300 – The ultimate guy movie? Blood, guts and very, very cool fighting scenes with muscled men in loin cloths. No wonder the males accounted for 85% of cinema audience when I went to go watch it on Friday evening last week. Only a very few unlucky wives and girlfriends were attending in a tight huddle.
Based on the legendary Frank Millers graphic novel of the same name, 300 is an epic revolving around the legend surrounding the historic Battle of Thermopylae. Basically: Spartan King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fight to the last man against Persian King Xerxes and his army of over one million soldiers, while in Sparta, Queen Gorgo attempts to rally support for her husband. (Just by the way, Frank Miller is one of my all time favourite comic book writers/illustrators)
Now I’ll be honest, the plot seems a little thin and probably is a little thin like a cookie wafer. I know when I walked out the theatre that I really couldn’t care less about any of the characters, nor did the movie move me in any way. So then just why the hell is 300 making such a killing at the box office?
Simple: Pure unadulterated violence delivered in ultra cool style which isn’t too over the top but just feels so right.
The movie is shot almost entirely in blue screen, meaning youre basically watching one big CG event. The soft lighting, the atmosphere, everything about the movie has basically been added in right at the end. And it works. The brilliant 2D blood splashes, the meticulous beheadings, the sheer size of the Persian army and the use of slow/fast action camera sequences elevates this movie into something else and makes it truly a sight to behold. This is one of the few late night movies in which I haven’t fallen asleep; instead I was riveted to my seat for one hell of an action ride.
Highly recommended to all testosterone charged guys.