Yesterday, my roommates and i all had premiere tickets for the new action-packed Frank Miller comic-book adaptation, 300 in fitchburg's Imax theater. 300 is about 300 spartans against the invasion of the Persian empire.
Visually this movie is absolutely stunning. Few movies have such a rich quality of picture that literally any screen shot is a vivid photo suitable for framing. It does borrow some special effects from Sin City, where eyes and other light elements of silhouettes are illuminated.. Such as the Persian soldier's eyes as they crept over the hills.
300 is one of those movies where i have certain expectations coming into the film. Ya know, i've seen trailers and heard about the story, and all this stuff. I hype myself up, and when i exit the theaters.. i feel disappointed. Like the movie totally missed the mark for me. This is happened with a couple other movies, such as Matrix Reloaded and Scanner Darkly.
Afterwards, i get home... go to bed.. Throughout the night and the next day, i keep thinking about it more and more, and start appreciating the movie for what it is.. not what i thought or someone else thought it was supposed to be. You can't judge some romance movie because it didn't have enough action, or comedy because it didn't have enough serious moments.. I don't really know what i was expecting 300 to be, but it stands on its own.
The movie is pretty much all action and sex and action. Battles are waged constantly, and the battle scenes are brutally raw and bloody. I don't think i've ever seen a movie with so much blood, yet not really consider it to be gore. Blood flies everywhere during most scenes, but it is shed in such a violent and deliberate way.. The blood is almost a living form within the shots.
As a whole, much like the battle scenes, 300 is terrifically raw. Half naked muscle man, stumping across the battle field, beating, and stabbing and thrusting spears into each other, yelling at the top of your lungs. Not to mention other scenes, with naked women telling the future, and seducing the gimp, and being naked.
This movie screams Man. It's almost as manly as ripping off your chest hair, or smashing your head into the hood of a car, or other manly feats as scene on that Snicker's superbowl commercial. It makes you want to join in the action, and scream your head off.. "SPARTANS!" in all of your awesome glory. Pick up a spear and join the fight.