300
Decided to venture back out into the cinematic modern world this weekend and
go see 300. Based on the graphic novel created by the same person who did
Sin City, Frank Miller, I was anxious and excited. I also had very high
expectations. Overall, I wasn't let down either.
The movie (and graphic novel) is about the Battle of Thermopylae where the
King of Sparta led his army against the Persians. Though the Persians had
an Army of hundreds of thousands, there were only 300 Spartans. Despite the
odds, the battle lasted long enough for the Spartans to prove their bravery,
strength and legendary status.
Given the storyline, it goes without saying this movie was pretty much
nothing but one gigantic fight scene. Fortunately, in this context, that
was a very good thing. I greatly enjoyed the filming of these fight scenes.
As the action would be moving along quickly and fluidly it was easy to get
wrapped up in the thrill of the fight. Then, the action would slow down to
almost freeze frame motion to further zoom in and focus on one or two
special or amazing sequences. It was brilliant! Watching this movie felt
like reading the graphic novel, very similar to Sin City's filming style.
With filming style like this I felt I didn't miss any part of the action - I
saw the big picture as well as the individual interactions between
combatants. Few fight movies have learned how to draw the audience in, but
300 accomplished just that.
I would give 300 an overall grade of B+.
300 recieves a grade breakdown as follows:
Story: A. Short, simple to the point. I appreciated how focus it was on
the battle, instead of trying to bring in all the backstory and details
surrounding it. Focus is essential in a movie of this type.
Acting: B. It was a lot of running, jumping, yelling, and hitting. How
could they have done badly?
Visuals: A. Not as unique and sharp as Sin City but pretty much identical
to the graphic novel it was portraying. Something about some of the
lighting and or camera movement made me a bit ill at times, but that could
just be something odd about me, not the movie.
Originality/Innovation: A. Another page-by-page representation of a
graphic novel, but still brilliant.
Enjoyability grade: B. I enjoyed the battle scenes but found the few scenes
of dialogue and character development a bit boring and generic.
Overall grade: B+. I would certainly recommend it, especially to fans of
other graphic novel/comic book adaptations.
DVD extras: N/A
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