300

[rm]

I expected it to be entertaining. I didn't expect it to be good. It's actually really great.

I was worried they wouldn't bring the gay in a historically appropriate manner. Oh, they bring the gay all right. They just also make it clear that everyone (except Xerxes) is a little too busy to be worrying about the gay or you know, anything else besides the obvious.

On the gender front, it's brilliant. Being Spartan is far more important than whether one is male or female. The Queen doesn't fight not because she can't, but because she has a different job to do, and it does that whole "men kill impersonally, women kill personally" thing too. She is badass. But more amazing is that at no point in this watching of a film largely about men was I conscious of not being one. Nor, in watching a film about people more, well, pretty much everything, than me, was I conscious of being less. For a noisy, bloody spectacle, it's a generous film, and it's willing to let you in in surprising ways.

I am also grateful for the film. Because when people say to me, "I don't get why you're so hard on yourself" or "how can you be so hard on yourself?" or "why are you so hard on yourself?" I can say, "because as hard as I am on myself, it is nothing." It's nothing.

When I was in 4th grade, and I first learnt about the Spartans I tried hard to understand how they could really live that way, how it could be true, as opposed to somethign they said until they were actually hurt and in pain. Weirdly, this comic book movie gets close to allowing one to actually grok it.

Also surprising? The acting is amazing. Becase my god, shot on blue screen, ridiculous bombastic dialogue and barely any clothing? And yet you can totally believe in all the crap that comes out of everyone's mouths.

Lots of nervous titters in the first 15 minutes of the movie. It's so bombastic, so huge, and so really damn pornographic at every turn. And then it just shuts people the hell up.

Awesome like woah. And when I'm sober, a real review. Let's just say, there will be zero problem getting up ass early to practice tomorrow. Zilch.

Comments

[ekatarina.livejournal.com]

I am so glad to hear this.

I know I read too many reviews but some of them were not very promising. And not very detailed about the things *I* am interested in.

Ekatarina, for *sure* seeing it tomorrow

[baronalejandro.livejournal.com]

It....it was like being beaten in the face with awesome. It's like watching two porterhouse steaks that were bred on steroids and human growth hormone fight to the death. It kicked more ass than a genetically mutated cyborg T. Rex with a missile launcher strapped to its back. It rocked like a Slayer concert inside a meatpacking plant in Detroit under a full moon on Halloween in the Year Of Our Lord 666 A.D.

[nisaa.livejournal.com]

I can't wait. Maybe I should take the graphic novel off the shelf and read it first?

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I avoid Frank Miller's work so I can't comment about the comic, but the trailers looked fairly disturbing - depicting "orientals" as what looked like pedophilic mutant cannibals, which reminded me unpleasantly of the evil transsexual mutants in The Dark Knight Returns and seriously bothered me for a variety of social and political reasons. However, I also very much trust your judgment - is this film less offensive than it looked to me in the trailers?

well, they are being set up as villians

[haya.livejournal.com]

and you'd have to work hard to make anyone villainous if the heroes throw every imperfect baby into ravines to die and have a Darwinian approach (to put it mildly) to raising their kids.

I can't wait to see this.

[haya.livejournal.com]

My only regret, besides no Greek accents, is that I can't see it on iMax.

[alabastard.livejournal.com]

It's at our IMAX, a must go ...