The GHZ Forum

This movie deserves a topic, so here it is. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend doing so, because it was easily the best cinematic experience I've had in a long time. The simplest way for me to explain, I think, is to say that it is very true to Frank Miller's original graphic novel, but surpasses it through the beautiful and brutal action sequences, the high quality acting, and the great soundtrack. To put the movie in perspective, I was definitely looking forward to it and was expecting at least the same quality of its sister movie, Sin City, but I was left completely blown away somewhere halfway through the film, probably during one of the totally kickass fight scenes. If I had the money, I'd want to see this movie once a day for the next week; and in reality I'm definitely going to go see it again soon.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZm52UrkDpA

Just got back from it. It kicked ass.

I wouldn't say that it's better than the comic. However, the movie did a fantastic job of translating the static images of the comic to the movie, and the slow-motion and sped-up cuts worked very well.

Anyone that complains about political subtext or phallic imagery is an idiot.

Seeing this movie is now a requirement for living.

I've been waiting to see this movie for a while. I'm definitely going to see it in IMAX the first chance I get.

I tried to see a free advance screening on Wednesday, but the line was so long that, just before they started rolling, while I was still waiting in line, they pretty much told me "screw you, we don't CARE that you wasted four hours of your life for this, we don't have room."

I guess I should make up for that by actually paying to see it, then...

300 is very appealing visually, and there is lots and lots of gore. Which I like. Lots of heavily muscled, sweaty men wearing short shorts, which I know appeals to some people. As Senbai said, the fight scenes are ridiculously awesome, and the acting is superb.

However, there is a lack of substance; the plot is merely a backdrop for the violence (the awesome, awesome violence), and the movie tries over and over again to be subtle and fails. Also, it IS Frank "whores" Miller, so. Even the "lead" woman fails to not sleep around.

Definitely worth the ticket, but not the greatest thing ever as some people seem to think it is.

i thought it was okey. genuinely entertaining, but visually exhausting. maybe i'm pathetic, but my brain was tired from so many slow-mo-intense-athons after it was over. i also thought it borrowed from "lord of the rings" quite a bit, but not in a bad way, i mean...LOTR, like, is great, right?

just everything was kinda...expected

Did anyone else find Queen Gorgo's story to be reminiscent of Senator Amidala's role in Star Wars? I liked how the subplot offered relief from the action scenes, but it felt like it ultimately didn't go anywhere. It was awesome when she finally guts the traitor councilor, but I was left wondering why she hadn't just done that from the start.

Delphine wrote:However, there is a lack of substance; the plot is merely a backdrop for the violence (the awesome, awesome violence), and the movie tries over and over again to be subtle and fails.

Maybe it went over my head, but when did the movie seem subtle? Everything seemed pretty straightforward to me -- in fact I think that's what made it so powerful. In any case, any lack of plot substance is made up for by Leonidas' awesome trash-talking.

I just saw it yesterday. It finally arrived over here. It IS awesome. Much better than I expected.

Is it just me or the captain's son could easily be mistaken for Ted?

I'll have to agree with Delphine that the movie was pretty good, but not really as good as people make it sound. I don't get the tremendous hype, really; The movie has some great action sequences, but the plot behind them is very thin. In fact, the entire backstory is building up to the point where all the spartans fight, something we ultimately don't even see in the movie. I'll even go as far as to say that by the end of it, I was tired of the fight scenes because really, they're all a bit same-y after a while.

I also thought Leonidas' "We surrender... NOT!" at the final battle was kind of lame.

I think it's a very good story. If you think about it, the plot isn't that thin. It's a story about not falling into submission even when all the odds are against you. Leonidas simply wanted to make a point to all the other greeks. I mean, that's history there. You can't really change much of what has really happened, but you can romanticize it. And I think Frank Miller did that pretty well.

You can't really go into 300 expecting anything more than a really fun movie to watch. It's based on 300 guys kicking the crap out of a lot more. I went in expecting that and I thoroughly enjoyed the extremely stylized fight scenes. Three times actually, the IMAX was awesome.