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That movie, 300? Saw it yesterday. And ya know what? It ain't half bad!

Posted by clarkjohnsen (R) on April 1, 2007 at 11:19:20

First: Often have I put myself on record as detesting CGI, but here we have a situation where the original work *was* drawn, so CGI -- as an elaborate form of pen-and-ink -- fits in commendably. At least I was never disturbed by that aspect, just as I do not demand filmic realism in my comix.

While I have not read the original, I have thumbed through it, besides which I'm already a fan of Frank Miller; his Dark Knight series is the last word on updated superheroes, and it's terrific. 300 works because it stays true to one man's vision, both literally and figuratively, and that man is Miller.

The director's realization of that vision also makes for great watching. The palette is limited, mostly sepias (for Spartan flesh), grays (for her enemies) and red (for capes and blood). Nor is it anywhere overlit, like most if not all sand & sword epics.

Speaking of which, I endured all of Troy and ten minutes of Alexander; but for me, 300 succeeds simply because of its highly artistic non-reality. On the stage for instance we get swept up into history by a Shakespeare play, we don't need elaborate sets to achieve reality in our minds. The usual Hollywood epics -- well, I've often complained that we seem to have become primarily a moviemaking nation of set designers.

Speaking of character, it was fun to see so many "young people" -- mostly males -- in the theatre being subjected to an actual dramatic experience, where the men are loyal and the women are smart, and not without their own means. Not only that, but half the film is an adagio lead-up to the awaited battle scenes.

Slow motion: I hate that too, but in 300 the fighting features not only short sections of slo-mo, but also of FF. I found it all to be quite balletic and never intrusive, like rubato in a good musical performance where the overall tempo is kept.

A word about the men's brief costumes. They work very much in the spirit of comic books, and the actors move in them most masculinely. The Persians, however -- led by a King Xerxes channeling Jaye Davidson's Ra from Stargate -- in other words, a big fag (if I may), and in this case a *really* big fag -- are completely and conventionally clothed, possibly because they don't want to give Xerxes any ideas.

And yes, the Persians do, helas, prevail -- for the nonce.

Fittingly the film ends with a St.-Crispin's-Day-lite speech:

But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.

Yes, that was the Shakespeare, but what you get ain't half bad.

clark

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