Thoughts on 300
I've seen this movie a couple times now, and revisited highlights online.
1. Pro gay and gay baiting in the same movie! You've got the extensive beefcake. You've got the good-natured banter between macho warriors teasing each other about being gay. You've got Xerxes, the bad guy, being a painted, effiminate implied queen who keeps insisting, "All I ask is that you kneel before me" and he's always standing. The director admitted this was not accidental. The director said, "What could be more freightening to a 20-year-old male than an 8-foot-tall god-king who wants to have his way with you?"
2. The graphics were pretty seemless, mostly because everything but the actors and a few of the props were CGI. Still, the visuals rocked. The music was standard action fare. The slightly bronze tinted antiqued look of the world helped create a mood.
3. Historical accuracy: Ok, so the "history" is mostly based on the Greek account by Herodotus, which seems biased and exagerated, but allowing for that, here are some nits. The Greek hopolytes had the best armor on the planet at the time. Part of the reason they were so stout against a much larger force was because they had better heavy armor. In the movie, the leather speedos worn were a Hollywood conceit to deliver the beefcake, demonstrate the machismo, and tie into the graphic novel roots. The finely chisled beefcake, on the other hand, probably was accurate. The Greeks obsessed over the perfection of the human form, and the Spartans were fanatics even by Greek standards. Leonidas didn't start the war, but was probably buying time for the other Greeks to reposition.
4. General impression: Lots of fun. Aside from some terse dialogue that serves the action tone, it rocked! As I told my older sister, "300 has something for everyone. There's beefcake for the ladies, and decapitations for the men!"
1. Pro gay and gay baiting in the same movie! You've got the extensive beefcake. You've got the good-natured banter between macho warriors teasing each other about being gay. You've got Xerxes, the bad guy, being a painted, effiminate implied queen who keeps insisting, "All I ask is that you kneel before me" and he's always standing. The director admitted this was not accidental. The director said, "What could be more freightening to a 20-year-old male than an 8-foot-tall god-king who wants to have his way with you?"
2. The graphics were pretty seemless, mostly because everything but the actors and a few of the props were CGI. Still, the visuals rocked. The music was standard action fare. The slightly bronze tinted antiqued look of the world helped create a mood.
3. Historical accuracy: Ok, so the "history" is mostly based on the Greek account by Herodotus, which seems biased and exagerated, but allowing for that, here are some nits. The Greek hopolytes had the best armor on the planet at the time. Part of the reason they were so stout against a much larger force was because they had better heavy armor. In the movie, the leather speedos worn were a Hollywood conceit to deliver the beefcake, demonstrate the machismo, and tie into the graphic novel roots. The finely chisled beefcake, on the other hand, probably was accurate. The Greeks obsessed over the perfection of the human form, and the Spartans were fanatics even by Greek standards. Leonidas didn't start the war, but was probably buying time for the other Greeks to reposition.
4. General impression: Lots of fun. Aside from some terse dialogue that serves the action tone, it rocked! As I told my older sister, "300 has something for everyone. There's beefcake for the ladies, and decapitations for the men!"