Sometimes a movie takes itself so seriously that in spots it ends up going the other way and gets a little silly...Cue 300!
Don't get me wrong, it's visually a stunning movie, but c'mon... it gets a little silly from time to time...
From the cast of Spartans looking at times like they're posing for some superhero supermodel stripper beefcake calendar and the slightly bondage themed attire of their allies the Arcadians to all the weird and wonderful inhabitants of the Persian army and their random crew (A goat headed man playing a sitar? What the hell was that about?)... and the occasional chewing of the scenery...
Like I said though, it's visually spectacular... from the limited colour palette (scarlet, blue, gold, white and black) to the gorgeous battle choreography, it really is a feast for the eyes. And I liked the fact that even though there's a fair amount of blood splattered around (okay, a LOT of blood), they actually didn't use the scarlet colour for it, instead they kept the scarlet only for the Spartan cloaks and dulled all the blood down to almost black.
It was a very... "boy" movie, I guess... lots and lots and lots of testosterone flying around on screen (not to mention in the theatre itself)... and more six packs than a string of bottle shops in fact... not that you can really ever have too many six packs in a movie... although, I have to say, if it was possible, then 300 definitely would be the movie that would push the limit. But even with all that testosterone, or maybe because of it, the single female lead, Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo more than holds her own in every single scene she's in, and in come cases, actually outclasses the boys.
It was also interesting to see who popped up in what roles, especially given all the CGI and, I assume, prosthetics and makeup and suchlike... Rodrigo Santoro (last seen, at least by me, as the surfing bad guy in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle) makes a wonderfully stylish and slightly drag queen-eske Xerxes... I mean, for someone with that much gold jewellery hanging off them, not to mention the eyeshadow, shaped eyebrows and lipstick, he definitely makes it work for him. And it seems like Vincent Regan is fond of playing second banana in sword and sandal epics, since he was Brad's right hand man in Troy, and plays a similar kind of role in this movie. Of course, my pick for yummy Spartan hotness points goes to Tom Wisdom as Astinos... the phrase "with a spoon" definitely applies.
I will say that given the aforementioned Spartan outfits and Xerxes' gold speedo and all the weird and wonderful other outfits that show up (look out for the hunchback's hat late in the movie), this was definitely a movie where I was both loving Michael Wilkinson's costume design, but at the same time wanting to slap him because in places it was just distracting (particularly the Spartan's leather speedos).
I suppose in truth, if I had to blame anyone it would have to be Frank Miller, since the whole thing was based on his graphic novel rather than a large amount of historical accuracy, and the costumes are based on his original drawings... but with that much beefcake on display, who can really complain too much. Plus, like I said, it was a highly visually stunning movie... it just maybe needed to not take itself quite as seriously as it did...
yani's rating: 3 Spartan Kings out of 5
1 comment:
See I went into the theater expecting to hate this movie. I really did. I ended up liking it a lot. You're right that it was more theatrical than historical (and no I don't know what the hell was up with the goat-headed guy), but I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the blood, because it reminded me of the world before political correctness. I also really liked Xerxes' voice.
It was fun :)
Post a Comment