Originally Posted By gadzuux A friend of mine got to see an advance screening, in IMAX, of the upcoming movie "300", and is over the moon about it. He's even got me excited now. For those that haven't heard of it, it's a 'swords and sandals' pic about the hugely outnumbered spartans at some pivotal battle against the persians, and the resulting valor and derring-do. It's done in the same style as 'sin city' and even 'spy kids 3-D', where the actors do most of their work in front of green screens, with all of the sets added digitally later. And also like 'sin city', it's based on a "graphic novel" by frank miller, and so it has the same surreal feeling. Finally it features lots of manly pulchritude, in IMAX - big greasy hairy pecs and testosterone and brawn - writ large. There was more - something about tight biceps and sinewed calves, but you get the idea. I'm so there.
Originally Posted By gadzuux I went and saw this movie today - and it was tough to do. All weekend IMAX showings were sold out in advance, and the first tickets available at 4pm were for 7:30, even though it's showing on five screens. On top of the wait for a later show, it also required standing in a lobby line for most of an hour, and then 'preliminaries' and coming attractions that dragged on endlessly before the film actually started. I don't know about elsewhere, but here in SF this movie is a monster. People I work with took the day off on friday just to go see it. Is it worth it? I liked it enough, but not as much as I would have hoped. I still recommend it, but I wouldn't want to see it a second time. Lots of stylized gore and bloodletting, yet not stylized enough for my sensibilities. The movie has so many battle scenes that it tends to bog down with endless slo-mos of swords and spears thrusting through torsos and all of the resulting blood spurts. The persians they're fighting are push-overs - they stand there patiently waiting for their turn to be slaughtered. But the persian king villian is some fun - effete and imperious, he throws everything he's got at our heroes, but nothing seems to make much of a dent. When the battle scenes get too tedious, there's a subplot going on back home with the spartan queen and her pleas to the senate, but for the most part it's a useless diversion that's mostly fretting and hand-wringing. The movie chugs along in fits and starts, with intense battle action interspersed with dull passages of her trials and tribulations that never amount to anything. Visually it looks great. Not only is it a non-stop parade of eye-popping beefcake, but the digitized method of creating the film creates stunning images that don't quite seem real - because they're not. Instead it has a quality of a dream that you only partly remember. In sum, it's a great looking film with a lot to recommend it, but the storyline is thin and predictable. Go see it if you can, but if it's anything like my town, it takes some doing just to get a ticket and a decent seat.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb We just got back from seeing it this afternoon, I really enjoyed it. Not enought to buy the DVD unless it's on sale, but I will probably rent it. I was concerned that the gore would be too much, I'd been warned. But the violence was so comic book I won't have any problem with the tween boys watching it when we rent the DVD several months from now. It's inspired me to rent Sin City. As a side note, I've got a huge thing for Gerard Butler but found I prefered him in Timeline and Reign of Fire.
Originally Posted By chickendumpling What did you guys think about the dialogue? In the trailer I saw it seemed kinda, I don't know - juvenile? Maybe it was just the trailer and it doesn't come off that way in the movie?
Originally Posted By gadzuux It reminded me a bit of the old 50's gladiator movies - very self important and ponderous -like "by the will of the gods shall it be done" or "long does our brave and glorious tale live to be passed down through generations to come" etc. This movie is all about the visuals - script and story are a bit weak. Characters are strong though - while most of the actors are just spear carriers, the ones that have speaking parts are memorable. And speaking of 'parts', you don't expect a lot of real acting from this assorted collection of bohunks, and casting was obviously done with an eye for buffed out bods more than acting chops, but they do an alright job of hitting the marks, delivering their lines and being smokin' hot - all at the same time. Give `em an oscar just for that.
Originally Posted By BlueDevilSF Oh, how I wish I could have been in San Francisco for WonderCon. Gerard Butler made an appearance...
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb This movie has a interesting demographic, I can't think of another film that is so popular in both the gay and fan-boy communities.
Originally Posted By DAR I imagine most women didn't mind looking at the Spartans either. And that could be a reason why it made 70 million this weekend.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Oh so true DAR, LOL. But there sure were a lot of fan boys in the theater I was at.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN ^^^very true... many (TDL)fanboys out there, and what's not to like.. semi-nude men in capes and beautiful 6-pack torsos... in IMAX no less... I can't wait for the unrated version on DVD.
Originally Posted By BrnardM Saw it on IMAX on Friday and I was blown away! Right off the bat, the visuals are eggagerated and completely arresting. A nightmarish wolf, impossibly large moons, a lone temple at the top of a mountain and an army that puts the one in Troy to shame. This is the gods and monsters Greece that Homer wrote about! I didn't expect it to take that approach but once I saw what was going on, it was love. Even more that, the sky captain/Sin City technology really sells the world that the filmakers create. In battle too, the Spartans have a superhuman quality to their fighting and the enemies are similarly over the top. For those of you who were let down by Troy, 300 may be just what you were waiting for. The acting wasn't award worthy, but the characters are great and I was rooting for each of them the whole time. At the moment I can't recall all the visual "WoW's" in the movie because there are so many. It's the way Hollywood Epics are supposed to be and really worth seeing on the big screen! I challange any filmaker to come up with a cooler oracle sequence! (Note: the violence is equitable to Gladiator, so be prepared)
Originally Posted By ToonKirby I saw this the other day and, although I liked it, I wasn't blown away by as a film as a whole. Sure, the visuals are stunning, but the story didn't provide anything new as far as the whole "peplum" genre goes. All visual, no substance.
