300: 3x

Ayep. Three times. Once opening day with Joe, Dan, and Rowan. Then once with Glen, after a tournament. And then again with Dan and Ray. Three times I screened it, and yet I never got around to singing the praises of this fantastic adrenaline pumped cinematic experience. But then, this movie doesn't really need a booster club, eh? Especially since it's got enough buzz and acclaim and press and controversy on its own. What's to tell, right? Well, let me dig in and come up with a *SPOILERy* thing or three...

It's gorgeous. In working so faithfully and diligently to be true to the mood and vision of the graphic novel, the filmmakers create some amazing big-screen imagery. Although there are some really harsh moments of violence, including acts of decapitation and dismemberment... Ummm... Maybe I didn't need the word "Although" at the beginning of that sentence, cuz frankly, it's freakin awesome! =)

Heh. It *is* bloody, but in a very cool and stylized way. It's not as abstract as the KILL BILL artery pumping, but made less real with the addition of chunkiness and weight to it. As if the blood is... dirty, somehow. You've just got to see it. I wonder what the spray-explosion from a bullet wound would look like in 300's visual world.

The film works the fourth dimension in a really masterful way as well. Totally love the dialing up and down of speed in the action sequences, whether focused on battling soldiers, rampaging beasts, or writhing oracle. It's super stylin' and allows certain kinetic moments that would otherwise read as a blur to sustain as a sculpture or painting. I don't know that it works page-for-page, but if you compare the film to the original graphic novel, I'll bet more than a dozen slow-motion scenes coincide with the iconic splash page artwork of Frank Miller.

It's not just about capturing or stretching a moment, tho. The variation in speed is applied to the action the way tempo is to a score, or instrument, adding a rhythm to the motion on screen. A unique crunchy sound effect is attached to the quick speed changes. I wonder if it comes from a real world recording of a steenbeck or some other mechanical editing/recording/playback device. It's a sound that really does feel perfect for what you see on screen during the moments of acceleration.

The stylized speed control is also pretty damn remarkable in the places where it's *not* used. There's only one scene, really, that I picked it out, and you can be sure it's no mistake. It's when Leonidas's loyal friend (and better captain) cracks up after seeing his son decapitated by one of the enemy. Enraged, desperate with sadness and anger, he breaks free of the soldiers holding him back, and further, breaks formation, to leap into the fray and hack, slash, and batter his way through the oncoming enemy to reach the body of his fallen son. His berserker rage unfolds on screen in real time, without any enhancement.

I appreciate that.

Is it political? It's like the Dark Side tree on Dagobah. You'll only encounter what you take in with you, y'know? I think it's a great canvas on which people can paint their perspectives, with its portrayal of good versus evil, few against many, true believers against fools, it's wide open for all kinds of interpretation and projection. Of course, who is good and not-so-good is in the eye of the beholder.

And watch that eye, lest it be poked out by an errant engorged teat! If there's one thing you'll learn and remember forever from this film, it's this: a Spartan nipple is an erect nipple.

Also, some guys in the audience can't help but giggle at the sight of a man's buttocks in the moonlight. I swear, each and every show I caught, there were some supposedly adult males who were reduced to dopey boys at the sight. A natural reaction? It sounds/seems somehow nervous to me.

Story and character-wise, Rowan thought it was a weakness to have the Spartans be so... *ultimately* Spartan. He's not wrong, and frankly I agree that if there could've been even one sort of "time-out" moment with one or a few of the Spartans when they admit to fighting for the simple joys and treasures that make up a life, instead of declaring their devotion to glory above all, it would have added nobility, conscience, and depth to the Spartan way as portrayed in the film... I don't think it hurt the film, as if something was missing, it's just that the addition of such an exchange could have improved it. A frank discussion or aside between one of the premier Spartans and the Acadians would have done it. They could find some common ground in talking about family, or crops, or the seasons, or whatever, y'know?

I sometimes leave a movie wanting to believe something that's sort of a longshot. With 300, I want to believe that the queen *knew* jerkass diplomat was a traitor, on the Persian payroll. I would've loved to have been given a clue, a knowing remark in her address, some little sign, that her attack with the sword was meant specifically to pierce his change purse. Umm... literally, y'know? That she luckily slashes his moneybags while apparently skewering him, prompted in a moment of passion to assassinate a Spartan senator (or whatever he was), seems weaker than her being in control of the situation the whole time, letting him play his seditious cards in the senate, to perhaps confirm his treasonous nature, and then unmask him before the assembly.

Did it not sound like the senators were exclaiming, "Treasure!" as they picked up the Persian coinage? Heh.

Another film Want of mine. I would have loved to have seen fallout from/reaction to Leonidas's spear strike at Xerxes. He makes good on his word when he reveals to everyone that even a so-called god can bleed, and that should have had a profound effect on his followers, no? And perhaps even Xerxes, his believing-his-own-hype self.

Was a bit annoyed with the treatment of Xerxes's voice. With that voice with his shiny and bejeweled appearance, Xerxes came off as STARGATE's evil Ga'ould alien, Ra, pumped up on steroids.

Totally love how the film tweaks things so that we get to see the Spartans face off against primitive grenade-chucking adversaries, and ultimately, shielding themselves against a starry nova-like detonation of their stockpile. Frickin beautiful. =)

Dan picked up on this as well, but wanted *more.* In the voiceover of a montage of enemies sent as fodder against the 300, the Spartan storyteller lists the nature of the various forces set against them by the Persians, and "mystics" are counted among them. This seems to refer to the grenade chuckers, but introducing more mystical mystics could've added to the crazy coolness.

Enjoyed the amusement of seeing Faramir shocked to see his old enemies, the Orcs, hiding behind the masks of the Persians' ruthless Immortals. Heh.

Do *not* wait for this on DVD. This is a movie that should be appreciated in a larger-than-life format. You do not want to miss these—as Jon Stewart put it—"300 Spartans... and 1800 abs..." =)

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. For reference, and as a measure of need-to-get-a-life-ness, perhaps, in recent months, I've seen THE HOST and 300 three times each, and LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA and HARD BOILED twice each.