“300” review in half as many words
This movie kicks more heathen ass than I have time to craft a clever metaphor for. See it now, right away this weekend, on the big screen. Crazy sexy, luridly violent, over-the-top melodramatic, this flick is a swords & sandals epic for the ages, with more than a few allegorical interpretations to the mess our country is in today. I think right-wingers and left-wingers both could leave the theater convinced their belief structure had been validated.But my advice is leave your politics and prejudices at the door and just dig the film craft on display here. Let’s hope this movie’s success gives the director enough clout that his next project, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ immortal “Watchmen” will make it to the big screen unmolested by Hollywood-Suit micromanaging.
posted by Fang Bastardson at 7:26 AM
4 Comments:
I just saw this Sunday afternoon. Really enjoyed it, though the ending was a bit confusing. I was expected a little note on the screen providing a little more context. Like the outcome of the battle of Plataea, which they were about to fight (w/a full host of those superstitious Spartans.)
Also, were the Persians really such a freak show? Or is this just more of the same kind of exoticism that has characterized the "Oriental" place in the Western Imagination? Serious, if there weren't a real Orient, the "we" -- the West -- would have had to invent one, and in fact we did anyway.
You are absolutely write about the movie providing fodder for both the left and right, but those seeking to draw historical parallels do so at their own risk. Then again, how can you not think of the current political climate when you're watching a depiction of one of the first encounters between East and West?
By the way, there's a great discussion of the Battle of Thermopylae (as well as other battles, such as Marathon) at BBC. It's about 1/2 hour. (I wish NPR was half as good as the BBC):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20040205.shtml
8:34 AM
Sorry for the bizarre proofing errors above, you can thanks Google's annoying new log-in protocols.
Grrrrrrrrr.
8:42 AM
I always write my shit in Word, spellcheck on, then copy and paste into the blog thing.
Also, I use Firefox, and haven’t encountered any new log-in protocols. If you don’t have Firefox as an option on your computer, you should.
I’ve run into all kinds of problems leaving comments for people who have “upgraded” to Blogger beta. My browser doesn’t display the secret gibberish word gif anymore. Hmmm... Maybe I should try another browser with those troublesome blogger beta sites...
Anyhow, I would expect the movie to be riddled with historical inaccuracies and just plain made-up stuff (like the deformed mutants). It was slavishly recreated from its source material, which in this case was a weird, experimental graphic novel by Frank Miller who cites his source material as a 1962 Hollywood version whose Big Name Star was Richard Egan. Yes, that Richard Egan, of Richard Egan Who? Fame.
11:48 AM
Actually, I believe the guy in the picture on this post was also at the anti-Bush rally of the previous post...
11:53 AM
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