Movie Review: The 300

So I saw the 300 last week at the midnight show on the Thursday night. I was with a very large group so I immediately had the impression of about 20 or so people of the movie. I probably enjoyed the movie the least out of the entire group.

What was good about the movie was exactly what was supposed to be good: the action sequences, some of the creatures and the grand battles going on. For example, one of the opening battle shots just depicts the phalanx driving forward by pushing through masses of Persian soldiers. This was an extremely well done sequence and as an added bonus was actually how those soldiers were so good. One of the other good battle shots was when the Persian archers fired a massive number of arrows at the Spartans. The depiction of actually blotting out the sun was excellent as were all the arrows then falling on and around the 300 soldiers.

In general, the visual effects were pretty good. The slow-to-quick stabbings or decapitatings that ended with splotches of blood were really well done...the first time you saw them. Also surprisingly decent were some of the lines. Probably the best line in the whole movie was the "then we'll fight in the shade" line. There were a couple of others that at least showed that there was a human brain behind the screenplay.

There were three main weaknesses in my opinion that led this to be a mediocre to Ok action movie rather than a very good action movie (wasn't getting past that level no matter what). First, the battle sequences were too short a percentage of the movie. The first 60 or so minutes of the movie were not at all action-filled and in fact kind of dragged on. Then, in the midst of the battle you're brought back to the capital for a less than thoroughly exciting subplot. If the movie was 1:30 of fighting it definitely would have been better. In addition, they would have been able to expand some of the potentially more impressive enemies (like the war elephants, or dinosaur rhinoceros thing) that were only in like 30 seconds of the movie.

Second, the battles scenes they did have were all exactly alike. As I said the slow-then-fast stabbings and attacks were really impressive to see the first time, but by the 10th minute of it and 1000th guy killed, I had seen enough of it. If you're priding yourself on being a visually stimulating action movie, you've got to mix up the stimulation to a larger degree. Throw in some different tactics, or at least show each kill somewhat differently.

Third, the writing and acting were just shockingly hollow. There were lots of attempts for the Spartans to give speeches talking about how great democracy was and how proud they were to defend it. I'm impressed and taken with that type of movie-speech as easy as any person i've ever met and none of them worked on me. Part of the problem was that you never bought the characters were fighting for any reason other than they liked killing things and dying with honor, not for any democratic reason related to rights. Moreover, most of the writing was a joke. Some scenes have no other explanation than they actually were seeking comic relief (but seemed like they were just poorly written) like the sex scene or others.

Overall, it was an Ok action movie, nothing more, nothing less. I wouldn't have much interest in seeing it again, which doesn't speak well for the visual effects and would almost certainly not buy it, given the shallow plot and lines. Worth seeing once, but don't expect to be impressed.