sat thru the entire movie just completely entertained. It really captured my imagination and the characters were so realistic. GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHY!!!!!! Can't wait to purchase the movie on DVD.