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Saturday, March 10, 2007

Badasses Being Badass

300 is finally here, and it is amazing. I had great expectations for the movie, and I was not disappointed in the slightest.
First of all, 300 is a beautiful movie. It's so visually arresting you can't help but stare at the screen, blown away, trying to take everything in. The colors, the textures, the backgrounds, the costumes: it's a feast for the eyes.
The action sequences -most of the movie- are out of this world. Perfectly choreographed and heavy on slow motion, it's surprising a movie with so much violence, death, severed limbs and splattering blood could be so incredibly gorgeous. Yet it is.
The themes in 300 are also fantastic: doing what's right, standing up to the tyrant, fighting for freedom, taking solace in the fact that you are doing what's right despite the consequences. Who could not be moved by this?
The characters are compelling and likeable, but I wish they had been developed a bit more. King Leonidas is well drawn, but I would have liked to get to know Dilios, Stelios and Astinos better. They are cool characters, and it would have been nice had they had more lines in the movie.
The monsters in the Persian army are creepy and therefore fantastic. You want them to die because of the corruption and evil they represent. But they're so much fun to behold: tusks, fangs, sores, deformities, bloodthirst… What's there not to like?
The bloodthirst, though, is not exclusive to the invaders. The Spartans are killing machines, eager to have a good and glorious death. This movie is not for the squeamish: think of all the violent, bloody movies you've seen, and multiply that times ten. Braveheart and Gladiator are movies for kindergarteners compared to 300. Then again, the movie is based on a comic book by Frank Miller, so that hardly comes as a surprise.
So go see the movie, and have a blast with it. But see it on the big screen. I have a feeling a lot of the magic is going to be lost when you watch it on DVD on your home TV. Maybe this is the perfect excuse to get one of those 140-inch screens. Now that's a thought...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

A ver cuando la estrenan en las españas.Bye semental. Tu macho picanyero. jose luis

Mario Alba said...

Hahaha. Gracias por visitarnos, José Luis! Y bienvenido a Sunny Jhanna. Espero que vuelvas y nos dejes mensajes :)
Y ya me dirás qué te parece la peli cuando cruce el Atlántico. A mí me ha encantado.

huitzilin said...

A student of mine sent me a message today telling me how cool this movie is. Which is odd, considering that this is not the type of movie that one sees and thinks, "Hmm, I should tell Lori about this." (Am I right?)

Alberto is applying full pressure to persuade me to go. I think I may consent, as long as we can wait until Tuesday (día del estudiante).

Hmmph.

Mario Alba said...

You're totally right, Lori. I'm not sure this is the kind of movie you would like. Actually, I'm pretty sure this is the kind of movie you don't like at all. But Alberto is going to LOVE it, so I hope you guys go, and he enjoys it and you... hmmm... you think of how hot the Spartans are :)

Nash said...

Lo que no entiendo de esta peli..y en definitiva del comic, es por que no hicieron una pelicula historica, de por si la historia es impresionante, que 300 spartanos parasen el tiempo suficiente a miles de persas para que se puediese organizar un ejercito y derrotarles es increible, pero como dice Mario, hay que ir a verla.

Mario Alba said...

Supongo -y no he leído el cómic- que Frank Miller estaba más interesado en la acción y temas como el honor, etc, que en una recreación fiel de los hechos. Pero como no soy Miller, no lo sé. Pero la peli es una pasada.

Dr. Banting said...

Tengo ganas de verla, la verdad. Como ya he dicho en el blog de Alberto, el comic me gusta bastante pero no especialmente por el guión o el dibujo sino mas bien por el color, su intensidad, su textura, su gama cromática...

Creo (he visto algun making off) que han sabido trasladar muy bien ese aspecto del comic al film. Y espero que en cuanto al montaje, sea algo mas que un videoclip de dos horas.

PD. ¿Alguien sabe algo mas de la adaptacion cinematografica de Watchmen?

Mario Alba said...

Pese a que se me tilde de hereje, a mí nunca me ha gustado cómo dibuja Frank Miller. Me gustan su narrativa, sus encuadres, y sus juegos de luces y sombras; pero los dibujos en sí siempre me han parecido mediocres.

Con respecto a Watchmen, lo último que he escuchado fue el martes. Básicamente, parece que el éxito de "300" ha hecho que el director entre a saco en el proyecto. Puedes leer la noticia aquí:

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/
post/674023/
300_Helps_Watchmen_Film.html

Anonymous said...

Yo también tengo ganas de verla. No he leído nunca a FM, así que no puedo opinar demasiado, pero a juzgar por el trailer, si hay algo que esta película cuide, eso es la estética. Igual que Sin City, que ya tuvo su éxito. Hay que aprovechar el filón mientras dure.

Mario Alba said...

Pues sí. Además, todo lo que sea expandir el número de lectores de comics es siempre bien recibido. Y aumentar su prestigio y atractivo. Todo el mundo a leer comics!