Sunday, April 08, 2007

If only Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri were cheering on the sidelines: "300"

You know, "Go Spartans!" The Saturday Night Live cheerleaders? Oh, forget it.

So I manage to get away the other night for a movie for the first time in I don't know when; can't be sure, but I think it's only the second and no more than the third since my daughter was born four months ago. In any case, yeah, I'm not going to Ye Olde Cineplex much these days. But I knew if I found the time, "300" would be the No. 1 choice. I was intrigued from the first trailer, and it seemed a natural for the full big-screen experience. So there I was Friday night, finally following through, and ready for some good old-fashioned gore.

Alas, I was disappointed.

I won't say "300" was bad, because it definitely wasn't. But there's no question that between the story, the action scenes and the filmmaking technique, I was left wanting. I came to this conclusion maybe halfway through, and nothing after that point caused me to shift course. As a result, this post may seem negative, but that's only because I expected more.

The plot: With the god-king Xerxes and his rather large army advancing on ancient Sparta, King Leonidas leads 300 Spartans into battle against more than 100,000 Persians and other nefarious types. Against all odds, how can these bravest of brave warriors possibly prevail?

Pretty simple story, huh? And that's pretty much how it plays out. Oh, we get some hand-wringing and consulting of oracles on the front end, and some manuevering during the protracted (read: several days) battle. But in the end, it's a David-and-Goliath story, complete with amputations, decapitations and all sorts of homerotic overtones. (Enjoy this interpretation.)

Now, I liked all the violence and even the little bit of sex. (Nice choice for your queen, Leonidas.) And the overall few-against-all story is good, too. But here are my problems:

1. The best scenes were in the trailer.
My fault, maybe, for ruining things by watching the trailer, but hey, what was I supposed to do? This just seemed to be one of the worst examples of getting everyone's attention by trotting out all the best stuff, good as it was.

2. My kingdom for some color.
I knew going in this was one of those monochrome deals -- essentially black and white with only isolated color, i.e. the red capes of the Spartans. Still, it started to wear on me a while. I had the same problem with "Gladiator," too. While we're in the genre, say what you want about "Troy," but at least there was more than beige and dark.

3. It's Sparta vs. Xerxes ... we get it.
I'm most torn on this. On one hand, I liked seeing all the different stuff that Xerxes' army threw at the Spartans -- the hail of arrows, the big beasts, the giant, the Immortals, etc. On the other hand, it got a little repetitive, and for some reason the various Spartan answers/strategy didn't do much for me. I don't know, maybe it's just me.

In the end, sure, I'll say I liked "300," but not nearly as much, on first viewing, as "Sin City." For a comic book adaptation, that had more style, zip and cool scenes. Could be that "Sin City" had a few interconnected stories instead of one simple plot. Could be the starpower, with Mickey Rourke and Clive Owen among many fun performances vs. a cast of unknowns in "300." Could be that there were more naked women than shirtless, six-packed men. Maybe I'll appreciate "300" more upon further viewings, but it wouldn't hurt if the DVD extras include a little more queen and a little less man love masquerading as the military.

2 Comments:

At 5:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This sounds familiar. I made it to the theater on Sunday for the first time since my daughter was born and opted for 300.

I enjoyed it because it was about what I expected. It's really just a long rock video--visually impressive and loud. But Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video had a more complex story line and better character development.

 
At 2:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

the above post is a good summary of the movie. never thought of it that way until now. I am surprised Gatorade did not try to throw in product placement even though it is set in ancient Greece.

 

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