I agree with this as well, and I loved this movie: it absolutely met my expectations. Definitely getting it on high def when it comes out.

(2) Persian King Xerxes, played by Rodrigo Santoro as a dressed-to-party skinhead with eyeliner, long fingernails and more piercings and nose rings than you'd find on all of Carson Street. He looks like no one so much as RuPaul.


I think it just looked liked Ru Paul. IMDB does not list RuPaul.

Wow, I just got back from the early show and don't understand the lack of love. Sure it was no Citizen Kane but it wasn't meant to be. It was a balls out action film and in that it succeeded for me beyond my hopes. By far the best action movie I can remember seeing in a theater in years (if you take out the child colored sentimental impact of Star Wars or Indy, I would rank it as the best period).

The story did its job and the acting and dialogue fit perfectly. I read the comic and thought this was a better more fleshed out version. I can't agree with a single nit pic mentioned in this thread and have to wonder what people expected or what biases they brought into the theater with them.

Sitting in the theater I said to myself, "This is worth finally upgrading my DVD player to High Def." And I will before this is released.

I really enjoyed the flick, it was less a movie and more a narrarated live-action version of the graphic novel, but it was still pretty cool.

Not the greatest film ever made, but it was a great way to kill 2 hours and I was kind of sad to see it end.

I don't think the CG was done as well as it could have been in a lot of spots, but it's a minor complaint overall.

It will be hard to evaluate the box office when so may free tickets were dumped at Best buy.

I'd assume at most maybe 500,000 people using movie cash, that'd equate to maybe $5m tops of gross. And that's a very generous estimation.

I know I didn't see a single person use it while in line.

a lot of boobies in the movie, nice

More posturing than an Anime film festival, more nipples than a baby bottle factory, more cheesy dialogue than the collected works of Stephen Sommers, more cheesy monsters than a Gwar concert, more overuse of slo-motion than a John Woo highlight reel, and the most attrocious and patronizing voice over narrative EVER, puts this movie at the top of my list for Mr Jelly's most hated of 2007.

Yes, it features 30 minutes of impressive, illogical warfare, that at times is visually poetic and moving. Yes it features many cgi cuts, amputations, and decapitations, and water-color blood splattering effects meant to mimic the graphic novel. It had at least 3 very funny scenes that I laughed at because I was meant to - those were great!

But here is what it is devoid of:

- Color
300s cold washed out palate is tiresome and ugly - regardless of the few incredibly artisitc and striking shots that we are graced with (these few moments made the rest of the film even more unbearable).

- Characterization.
I could have cared less if any of these characters lived or died - I couldnt tell you anyones name except xerxes and leonidas - I know one guy had a kid and that everyone but leonidas liked to headbang and fight to progressive metal music.

-Emotional impact.
The begining was strong - i did feel engaged - then the battle started, the mutated world of Persia showed up, and I started laughing out loud at scenes that were supposed to be serious. I laughed at the delivery and writing of several lines, and by the end I couldnt take it any more with the empty lines about honor and bravery. It felt like a hollow propaganda movie that terrorists might watch before they go off to commit a suicide bombing in the name of "honor" and defeating "mysticism" and integration into the rest of the world.

-Restraint.
GOOD GOD, Faramir, please shut the FUCK UP! Every single time the movie started to connect with me - fucking Faramir starts narrating over the top of these visuals that were self-explanatory. We know that narration is a no-no even when it gives us MORE information than we can get from the visual sequence, but WTF ZACK SNYDER are you doing having a man tell me what I am already seeing?

"He hears his mean breathing" (men are breathing) "He drops his shield" (he drops his sheild) "The men were celebrating their victory because the day was won" (the stars are coming out and the men are celebrating). etc etc etc. Show dont tell, motherfucker.

-Regular speed film.
This is the worst and the best part of the film all mixed into one. LOVED it during much of the 30 minutes of fighting in the film. HATED during the hour and half of non-fighting. It makes sense that to me that battle scenes are slowed down - that the chaos and brutality is impactful through slow-motion. And it does actually work - as it did some of the time where it was overused in the Passion of the Christ. But when you overdo the slo-mo - as with any joke - if it goes too long - it loses its power. Slo-motion is a powerful visual tool precisley because it is NOT how we see the world - and its the contrastive facet of slo-mo against the rest of film being regular speed, that gives it its power. Why is the queen walking through a cooridor need to be slowed down - she looks and sees her son - this moment makes sense - there is a visual connection between mother and son - she walks through a room - all slo-mo - there is no reason for it that i can find, and at every turn the impact that it does make is undone by its overuse.

Such a strange with so many strange choices. I went in with low expectations - but the strong beginning of the film really captivated me - then something happened - i dont know what - but i think it was a tonal change. The film is very serious and somewhat grounded in reality in the first 35 minutes - then it just goes crazy. All the plans Leonidas lays out at the begining seem like they are dropped - he talks of logic but their fighting on screen, while it starts in the narrow moutain path (nicely mirroring the wolf scene) - it just gets dropped - the men move out into the open battle field leaving their strategery and movie logic behind. Then monsters start showing up, and Xerxes with the funniest voice and the biggest manhands ever shows up and SERIOUSLY SHIT YOU NOT - thought about how awesome this film would be if Mystery Science Theater got its hands on it. The obvious strange sexual reference of Xerxes standing behind Leonidas with his hands on him and saying "I can give you more" isnt whats so funny - its just everything - the enemy is a 12 year olds fantasy, the fantasy of someone who has seen too many Marylin Manson music videos. I wanted to love this film, I wanted movie magic. Instead all I got was the Cheeseburger Juliet gives to Jack on Lost: Surprising and enticing at first, tastey, funny, then totally improbable, ridiculous, and dissapointing.

I forgot to mention one thing - maybe my ovaries were in overdrive, but ALL i felt for the Spartans was pity. They arent heroes - they dont protect the innocent - they BEAT and brutalize their children - they INDOCTRINATE their children - kill them if they are weak, beat them until they are strong, and call it FREEDOM. As part of western society we are always too quick to judge and criticise other cultures for not being our own - we define things as not normal - but i like the way Abnormal Psychology is defined. Abnormality is defined as any behavior that causes harm or violence to befall the individual or others by the individual. THIS IS SPARTA! to quote Leonidas - its an abomination of necromongers who worship death, violence to others, and most of all violence to their own.

Great heroes protect the innocent - the spartans endanger all of Greece. Watching a heroic battle means you connect with the heroe's fight to save something - I didnt laugh when the Cave Troll fights the Fellowship of the ring (I laughed out loud when Leonidas fights the Persian giant-Troll) - it was wonderfull to see the hobbit team work together to survive - to reach a larger goal - to make it to the next challenge - Strider is a HERO - sacrificing his life for a greater dream- Leonidas is a warmongerer who prizes his idiology of death over the salvation of his peoples life. The spartans are the least free people ive ever seen - forced to fight - and mentally enslaved to see and seek only death.

The only true motivation the film gives us is the village burned to the ground in the beginnging and the child who says they came like wolves. But this would have never happened had Leonidas' pride not brought Persia down upon him over "earth and water". I suppose thats like saying WW2 would never have happened if Hitler didnt invade Poland - but I for one would never want to watch a movie about Hitler being a hero for the motherland in his last stand against the allies as they invaded Berchtesgaden and Hitler's mountain-top hideaway. That movie would suck.

The above logic is as broken as the Spartans war strategies on film, so maybe an even better analogy would be - Bush/Xerxes threatens to invade Iraq. Saddam/Leonidas and his army go to their deaths before allowing the force of US/Persia to take over their land peacefully. Maybe in 100s of years they will make a movie like 300 where Saddam is portrayed as a great hero. hopefully its not all in slow motion.

I saw it tonight. I'd give it around an 8 or 8.5 score, something like that. The movie is what it is, and as long as you know what that is in the first place when you go into it, you'll more than likely enjoy it. My only complaint with the movie is, like most others, the story. In theory, it's not a horrible plot or anything, and once it gets going and all of the pieces fall into place it works just fine. My problem is just with the setup. Now I can't say that they totally just jumped into the movie without laying out the story, that just isn't true. They did take the time to try to set up the story, there is a good portion at the start of the film set aside just to do that. My problem with it however is that after they tried to do that, it still didn't feel like they really explained anything. Aside from that first part, I don't have a complaint about the flick. Once it got moving, and you knew where you were heading, it was just pure fun if you ask me.

Near the end, I took the time to take my eyes away from the screen to look around the packed theater, to notice the faces on everyone else. Every single person in the theater was simply transfixed on the screen. The guys looked totally into the film, many with smiles, and many of the women were actually shedding tears over certain parts of the film. I think they have a winner on their hands when it comes to the masses.

Just as a side note, there were three movies at the theater tonight that were totally packed with huge lines. Those three movies were 300, Amazing Grace, and Wild Hogs.

On another side note, what do you guys think of the blood effects in this movie? I for one really like the look of it in most movies that I've seen it in. I think the first movie with this type of specific effect that I noticed it in was Zatτichi (2003). I obviously wouldn't want to see that type of blood effect in every movie, but I've really liked it in all of the ones I've seen use it so far.

I'm not going to get into everything you mentioned - I can't be bothered. I did however just want to repeat part of what someone has mentioned before. Part of the point of the movie was to be a narrarated live-action version of the graphic novel. I personally loved that aspect of the movie. It's not unlike How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and how Boris Karloff/Anthony Hopkins was the narrator of the animated and live action movies of that story.

That's funny, because during the movie I turned to my wife and said "who knew that the King of Persia was an 8' tall Brazilian?"

I liked it but as others have too, laughed at times when I shouldn't. There's a few unintentional laughs. The battles were hella cool, but with out them being super vioent or excessive, why see this movie? This could start a new trend in war, of what I like to borrow from the recent horror movies-war porn.

Seriously. Take away the battles and no one would want to see it. Take away the gore in SAW, who would see it? I love gore to the max, but it was something I thought of during the battles.

Take away that elephant man rogue Spartan and I don't think his scenes would be missed at all.

Grade: B-

Of course it's not RuPaul. I was just jocking as the lame portrayal of Xerxes was one of many things that took me out of the movie.

GreenVulture's review pretty much sums up my feelings about the movie. The visuals were well done, but that's about it. The script was bad, the plot was bad, and the acting was bad. Some of the scenes were so over the top that the audience was laughing (the scenes were supposed to be serious) - ie the doggy style sex scene, the oracle/mutant scene, a leg flying off in slow motion, and how easily the heads came rolling off.

I think they tried to hard to be a graphic novel AND a realistic movie (a la Gladiator/Braveheart) at the same time. It doesn't work. You have to pick one style or the other and stick with it. And I really wanted the narrator to just shut up once in awhile. I'm sure those lines were in the comic book, but in a movie, you get to show a lot more, so you they should've been dropped.

My overall rating is 5.5/10.

Nothing really spectacular IMO. The dialogue especially Leonidas' was as laughable as it was in the trailers. And someone needs to tell Zack Snyder that slomo does not equal drama or epic. Seemed like that's what he was going for every time and accomplished neither. I don't really need to see horse's hooves hitting the ground in slo-mo.

And the rally-the-troops-for-freedom speech was already done and in much better fashion in Braveheart. And yes...."we march...and we march" you don't have to tell me stupid. I'm seeing it.

It was alright. I mean, cool looking. But that's really about it.

It did fine for me for this movie.

I do. It was like viewing a painting come to life.

I actually hope the "slo-mo" does away with the dizzying, 300x zoom, "quick-cut" editing of action scenes in previous films such as Gladiator (battle scene in Germany) and Bourne Supremacy (pretty much any action scene). I couldn't see shit in those movies and it just made me nauseous.

I enjoyed it a lot, but was disappointed overall.

My expectations were just too high I suppose. The action was awesome but there wasn't much besides that. Most of my beefs with the film have already been stated. Too much slo-mo, logical errors, awful dialouge (i'm beginning to think this is a Frank Miller standard), weak characters.

Again, the battle scenes were amazing and since most of the film is battle, it works out ok. Overall I'd give it a B.

I thought the movie was 7/10, visually stunning and entertaining, but nothing I haven't seen before. Mix a little Braveheart and Hero and you get 300.

The slow-mo intercutting was pretty effective, a nice sorta balance between quick brutality and balletic violence. I could've done without the political subplot with the Queen, though most of the audience I saw it with applauded at the climax of that particular plot.

I gotta give credit to the marketers of this movie, they really hit it out of the park.

Pretty much sums up my feelings about the movie right there.

One thing for filmmakers...lets go ahead and stop with the CG blood. It doesn't look at all realistic and it takes me right out of every scene. Do the background in CG...do monsters, do whatever...just don't do blood in CG.

= J

As I said before, I think that type of blood effect looks awesome in certain movies. It worked in this once, since it's really not more than a live action graphic novel, and it works in some others as well. I even enjoyed it in Zatτichi.

I wouldn't want to see it in a normal war movie, or a more serious movie based on the 300 story, but the look does work for certain movies.

in the book, as soon as stelios jumps forward and kills the one persian (the guy requesting that leonidas lay down his spear), all of the persian archers open fire. leonidas is being hit with multiple arrows as he's throwing his spear. so of course it makes more sense that he might miss slightly. not sure why they omitted that from the movie. it makes more sense.

The rhino scene wasn't in the book... but I liked the rhino scene. But I hated the "fat guy with knives for hands". Not that this is supposed to be a completely historically accurate movie or anything, but the events did actually happen. that scene brought the movie into the fantasy realm, even though it was a short scene. I can buy rhinos and elephants, and even giants (just one big dude), but that knife-hand character sucked.

As far as comparisons to other epics - No way this was better than any of the LOTR movies, or braveheart and gladiator. Best fight scenes? I can maybe see that, but certainly not best epic movie ever. In my opinion, an epic movie has to convey emotion, or an emotional attachment to the characters. 300 had the potential to do this, but I think that aspect of the movie fell flat.


the entire council sub-plot was added for the movie as well. I understand that they needed to add something to make the movie longer, but those scenes simply stalled the movie.

ha ha, it wasn't ruPaul, for the one or two that thought it was. the review simply made that comment as a joke. Xerxes was played by Paulo.

I liked it; it was like a film version of an Epic Poem (many years ago, these people went to do something heroic and now they are all dead). I didn't necessarily agree with all the ideals of the Spartans, but I understood the story from their viewpoint, which is, I think, what the film went for; it didn't seem couched in any modern day political bullshit. I agree that some of the narration could have been dropped, mostly earlier in the film, but later on it really paid off by having the narration there.

I couldn't really get behind this movie after awhile. It took about an hour for the first big fight scene, and it only lasted about 6 minutes. Although there were some nice nipples in that first hour. At least I got to use my free movie cash for it.
As I feared going in, the CGI was too much, and at some points it really took away from the film as it looked so fake/artificial especially blood loss.
The story was OK, the action/fight scenes were pretty good.

But, to my big surprise the local mall/Carmike Theater is now sporting DLP DIGITAL PROJECTION. I usually avoid this place like the plague because normally the picture and sound are crap. But I was astounded by the sound and picture, it was so awesome. It was only the 2nd movie I've seen on digital. I think I'll go tomorrow and catch something else.

You guys need to lighten up. It was a freakin' kick ass movie!!

I'm going again! tonight to see it on IMAX now