I'm glad to say I did not pay to watch 300. It was a friend's treat, after I bought him brunch. After all the buzz and positive reviews about a movie that supposedly broke new ground, I'm not impressed. In fact, I'm mildly offended. The only thing the movie broke is my faith in Hollywood's ability to tell good stories.
300 is based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller about the ancient Battle of Thermopylae where 300 brave Spartan soldiers took a stand against a gargantuan invading Persian army. Spoiler alert - of course, in the end they all died, but their story inspired all of Greece and somehow contributed to the inabiity of the Persian empire to thrust into Europe.
The movie is visually unique - it uses overexposed, grainy imagery and a monochrome palette to give a period feel. The CG work is excellent. The men are buff and sporting massive six-packs. However, all the blood & gore distracts from the fundamental story, which is rather simplistic. There are no epic wars being fought, alliances being forged or nations being conquered. It's the story of one battle. There're little background sub-plots thrown in to break the monotony, but they have little bearing on the principal storyline.
The movie also goes out of its way to depict the enemy as barbarians and thus, by inference, the Spartan warriors righteous. It's really over the top. The media calls this "Hollywood's invasion of Persia". Perhaps a retaliation for the overt anti-Semitic tirades coming from present-day Iran?
What I found personally offensive are the racist undertones in the setup. The Persian army presumably invaded from North Africa, and was thus made up of slaves from the area. It ended up being a battle of white Europeans vs. brown/black Asians with references to Asian culture being inferior - the classic white supremacy theory. I don't know if this was intentional - probably not. While I adore and respect Spartan bravery, I'm glad I did not pay $10 to watch my heritage being maligned. There's an Indiana Jones DVD on a sale rack somewhere that will do the job just fine.
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9 comments:
I refuse to see this movie too, but mostly cuz of the gore and violence. The CGI is good (trailers that I saw) but that wears off really quick.
I will have to see the movie to find out if I will be offended by the depiction of the non-spartans.
aha. and all the 6n8-packs on display just wasnt worth it?
:)
was gonna go see de movie purely for eye candy value. hehe
Well atleast you weren't like me and had to pay CAD$57 to go and see a crap film :-(
Ok, I liked it. but I saw it for what it was - eye-candy, brain-numbing entertainment. Plus, I only paid Rs. 150.
sanjay: yup - the violence is a little over the top.
closetalk: the 6-packs didn't do it for me - the movie had a synthetic, comic-book feel to it
anthony: ouch
andy: Brain-numbing indeed. I have no problem with movies that are brain-numbing but don't pretend to be anything else - ex. Scary Movie(s). This one pretends to be an epic, but is so not!
Hey back on your blog after ages. Howdy!
I liked the movie. It entertained me. Tried not to see the racism if any intended by the writers or producers. I did see a guy dressed as a "mystic" (with long hair & over grown beard) being chopped by one of the Spartans - I think it was right after they showed the orients. Was wondering if Darius or Xerexes ever managed to enter India.
Didn't like the references to Asians being hordes devoid of logic and reasoning.
HOLY CRAP, Batman. I have not been to your blog in tooooo long. That is what grad school will do to you.
So, thanks for the review of the movie. I don't think that I will go to watch it. Muffin wanted to see it, but no thanks - he can go with friends if he would like, that is not one for me.
I like your review. Thank you.
Nice blog.
About the movie, it was quite apparent from the promos itself what it would be like. 'Sucks' is too mild an expression. And the acting - Uhhhh...I've seen Chunkey Pandey do better.
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