Holy Crap! (in a good way)

Rating: 8/10 (10 March 2007)

I went in with high expectations considering who was in on this (Frank Miller of Sin City and Comic Book fame). That usually results in me leaving upset at having wasted time and money on some piece of crap. Not in this case! Visually I haven't seen a movie this sweet looking since the first Matrix. The difference; where Matrix was subtle with its green colors inside the matrix and other less than obvious effects to keep us guessing, 300 is just beautiful to watch, look at, and very in your face! There is one GLARING flaw in the cinematography though. Despite the obvious amount of time, money, and effort that was spent making this production appear a certain way they at some point decided to save money on the blood effects. It is so obviously a crude c.g.i. effect that is very poorly done and acts nothing at all what I would think blood would act like. And believe me, there are buckets of blood spewn in this epic. There was also little to no character development. We pretty much get a few minutes of intro into the situation before we start into the "We are Spartans and bow to no man" scenario. The movie could have EASILY benefited from another half hour of screen time in which they introduced and developed some of the characters in more detail. While the movie is in the same vein as Braveheart or Gladiator you just don't care as much for the actors as you would in those movies. Other than the action side there is a chance to develop some political issues as the empire faces impending war. They are torn between whether or not to support the 300 without provocation, or even whether or not to do so at all. Yet this side is hardly delved into despite it being a very big part of the situation. The fact they spent just a bit of time on this side of the story aggravated me as this explained in more detail what was going on than the fights did. Expect some creative license to be taken in this movie. Despite the fact they claim it is based on actual events there are some unbelievable characters, actions, situations. While this is a bit of a negative when someone bases something on reality the movie never comes off as being anything more than a good story, and is even presented as such. Because of this I am not sure if this is a valid complaint but something that stuck with me none the less.
Despite these MINOR issues this was one of the few times I was more than happy to spend $4 for a soda and sit amongst a bunch of strangers (not to mention my brother's driving). This movie was just plain f'ing great and I am going to buy the DVD the second it hits shelves. Spend the few bucks and go see it if you are into these types of movies. Hell...check it out even if you aren't, you won't be disappointed!