300 Review

No spoilers, so please read on.

I saw 300 last night at our special screening. I saw lots of regulars there - it seemed like a really busy Wednesday with all the familiar faces! Seeing new movies at advance screenings is always a treat since the people who make it are typically enthusiastic and excited about the film, so you get applause and cheering that might otherwise be absent from a regular showtime.

The theater was packed, but Star Clipper staff had reserved seating - and congratulations to Brett Pernikoff and Phil Betts who won 300 shwag and reserved seats in our trivia contest.

But about the movie...

First of all, it's extremely faithful to the Frank Miller graphic novel, both from the underlying story and the visual style of the book. Visually, it's as good as you could hope for and the trailers give you an excellent sense of the film's stylistic approach throughout. It's a beautiful movie.

From a plot perspective the story is well told, though I thought they relied a bit heavily on third party narration (as in the book). The acting is solid and the melodrama is kept to a bare minimum. Unfortunately, the film lacked a certain amount of chemistry between the actors, mostly because only Leonidas' character is fully developed. At times I found the thick accent of some of the actors to be too difficult to understand. Female characters are as flimsy as you would expect from a Frank Miller story, but we went to see the action, and the film does not disappoint on that score.

The action is stunning. The battle scenes can get your heart pounding and it's easy to imagine that you've actually stepped back in time to 480 BC and the battle of Thermopylae. An excellent follow up to "The 300 Spartans", the movie which inspired Frank Miller to write the book. And of course, it's a gore-fest and celebration of dismemberment, beheading and impalements - not for the light of heart.

I thought the visual effects were wonderful. AJ was distracted by the cgi blood, but I thought it was well done. The only thing the movie really lacked was suspense - but I suppose it would be difficult to create suspense in a story where everyone already knows the ending.

8 Clippies out of 10.

-Ben