I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
Take a bit of Gladiator posturing, give him He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe attire & physique, throw on a pair Sin City shades, wrap him ‘em up in comic book dramatics and some soft-core porn and you’ve got yourself a 300. A visually stunning, boring, laughably serious epic based on the Frank Miller graphic novel.
Story follows true account of Leonidos (Gerard Butler), the fiercely proud King of Sparta (in ancient Greece). He leads an army of 300 men to defend their home against the gazillions of landing Persians about to unleash hell.
The entire thing is shot against a green screen (ala Sin City) and it works well, it's quite gorgeous in fact - aside from the very poorly realised creatures. It’s grittier than Robert Rodriguez’s effort, perhaps because it’s on a smaller budget, and the look is better for it – feeling earthier and more fitting somehow. The set design is ridiculously stylized and over the top, but because it’s done so boldly this works too.
But personally, I can’t buy the seriousness in tone. Granted, it’s maybe part of such a film’s appeal. But you’ll get nothing but laughs from this punter when I hear the narrator (in a film-trailer-like voice) say “When the boy was born, like all Spartans, he was inspected”; and when the enemy says “Our arrows will blot out the sun!”, the Spartan replies thoughtfully “Then we shall fight in the shade”. It just sounds stupid, especially when your package is hanging out in a little pair of y-fronts. And what will they do when the arrows land?
I feel my point is proven when mid way through, there are a few scenes where some humour/lightness is chucked in. At this point, I suddenly became a little interested as the characters actually seemed like real people.
The ending’s alright also, and the tale is quite a good one in itself. But in essence, 300 is an excuse for homoerotic parading, gore and titillation that did little to hold my interest.
By Paul Scantlebury, Flicks.co.nz
what a load of Homo Erotic fantasy what a load of trash the comedy rip of was way much better
Take a bit of Gladiator posturing, give him He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe attire & physique, throw on a pair Sin City shades, wrap him ‘em up in comic book dramatics and some soft-core porn and you’ve got yourself a 300. A visually stunning, boring, laughably serious epic based on the Frank Miller graphic novel. Story follows true account of Leonidos (Gerard Butler), the fiercely proud King of Sparta (in ancient Greece). He leads an army of 300 men to defend their home against the gazillions of landing Persians about to unleash hell. The entire thing is shot against a green screen (ala Sin City) and it works well, it's quite gorgeous in fact - aside from the very poorly realised creatures. It’s grittier than Robert Rodriguez’s effort, perhaps because it’s on a smaller budget, and the look is better for it – feeling earthier and more fitting somehow. The set design is ridiculously stylized and over the top, but because it’s done so boldly this works too. But personally, I can’t buy the seriousness in tone. Granted, it’s maybe part of such a film’s appeal. But you’ll get nothing but laughs from this punter when I hear the narrator (in a film-trailer-like voice) say “When the boy was born, like all Spartans, he was inspected”; and when the enemy says “Our arrows will blot out the sun!”, the Spartan replies thoughtfully “Then we shall fight in the shade”. It just sounds stupid, especially when your package is hanging out in a little pair of y-fronts. And what will they do when the arrows land? I feel my point is proven when mid way through, there are a few scenes where some humour/lightness is chucked in. At this point, I suddenly became a little interested as the characters actually seemed like real people. The ending’s alright also, and the tale is quite a good one in itself. But in essence, 300 is an excuse for homoerotic parading, gore and titillation that did little to hold my interest.
In 480BC around the time of the ‘Iron age’ Persian King Xerxes sent his massive army to conquer the lands of Greece. One such part of this land was the city of Sparta ruled by King Leonidas. Sparta, was a city renowned for its warriors, brave and trained to be fearless in the face of imminent doom. Leonidas takes a stand (albeit a suicidal one) against Xerxes and leads 300 of his finest soldiers into battle in an attempt to buy time for the rest of Greece to get their act together and prepare for the Persian Invasion. This delay tactic was said to be one of the most famous last stands in history and a testament to the training, dedication, skill, fearlessness and valour of the Spartans. It has also been said that the battle, which followed between the Greeks and the Persians, led the way to modern day democracy. All of the historical details aside we have to remember this film was based on a graphic novel not a textbook. Therefore, it becomes a huge and magnificent spectacle for us to digest. However, I have to say, this has been done before, again and again and again. From, Braveheart, Gladiator, Troy and Lord of the Rings we have all witnessed the cinematic event of the massive armies screaming for the enemy ready to tear them to shreds. However, in the story of ‘300’ the Spartans are vastly outnumbered and although their starting tactics allowed them to brutally overwhelm the front lines of the Persians they were on their way to death, they knew it and so did we. Thus, the computer generated effects although perhaps a little second-hand did justice to the horrific prospect the Spartans faced in their attempt to hold off the Persians. Bloodbaths, carnage, gore, beheading and maiming are the main meal of the battle scenes which are definitely not to be viewed by the weak at heart. A man’s movie I hear you cry?? Maybe, but I wonder how many of those testosterone fuelled men growling about how magnificently gruesome the fight scenes were, noticed the truly homoerotic connotations of 300. The attempt to conceal this by the gratuitous female nudity failed miserably and what was left was a demi god (Xerxes) straight off a mardis gras float fighting 300 extremely buff, deliciously half naked men. So, ladies if your partner is desperate to take you to the movies for this one and you are not keen, you should be! This film is as much for the girls as it is the boys intentionally or not… Overall, the concept and choice of cast is nowhere near as charismatic as the film interpretation of Frank Millers ‘Sin City’ but its steely grace, just like the Spartan Warriors keeps you mesmerised through to the end. Instead of waiting for the DVD, do see this at the cinema as a small screen would do no justice to the enormity of the story and the vision of 300. Plus, the men…oh the men…
Looks good - not great, and otherwise is just dribble. So boring, predictable & laughable.
This has to be one of the most amazing movies I have seen it my time. It blew me away to think that this movie has been given an average rating of four stars, because I would give it six, were it possible. The fighting scenes mixed with the passionate love scenes made this movie so appealing to the visual sense that I had to see it more then once.
300 is not a complicated film. It's going to be widely ridiculed and rightly so, because viewed with the slightest critical distance it becomes extremely funny, but taken on it's own terms - as Greek myth meets Looney Tunes - it's kind of a masterpiece...
Visually stunning, thoroughly belligerent and as shallow as a pygmy’s paddling pool, this is a whole heap of style tinged with just a smidgen of substance...
300 is a feast for the senses (well, two of them anyway) and an impressive technical achievement. More than that, it's a hell of a lot of fun...
300 is something to see, but unless you love violence as much as a Spartan, Quentin Tarantino or a video-game-playing teenage boy, you will not be endlessly fascinated...
1/2 That it's so flat as an action movie probably has a lot to do with why people might prefer to jawbone over its putatively controversial aspects--there's really not much of a “wow” factor to revel in...
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 5th Apr 2007.
Release date: April 5th 2007.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
