p e n g u i n d e v i l

I did finally got around to watching 300. It is a visually enticing movie of the Battle of Thermopylae, but not a historical drama, it instead is a movie adaptation of a graphic novel based on the battle. As such it is heavily cgi’d and sepia-toned for much of the film, following a similar production philosophy to the previous years Sin City, which was also an adaptation of a Frank Miller graphic novel, neither of which have I read. As a film, 300 is certainly the lesser of the two, though I was more intrigued by its previews. There is less to the characters and less to the story and, while it did look good, it was rather dull. The majority of the running time is fight scenes, but rather than being scenes of fighting they are more like slow-motion poses… Lots and lots of slow motion poses, with some well placed CGI’d blood and some very nice costume design. It also has less interesting characters and though it is based on some rather exciting historical events, the plot is flat and the modernization of the characters is a bit unnerving. Also, there is way too much narration that is maybe that’s a carry over from the graphic novel, but it seemed unnecessary here, and served to lessen ones chances of getting involved in the film. It ends up coming across as a rather cheap production that has been covered up with all sorts of digital lighting and image effects. Don’t get me wrong, they certainly put in some excitement and dramatic scenes and it is generally a good looking movie with very nice visual effects, including some rather gruesome. Though as with all things of this sort, I imagine that the computer effects would gain even more luster on the big screen.

The story of King Leonidas of Sparta taking his body guard out to halt the threatening advance of the limitlessly huge army of the Persians led by a very unusual rendition of King Xerxes. As there is an advantageous land bottleneck between Sparta and the Persians, the King and his 300 men march out to hold this narrow pass against wave after wave of Persian troops. As the Persians attempt to break through, they send group after group down the narrow path. Each different group has a unique look and strategy and large numbers and all of these battles are slow motion. The slow-motion battle scenes that seem to take up most of the movie can be exciting, coated with cgi blood sprays and severed limbs and all those sorts of goodies, but the other fight bits stand out mainly for their dramatic choreography.

While it is a good looking movie, with some nice exciting action scenes and some good visuals, there is little meat to the film. In addition to the fighting, there are also some few minutes of political conflict back in the city, but they seem a bit secondary. I imagine that as a comic book adaptation it may be both literal and entertaining, but as a movie, it’s a nice looking sheen and some slow motion action scenes set on a rather unnotable production. One that also includes a few bad rock video moments. On the plus side, the lead fellow (Gerald Butler, whose previous movie Beowulf and Grendel I would recommend) does a fine job, and there is some pretty cool costuming, especially the outfits of the Immortals.