300

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The twelve-year old boy in me wants to go to watch this film. That was probably the age I still thought that this Miller guy makes some good stories.

Miller's a decent comic book artist, and that's it. Anything he's ever done is impressive, not because of the storyline, not because of the characters which are all caricatures, but because he's good at drawing, and he's good at capturing motion into the squares of a comic book. His stories do have a good rhythming, which was totally screwed over in Dim Sh..ty - the movie.

To be perfectly honest, Miller's almost brilliant at making caricatures. At this time they should make a movie about Big Guy and Rusty the Robot Boy. But works like 300 make you think that maybe Miller wasn't being satirical in that one either. Or, the other option is that this whole shebang's just part of that irony, people looking at those spartans with awe and completely ignoring what the history tells us about them because on the screen it looks cool. If you'd want to intellectualize it and still think good about it, I'd think of 300 like the Starship Troopers of the Ancient Greece, but I wouldn't put my money on that being the intention of the film...

 

Actually I've never been a fan of Miller's art, but I have to disagree in your assessment of his writing abilities. The stuff he did for Daredevil's orgin was pretty good. Also, his Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is still hailed as one of the best Batman stories ever. Those last lines before his heart gave out when he was kicking Superman's ass are still cool.

 

Well, he does have his moments, he's proven to be good at re-creating something new out of old ingredients, and he's certainly not the worst writer in the history of comic-books, but it takes more to be a great writer than a hat full of good ideas. I think he could make one heck of a screen adaptation out of someone else's story, but it has always seemed to me that all in all his stories are a bit like teflon coating on a frying pan. Tough stuff, but scratch the surface a little and it's useless. I guess in that same sense the lightness of the product goes with the picture; it might be high quality in appearance, and it'll fry your eggs as long as it lasts, but it's still not the most enduring stuff that people have came up with.

Now Sin City and 300 do look great. Great scenes. And the same goes with all of Miller's work, like The Dark Knight Returns for instance. And it's not that he even should make deeper stories...well, of course I'd love to see that, but it's not going to happen...

Sure as anything it'd be a blast if anything looking as good as his work would have a lot more depth in it. But I do have to say that what with other movies and comics of the same genre, he does stand out just fine with his work, since it's not the lightest brain-candy around either.

 

Ah yes, some cases-in-point of such comic-movie adapations would be Ghost Rider and Hulk Which genius gave the greenlight to those ideas :/

I've heard rumors of a Watchmen movie though. That could be awesome with the right cast and director. Alan Moore's reached nearly mainstream popularity since V for Vendetta came out I think.

 

Moore was pissed about V for Vendetta he's even angrier about The Watchmen.

 

Rumors nothing. It's underway, and the director of 300 is its director. There was, in fact, a shot of Rorschach embedded in one of the 300 trailers as a teaser of sorts.

 

@Amaster

really? awesome. who did they cast for the roles?


Yeah I heard that he didn't like how they cut a lot of stuff out. Personally though I think they did a hell of a job cutting out all that stuff. Imo the way they handled the death of Creedy and Sutler in the movie was way better than in the comic.

My favorite lines in the movie.

 

Moore was pissed off with V for vendetta primarily because:

a) The story was updated to reflect the current political climate in the U.S. (whereas the comic satirised Thatcher's Britain)

b) The dish 'eggy in the basket' does not exist in England (at least under that name)

Now, call me a heathen, but I think he should have given the film a chance...

The Watchmen have not been cast yet.

 

Well, as always I'm too cheap and misanthropic to go see this in the theater, but I'll be renting it ASAP.

But I read a little webcomic that also has 'rant'blogs from the author (and other people), and one day he posted this :

 

Ack! Fingered by the Fingerman! Gotcha Beren, no more derailment.

 

Well, just saw it. Well, it was solid, awesome action. Very good for any fans of gory hack n' slash movies. Some things were pretty weird, but I would still watch it gladly again.

 

I think anyone who doesnt like this movie is trying to make it something its not.

Its art, and its a comic book, thus it is NOT going to historically accurate, it is NOT going to be politically correct (why does everything need to be?), and if you want a serious expose on the workings of ancient sparta, you are definitely in the wrong place.

I enjoy history enough to prefer watching the history channel to mtv and the like (at age 22). I get irritated when the makers of the titanic movie refused to make the captain of the ship behave as the real captain did - that is, not be such a fool. I get annoyed when movies like Sunshine are made based on a premise that is false.

Yet when you go into this movie, you need to forget all of your education and expectations. you need to watch it as a movie and only as a movie. if you believe yourself to be too erudite to do so, go elsewhere to find entertainment, or better yet edutainment.

If you do so, I think you will enjoy it, cos I thought it was flipping great.

 

Saw it on Thursday, great movie. Loved all the action scenes and the special effects were top notch. Cant wait for it to come out on DVD, was one fo the best films I've seen for a while.

 

Proteus: You can turn your argument around. All those who like the movie are just dazzled by the visuals and cannot look behind them.

I don't care if the movie is not historically correct. It's just bad. Dumb story, no acting, taking itself too seriously, just looking to be cool. You can compare it with Van Helsing or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Just specials effects and nothing else makes a bad movie. Mix in a political message very easy to understand, and you got a very bad movie.

By the way: Art always has some meaning. Saying that 300 is only a mindless action flick, you fail to see the message Miller wanted to communicate: You got to fight for your right to party... er freedom. (I believe the word 'freedom' falls even more times in 300 than in Braveheart.)

Even the second and third Rambo movie had a message, and they were bad (in parts because of it).

 

except for the fact that miller wrote the story in 1998 and is a big critic of the current us goverment i can clearly see him making US propaganda

that it suddenly get money to be produced now i can on the other hand see as a bit of a coincedent.

but imho its a damn entertaining movie, great oneliners all the way and beautiful visual effects. and i didn't find the acting bad.

as he said: the idea behind 300 was to make a story showing how the spartans would tell it, which i think he succeded in, both in the comic and in the movie

 

Well I dont see it as a bad movie. I dont see the story as dumb, I dont think the acting was brilliant, but it was good enough.

I think it is art, but what kind of art? I dont look to it for morals or messages, and I dont think you should. the message portrayed I think gives the decisions in the story more meaning, but I know they were thin.

still, I maintain, when you go to see a movie like this, dont expect anything intelligent, for you wont see it. but if you go there looking to have fun, you probably will.

 

I agree with Proteus the films is just somebody's representation of an event, it uses a historical event for its foundation but the same film could have been just as easily made in the D and D universe, or the Star Wars universe. The director even states:

"300 is an opera, not a documentary. That's what I say when people say it's historically inaccurate". He goes on to state that the film is, at its core "a fantasy film." He also describes the film's narrator, Dilios, as "a guy who knows how not to wreck a good story with truth."

To get the most out of this film you need to view it as a fantasy piece, without relating it to the actual events or judging it with modern day political correctness.

 

Oh please, the only motivation for making the film now was to make money. Sin City did well so the instant reaction was what else of Miller's can we put on screen.

 

Equester, I didn't say anything about Miller making propaganda for the current US government. I critizized his overall banal politcal message.

Proteus, if I want to turn of my brain when watching a movie, I want one that doesn't take itself so serious and one that doesn't stretch the alleged 'cool' scenes to the point where it hurts.

Take 'From Dusk till Dawn' for example. An hilarious movie, and a very violent one. But the violence is so over the top that no one can take it seriously. Combine that with a fast paced story (that '300' lacks) and well written, funny dialogues (which '300' has far too few), and you have a good movie.

Another good example are the two 'Bad Boys' movies. I loathe Michael Bay's work with a passion, and both films aren't really good. But I like to watch them anyway, because you can see that the two main actors had a lot of fun at work.


If Zack Snyder thinks '300' is an opera, I have to say that it lacks almost everything what a opera makes interesting: the music, the singing and the big drama.