Movie review for 300.

I know I’m late, but I finally got my hands on a copy of 300, the movie everyone’s been talking about for months. I would have seen it sooner, but the day before I went to see it at Paramount’s IMAX was the last day. I missed out on the experience of seeing this film on the huge screen, which would have been stunning.

I’ll spend no time resuming the film, seeing as everyone knows the story or played the above trailer. Three hundred men fight against one million. Enough said.

Simple plot. But extremely effective. I could not look away from the screen for one second. It’s just spectacular. But what draws attention to this movie is not necessarily the story that Frank Miller drew up in his graphic novel, but how it came out on film.

Here’s a quick link to a videos to be watched. I think there’s 11 in that string in total. It resumes how they used the graphic novel basically as a script and details all the elements of creating the film.

What struck me about the film was the details. Everything is well researched and looks authentic. The landscapes that were CGI’ed are absolutely spectacular and breathtaking. The fighting is intense yet never repetitive. You get so absorbed into this (slightly exaggerated) Spartan universe that at the end of the movie, when the soldiers die (not a spoiler), you feel that they die in the highest honour, and are almost happy for them. That is what sets the movie apart. From the beginning, you are drawn into this fantastic world that is, of course, fiction, but could very well be reality.

The only things I disliked about the movie were two, very small details. First of all, the beginning was somehow akward and didn’t feel right; I wasn’t immediately pulled into Frank Miller’s world like I was in Sin City, which instantly made me feel in the movie. The second small detail, which really is small, is the 300 font. It’s almost impossible to read the credits. But that’s extremely minor.

The last thing I’d like to mention is that the film was shot in Montreal and all of the post-production was done in Montreal too, which I find cool.

So the quote:

10/10.

Why a perfect score if there were some things I didn’t like?

Because I would have given it 11/10. The movie is truly a guy movie and is just…no words can describe it. Absolute must-see. As will probably be the upcoming Sin City 2. And all other Frank Miller stories.