Geoff Egan300: A Retospective
June 2nd 2008 02:00
I re watched 300 yesterday. To tell the truth I was expecting to like it a lot less than I did the first time. When I saw it, it was at the cinema, with a crowd of crazy, probably drunk, people at a midnight screening. It was awesome, everyone was into it. This time I actually sat back and enjoyed the film for more of what it was, rather than just the atmosphere.
Firstly let me say that about 3 years ago I saw the old 300 Spartans, it’s a fairly ancient flick, but after the Lord of the Rings it made me think about how great a movie it could be done today. 300 did this.
Firstly I was pretty impressed by the (admittedly few and generally ignored) historical accuracies in the film. Everybody knows about the vivid Spartan scarlet cloaks and the discarding of babies if they didn’t meet up to Spartan criteria, but Sparta was the only major ancient city that didn’t have a wall around it. Why? Because it’s soldiers were so good they didn’t need one. In the film, Sparta didn’t have a wall. Xerxes was indeed a crazy megalomaniac, I mean he had the sea whipped when his fleet was crushed in a storm.
Working quite well for the film, Spartans were renowned for their burning quick wit. What is called Laconic wit, dry, straight to the point comments, Spartans were famous for. Similarly to the scene in the film, after kicking the Persian emissaries down a well, Leonidas reputedly told them, in response to their demand for ‘earth and water’ (the traditional symbols of surrender) to ‘Dig it out for yourselves’. Pretty much used straight up in the movie “So much the better, we'll fight in the shade” was a Spartan’s response to being told that Persian arrows would blot out the sun. Pretty much, Spartans were an army consisting entirely of Bruce Willis’ and Arnold Schwarzeneggers.
But the most important thing to remember about 300 is that it is based on Frank Miller’s comic. Not on the legend itself. A retelling of a retelling so to speak. I’ve heard people bashing 300 because a deformed Spartan outcast sold them out instead of a farmer boy, as the original story states. Blame Frank Miller, not the movie. That is also why everyone in the movie is either breathtakingly beautiful or incredibly ugly.
But where 300 really shines is the way it looks. The whole time, the vistas are breath-taking, the battles are beyond anything any other movie has done, the use of slow-mo is the best since The Matrix (sorry Equilibrim, you’re third), the whole thing just oozes style. And it was done entirely on a computer. The actors did it all infront of a green screen. The fact that it didn’t get even nominated for an Oscar (I assume because more ‘serious’ films were around) is an outrage.
Anyway, this movie is still pretty plot-less, and I wouldn’t be against a more realistic telling of the Battle of Thermopylae one day, although even historians can’t agree on many of the fact regarding it, as Persian sources clearly over exaggerate their own numbers. But in the mean time, 300is one of the most stylish movies about, and as long as you don’t have a weak stomach, still a wicked movie.
Firstly let me say that about 3 years ago I saw the old 300 Spartans, it’s a fairly ancient flick, but after the Lord of the Rings it made me think about how great a movie it could be done today. 300 did this.
Firstly I was pretty impressed by the (admittedly few and generally ignored) historical accuracies in the film. Everybody knows about the vivid Spartan scarlet cloaks and the discarding of babies if they didn’t meet up to Spartan criteria, but Sparta was the only major ancient city that didn’t have a wall around it. Why? Because it’s soldiers were so good they didn’t need one. In the film, Sparta didn’t have a wall. Xerxes was indeed a crazy megalomaniac, I mean he had the sea whipped when his fleet was crushed in a storm.
Working quite well for the film, Spartans were renowned for their burning quick wit. What is called Laconic wit, dry, straight to the point comments, Spartans were famous for. Similarly to the scene in the film, after kicking the Persian emissaries down a well, Leonidas reputedly told them, in response to their demand for ‘earth and water’ (the traditional symbols of surrender) to ‘Dig it out for yourselves’. Pretty much used straight up in the movie “So much the better, we'll fight in the shade” was a Spartan’s response to being told that Persian arrows would blot out the sun. Pretty much, Spartans were an army consisting entirely of Bruce Willis’ and Arnold Schwarzeneggers.
But the most important thing to remember about 300 is that it is based on Frank Miller’s comic. Not on the legend itself. A retelling of a retelling so to speak. I’ve heard people bashing 300 because a deformed Spartan outcast sold them out instead of a farmer boy, as the original story states. Blame Frank Miller, not the movie. That is also why everyone in the movie is either breathtakingly beautiful or incredibly ugly.
But where 300 really shines is the way it looks. The whole time, the vistas are breath-taking, the battles are beyond anything any other movie has done, the use of slow-mo is the best since The Matrix (sorry Equilibrim, you’re third), the whole thing just oozes style. And it was done entirely on a computer. The actors did it all infront of a green screen. The fact that it didn’t get even nominated for an Oscar (I assume because more ‘serious’ films were around) is an outrage.
Anyway, this movie is still pretty plot-less, and I wouldn’t be against a more realistic telling of the Battle of Thermopylae one day, although even historians can’t agree on many of the fact regarding it, as Persian sources clearly over exaggerate their own numbers. But in the mean time, 300is one of the most stylish movies about, and as long as you don’t have a weak stomach, still a wicked movie.
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Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
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Frank Miller's original was a lot more interesting, I found.
Man, I hate slow-mo...
Comment by Geoff Egan
Cinema XYZ
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Apart from slow mo appararently!
Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
300 started off capturing the same style and angles, but, once the action started, I couldn't stand it. In the comic, the battle scenes take up a page, maybe two, I believe. Instead, I had to sit through all this tedious slow motion (I really can't stand it as a device for 'heightening' the action) and the hard rock score.
That doesn't interest me. To be fair, I watched it on my home laptop, so there's definitely some separation there. Perhaps in a cinema, it'd be more gripping.
Also, I don't have much patience for that CGI'd background. While you were impressed by the style, I found it empty and meaningless. I'd rather have the actual stony plains of Sparta.
Last, I have a huge issue with the presentation of the movie. A group of good-looking, fit white men beat off a huge, evil-looking army of Asians, Africans and Middle-Easterners. Perhaps because the original comic is in black and white, I didn't get this sense.
Watching it, I could almost feel an undercurrent of Synder's view on immigration. Keeping us, non-pure Spartans out of the country.
I know people would tell me to lighten up, or 'it's just a movie', but you have to remember that, every time I watch a movie, I'm painfully aware of who looks like me and who doesn't.