"300" Review

No, I didn't throw a perfect game in bowling and I haven't put on a few pounds. The new epic film, "300", was released on video today and my brother told me I HAD to see it. He's staying over for a few days, so he rented that, along with "Hot Fuzz" (excellent, by the way) and "The Pathfinder" (can't say I'm too interested in seeing that). I will admit right off the bat that the epic genre is probably my least favorite in all of cinema. While there is at least one film I find to be of quality in every other genre, including romance, western, war, foreign, indie, sci-fi, drama, comedy, romantic comedy, psychological thriller, horror (depending on how one defines it, I guess), and others, there is not one epic film that I've viewed that's blown me away. So, I honestly can't say that I started viewing the film tonight with a lot of optimism, but my brother along with a few others I know, have raved about it, while some others I know haven't put such a positive spin on the picture.

Alright, let me start out by saying if you enjoy battle scenes, constant action, a fairly quick pace, little to no storyline (aka: a popcorn flick), etc., then I definitely would recommend this movie to you. It's really quite simple. For those that love their "guy" flicks, this is for you and for those that don't, then you may want to pass.

As is typical with me and epic films, I just couldn't get into this. The acting was very subpar, there was little to no plot or storyline, and there were more blood and boob scenes than there were words spoken through the dialogue. However, I will give "300" some credit for attempting to put a contemporary spin on the epic genre. Some of the visuals were stunning. The music used throughout the film varied between classic epic and more modern adrenaline-pumping rock. Some editing tricks were used as well. As if watching a football game, slow motion and close-ups were used, especially during the battle scenes. For "300" being a bit different than most epic films when it came to some of the visuals and audio, I will give it some credit, but I also believe that the creators got a bit carried away with the slow motion. I thought it was a neat little concept at first, but it was used in abundance and got old pretty quickly.

For those that felt this was an Iraq War recruiting video, I honestly didn't catch that vibe from watching the film, and I'm as anti-war as anybody. Only toward the very end did I catch a few lines where I could see it as being symbolic of such a thing.

The producers did not throw a perfect game with "300" as I've heard some suggest, but with some contemporary updates, it did put a bit of a new twist on the epic genre. While I will probably never see the movie again, I don't feel that it was a waste of my time either.

Grade: 5/10 - A typical epic film when it came to acting, gore, plot, and storyline, but added some contemporary twists in the audio and visual to make it stand out a bit from the rest. It was slightly better than I had anticipated, but by no means do I plan on seeing it again.