300

Scott Hardie: “It ruled.”

Apparenlty anyone can take a Frank Miller graphic novel, a modest CGI budget, and a bluescreen and create a visceral thriller that achieves rare heights of spectacular violence. What made Sin City a great film was literate dialogue; this film's script couldn't be more clunky if it tried. ("Only the hard and the strong deserve to be called Spartans. Only the hard. Only the strong.") With enough gore to make you question what a movie has to do to get an NC-17 for violence – it would seem that having multiple slow-motion close-up decapitations isn't enough – 300 is firmly positioned as an adrenaline rush for the young male demographic, and it recouped its budget in the first two days of release, so here's looking forward to next summer's 301. The film is exceptionally good at being what it is, a stylish action picture removed from the laws of physics. You don't have to own a PS3 to love seeing bare-chested men shouting curse words at the cartoonish eight-foot warriors baring down on them, but it sure helps.

− March 18, 2007 • more by Scott • log in or create an account to reply