Saturday, March 24, 2007

300...and then some.

Hi Folks, and welcome to The Corner. Sorry about the paucity of posts of late, but the fam and I were in sunny South Florida all week, and I was trying to rest. But, we did get to the movies, and here is what we saw.

300 kicks ass! If you like gladiator movies, or just like seeing a grown man naked, this is the movie for you. There are more six packs in this flick than in a walk-in cooler at a NASCAR marathon. But fret not, oh heterosexual men, there is plenty of female nudity here as well, though some of it is surrounded by such libido-crushing creepiness that your mind virtually has a tug of war with your pig-brain over whether to be turned on, or just grossed out. The movie is based on the graphic novel(we can't call them comic books anymore) by Frank Miller, and it tells the tale of King Leonidas of Sparta taking on the Persian army of King Xerxes at Thermopylae. The catch is that Leonidas has 300 men, and Xerxes has thousands. There is a kind of fuzzy, ill defined sub plot regarding the political machinations that prevent the entire Spartan army from waging war, but what's important is that 300 chiseled, leather speedo clad warriors held off an army for 3 days. The action is non-stop, and the battles are bloody, and believable. There is just enough weirdness thrown in to paint a thin glaze of the supernatural over the events, but not so much that we have to throw our willing suspension of disbelief into over drive. And if you ever wondered what it looks like when an elephant falls over a cliff, this is your film. The battle tactics are pretty solid, although most of Xerxes' warriors have all the prowess of Imperial Stormtroopers, and the CGI is used with a deft, and fairly light touch. All in all it is well worth seeing on the big screen.


Peace out, y'all.
Marius

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just dont let Hollyweird distort history yet again :P There were more than the 298 Spartans left during the famous last stand. There were also 700-1200 Thespian and Thebians that refused to fall back with the rest and stood to the last man with the Spartan 'Delta Force'

..cause knowing is half the battle...


Lord T

Unknown said...

On back pain: I pulled something in my back 3 weeks ago and I'm still hurting. My activity wasn't as strenuous as yours though - I just bent over to pick up the dogs' empty water jug.

On 300: Joe's even more hoppy about seeing the movie now - the actors & stuntment went through a training regime similar to what he does. Go read this article.