300

ObeyGiant

So the IFF Surprise Film was 300. Not that much of a surprise. The queue was a bigger surprise - jesus, I've never seen anything like that. Even the premiere of the Lord of the Rings movies had shorter queues.

Anyway, 300. I can't say that my experience will be universal, but I was completely floored. Blown away by the visuals, blown away by the story. There were a few jerky moments alright - a lot of the dialogue was hammy and unconvincing, but I found that these were mostly in the parts where the screenwriters actually tried to by historically accurate ("Return with your shield, or on it" being the most obvious). The political sub-plot had real trouble hiding the fact that it existed only as 'filler' and illicited an inappropriate titter from the audience, which only highlighted its awkwardness.

But who cares about this? This movie is about the action sequences and these are what make the movie stand out. Probably not the most epic battles ever filmed, but definitely the most beautiful and balletic. The fact that this was filmed in a warehouse means we never see more than a handful of 'real' people on screen at any one time but the director works this to his favour, giving each individual skirmish an intimacy that would be otherwise lost.

Tremenous stuff. Gives me high hopes for what Zack Snyder can bring to Watchmen.

monkeyfudge

I was there too.

I wasn't expecting much from it as I'm not a big fan of films like Gladiator and Troy.... But this is very enjoyable.... It's a bit silly, but that's not a big problem as the Persians having a bunch of freaks and monsters in their army makes the battle scenes a lot more fun to watch.

The political stuff was just as silly as well.... haha...

I can't believe he was carrying a bunch of Persian coins around in his toga.

But over all the film is completely unrelenting and I was totally gripped through out.

Q_Ball

when is it out on general release? I've been looking forward to this for ages

Trippie

march 9th afaik

ObeyGiant

Oh, and towards the end, during one of Leonidas' last speeches, I noticed a big bald guy with a red mark going down the left side of his face among the Spartans. Nod towards Kratos and God of War?

Jello

It's out March 30th according to Empire and wiki.

supernic

It's awesome!! Action Action Action. I normally get bored in over-long battle scenes where there's just a mish-mash of bodies, but these were brilliant. Nice and slow-mo, it's all about the technique, you can see exactly who is stabbing who and where. sweet.

That queue was weird i thought, why was everyone queuing for a film they already had tix for- is a good seat worth an hour in a queue?? it was like being in England...

qwertplaywert

im still waiting,but know in my heart it will never be made
what im talking about of course,is the greatest comic of all teime, Batman:The Dark kNIGHT Returns

dr.bollocko

Ohmigod ohmigosh ohmigolly.
I have been waiting for this movie since Sin City. I think it will be fantastic. And I am refusing to go to the cinema until this movie is in theatres. That way I won't be on here moaning about how many movies are complete ****e until at least the 30th of march.

The Denouncer

Yes! And he's going on to make Watchmen, the greatest graphic novel ever written? Damn good. Damn well good.

qwertplaywert

aye,i also love watchmen[my second best of all time]............ cant see it making a good movie though for some reason.........

The Denouncer

Well if you take out the sub-plot with the pirates, and focus on the costumed vigilantes, their whole history, the Keene Act, the politics, the flashbacks in the first half, and then the continuing 'mask killer' story for the second half (roughly), then they could probably squeeze it into 3 hours.