300

Here is my review, to read how hyped I was to see this movie, click here.

Here follows my review for Zack Snyder’s film “300″:

Oh my god. . .oh. . .my. . .god. . . oh my god! This film was SO great! And awesome, and sweet, and just plain kick-ass. I cannot describe the coolness of this 117 minutes of celluloid. I cannot think of where to begin with this review, so, I will just basically list off everything cool about it.

Gerard Butler

Here he is, my favorite actor. (After seeing him in ‘Attila’ in seventh grade, awesome movie, too.) Gerard Butler, to me at least, is the ultimate actor with a sword. He kicked ass Attila, he kicked ass as Beowulf, and now he kicks ass as Spartan King Leonidas. What better actor to play the badass general who actually did talk trash to the Persians? Gerard Butler plays a complete badass, cracking jokes about the enemy’s weak army, but he also plays a noble king, who loves his country, his wife, and would die for any of his men. Butler was the perfect man to play this role. Whoever decided to cast him in the film was a genius.

Taking liberties: This movie kicks ass because it takes the historical story and adds wacky and quirky things to it. The awesome visual style was amazing. All the history buffs are butt-hurt that it wasn’t historically accurate. . .so what? I know it’s not either, but I don’t care. I love the visual style. Of course the Persian King Xerxes didn’t walk around practically naked with a whole bunch of jewelry, but it looks awesome in the movie. And the grotesque Immortals were cool villains, who had sweet armor by the way. The addition of rhinos and elephants only the made the Spartan’s seem stronger. It’s like, why not add elephants? I am glad that they did.

The lines: There are some great lines in this film. One of them is on the first day of battle, and Leonidas says to his soldiers: “Remember this day, men, for it will be yours for all time.” I love this line because when you think about it, it IS their day for all time. Of course, the historical lines are awesome as well, like the “Spartans lay down your weapons/Come and get them” as well as “Then we will fight in the shade.” Great dialogue in this movie. One scene with great dialogue is the scene after the first session of killing, where Leonidas eats an apple while his other men kill the dying Persians. I also loved how Xerxes’ voice was synthesized to sound deeper and evil. Very awesome.

The battles:

I think the fighting in this movie is. . .awesome! The film brings you right into the battle, and it somewhat feels like you are actually fighting alongside the Spartans. Like when the Spartans hold the line against the Persains, you feel the power and might of the Persian force smacking into the Spartan phalanx. I love Leonidas’ skills in combat. The scene with the son and that other guy is excellent, with the camera zooming around. The addition of new military forces (Medes, Immortals, Elephants, Rhinos) kept the battles nice and fresh.

The visual style: This movie is freakin’ beautiful. Every shot is graced with the touch of ‘digital grading,’ making it brighter or darker. Every single frame looks like a painting. This film has beautiful visuals and tones of color.

When something is really good in my eyes, like, so good that it is beautiful, my eyes start to water. I have only done this to some compositions of music, and have never done that for a movie. . .until now. Within about ten minutes of the movie, when the Persians come to visit Sparta, my eyes were watering by the sheer beauty of this film. According to the people I saw this movie with, my eyes were wide and my mouth open the whole duration of the movie. Apparently, they were talking to me during the film, and I was just going “uh-huh” and “yea.” I do not remember this at all. I was so sucked into the movie, I did not even realize someone speaking to me. The whole crowd could have been on fire, running about screaming, and I still would be watching this film. After viewing this movie, I wanted to be in eighth grade again with my buddies, fighting in my backyard with plastic swords like we used to. This film’s beauty made me cry and brought up old fun memories with people I haven’t talked to in a long time. This film brought out the little kid in me. . .and I just can’t even contemplate how a film can be so good. Great movie. I love it.