EP Review: 300

[Russell Nash]

EP Review: 300


A film by Zack Snyder.

Reviewed by Jonathon Sullivan.


Download the Escape Pod Review.

[Michael]

Odd, my podcast download was truncated at just under 5 minutes.  That has never happened before.   

[SFEley]

Odd, my podcast download was truncated at just under 5 minutes.  That has never happened before.   

Try it again -- the upload had been accidentally cut off, and Sully's posted a corrected version.

[Bdoomed]

Best. Movie. Ever. heh...
Great review, tip of the hat to Mr. Sullivan!
For a movie about one battle, this is about as great as they can get it.  They couldve dragged out some of the scenes, but i feel like this movie really hit the nail on the head.  No i didnt walk away with anything but honestly for a movie like this, that was the least i was expecting of it.  I was really just expecting a testoterone/adrenaline pumping action movie with sweet effects and lots and lots of dead bodies... and... well... thats just what i got!

[Thaurismunths]

This is defiantly a popcorn movie.
Larger than life, gory, violent, and almost touching.

Fun movie, but I'm afraid I got hung up on a fault probably created while editing:

<SPOILER>
The hunchback tells the king about the goat trail.
The king tells the hunchback to 'piss off' after lecturing about how important the use of a phalanx is, and that every man must be able to protect those next to him.
He comes down the mountain and says 'I sure do hope no one tells the enemy about the one thing that could destroy us.'

Was he just not paying attention?
(...and this is me not commenting on their tactics.)

[jqstave]

Have you guys seen THIS review of 300?

http://www.draconicsavant.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=504

[Thaurismunths]

Have you guys seen THIS review of 300?

http://www.draconicsavant.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=504

"I can’t spoil the plot because THANK GOD THERE ISN’T ONE. Just ass kicking that kicks ass that, while said ass is getting kicked, is kicking yet more ass that’s hitting someone’s balls with a hammer made of ice but the ice is frozen whiskey."

*L* Wow. Whomever wrote this has some serious creative talent.

[Bdoomed]

hahaha. okay i have a new favorite review.
That review was friggin hilarious!

[gifo]

Didn’t anyone else feel the review was a little over the top in its political stance? The analysis of the movie's political slant sounds solid enough, but the reviewer went a couple of steps too far towards partisan presentation of his own views, IMO.

Regardless of whether or not I share his views, BTW.

[torchape]

Yes, I did. I guess I am getting a bit saturated with that sort of thing from every direction I turn. I had hoped to hear a movie review, not a lockstep diatribe identical to countless repetitive blogs common to adolescent Neo-adults. Using a lame stretch to compare Bush and his administrative problems and assuming war is the primary hobby for all conservatives simply shows Mr. Sullivan’s ignorance. And Neo-con is a meaningless word ignorantly used by the many Neo-dems who, in their neonatal extrusion from their sequestered world, suddenly realized there are other viewpoints out there. Next time, tell me about the movie instead of ruining your credibility by repeating the neo-talking points contained within a narrow band of neo-aspersions.

[Thaurismunths]

Yes, I did. I guess I am getting a bit saturated with that sort of thing from every direction I turn. I had hoped to hear a movie review, not a lockstep diatribe identical to countless repetitive blogs common to adolescent Neo-adults. Using a lame stretch to compare Bush and his administrative problems and assuming war is the primary hobby for all conservatives simply shows Mr. Sullivan’s ignorance. And Neo-con is a meaningless word ignorantly used by the many Neo-dems who, in their neonatal extrusion from their sequestered world, suddenly realized there are other viewpoints out there. Next time, tell me about the movie instead of ruining your credibility by repeating the neo-talking points contained within a narrow band of neo-aspersions.

I think someone could use a neo-nap.

Ok. Let me self-sensor.^{^censor}
That was really rude of me. Sorry torchape.

edit:(ugh... let this post be self-evident of my own diminished brain capacity)

[DKT]

I've heard a lot of Sullydog's reviews on Escape Pod and there's often some kind of political analysis (see both reviews for the Island and Superman Returns) inside them.  That just seems to be the way he rolls and even though I don't always agree with what he says, I've gotten used to it. Actually, I don't think that's too uncommon in film reviews in general. Calling Leonidas a "pussy" when compared to George W. Bush was a Lol moment.

[Thaurismunths]

Lets try this again...

Yes, I did. I guess I am getting a bit saturated with that sort of thing from every direction I turn. I had hoped to hear a movie review, not a lockstep diatribe identical to countless repetitive blogs common to adolescent Neo-adults. Using a lame stretch to compare Bush and his administrative problems and assuming war is the primary hobby for all conservatives simply shows Mr. Sullivan’s ignorance. And Neo-con is a meaningless word ignorantly used by the many Neo-dems who, in their neonatal extrusion from their sequestered world, suddenly realized there are other viewpoints out there. Next time, tell me about the movie instead of ruining your credibility by repeating the neo-talking points contained within a narrow band of neo-aspersions.

I am surprised by your view of the review. I'm not big on politics, though I have my opinions, but don't feel the need to express them publicly or forcefully. That said, I'm not offended when someone does so in a serious, humorous, or impassioned way (What can I say? Leonidis  is a pussy.), but flaming someone in to the ground, over a movie review, because their ideas clash with your ideas, seems to me like you're taking it way too personally.

[Anarkey]

Ok. Let me self-sensor.
That was really rude of me. Sorry torchape.

Heeehee!  I love that typo

[torchape]

I do take it personally sometimes when the rhetoric is mimicked (sp?) so profusely. I think political discussion has its place and, in my opinion, a movie review is not the place unless there is an obvious message or comparable characters involved. Mr. Sullivan may roll that way, but then it is obviously personal to him. Nothing wrong with that or my response to it. If I can wait long enough, maybe in 2008, everything will suddenly be better.

[Bdoomed]

Okay um... torchape...
Sullivan specifically refutes the whole "Leonidus as Bush" idea.
"But, honestly, the whole George Bush as King Leonidus doesn't work for me"
This political discussion has been going on for a while, ever since the movie came out.  Sullivan just expresses his opinion on this debate.  He did not instigate it.  I think you are overreacting... a lot.

[torchape]

I think someone could use a neo-nap.

LOL

[torchape]

Sullivan specifically refutes the whole "Leonidus as Bush" idea.
"But, honestly, the whole George Bush as King Leonidus doesn't work for me"
This political discussion has been going on for a while, ever since the movie came out.  Sullivan just expresses his opinion on this debate.  He did not instigate it.  I think you are overreacting... a lot.

You're right. I am overreacting. I said before there is a saturation point. When Sullivan said the difference between the two is that Leonidus didn't bravely stay back and direct the war from afar but got right into the thick of it, I decided to jump right in. The jab was at Bush, not the political discussion. I said what I said and we go on.

I still want to see the movie.

[SFEley]

Hey guys -- subsquent political comments after this point have been split off and moved to a thread called Neoconservatism in the miscellaneous board.

This isn't punitive or anything; I don't think anyone was crossing any lines of respect for others.  I just felt it was going too far afield from discussion of the movie or the review.

[Roney]

Didn’t anyone else feel the review was a little over the top in its political stance?

Yes, and I'm not even American.

There's a whole thesis backing up this comment but it should probably stay in the drawer.

[Planish]

I dunno. I took the comparisons to Bush as strictly tongue-in-cheek satire.

Even so, no mass-appeal movie is made in a vacuum. The real-world political situation is one of the things that serves as a context and/or subtext.
In the '50s, the Cold War and the Red Scare was the environment for producing a lot of alien invasion flicks, esp "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".
The late '60s/early '70s spawned a lot of anti-war/protest movies in response to the war in Viet Nam, even if Viet Nam was never even mentioned.
The '40s and '50s Noir movies were a result of guys who had been to WWII and came back to find the world different.

So, it is totally appropriate at least to mention stuff like that in a movie review, as long as the reviewer doesn't point to it and try to use it as support for the correctness of their own POV.

[Unblinking]

So... did the army of 300 really fight the entire battle wearing only BVD's?  (The little known name of the battle is the Battle of Red Skivvies)  Cuz that seems like a questionable battle tactic, especially when severely outnumbered.

I kind of liked the image style I saw in the previews, and I liked Sin City's style a lot, but it just didn't seem like it would be my kind of movie.

[Scattercat]

So... did the army of 300 really fight the entire battle wearing only BVD's?  (The little known name of the battle is the Battle of Red Skivvies)  Cuz that seems like a questionable battle tactic, especially when severely outnumbered.

I kind of liked the image style I saw in the previews, and I liked Sin City's style a lot, but it just didn't seem like it would be my kind of movie.

It's pretty hilarious on the unintentional homo-eroticism angle.  Otherwise it's basically a bunch of jump-cuts and slo-mo.  The Rifftrax was fun, though.

[Unblinking]

So... did the army of 300 really fight the entire battle wearing only BVD's?  (The little known name of the battle is the Battle of Red Skivvies)  Cuz that seems like a questionable battle tactic, especially when severely outnumbered.

I kind of liked the image style I saw in the previews, and I liked Sin City's style a lot, but it just didn't seem like it would be my kind of movie.

It's pretty hilarious on the unintentional homo-eroticism angle.  Otherwise it's basically a bunch of jump-cuts and slo-mo.  The Rifftrax was fun, though.

Haha, nice.

What's Rifftrax?

[DKT]

So... did the army of 300 really fight the entire battle wearing only BVD's?  (The little known name of the battle is the Battle of Red Skivvies)  Cuz that seems like a questionable battle tactic, especially when severely outnumbered.

I kind of liked the image style I saw in the previews, and I liked Sin City's style a lot, but it just didn't seem like it would be my kind of movie.

300 is...interesting. It's very manly and testosteroney and has some issues, but if you want to watch an epic graphic cartoon-style battle, there's nothing else really like it. It's completely ridiculous and oversexed in every way everything Frank Miller's done in the last 20 years (everything I've seen, at least). So if you thought visual style of Sin City was cool, you might dig this. And like Sin City, it does have some great lines.

But IMO, it's far from a great movie.

[eytanz]

What's Rifftrax?

Rifftrax is a group that does MST3K-style commentary soundtracks for movies, that you can download and play while watching. I've only heard one or two but they're pretty good.

http://www.rifftrax.com/

[Unblinking]

What's Rifftrax?

Rifftrax is a group that does MST3K-style commentary soundtracks for movies, that you can download and play while watching. I've only heard one or two but they're pretty good.

http://www.rifftrax.com/

Ooh, that sounds cool!  I hadn't heard of such a thing.  I loved MST3K, so I shall have to check that out.

[Scattercat]

It's all the MST3K guys, too, or at least the latterly ones.  (Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy.)

[stePH]

300 is...interesting. It's very manly and testosteroney and has some issues, but if you want to watch an epic graphic cartoon-style battle, there's nothing else really like it. It's completely ridiculous and oversexed in every way everything Frank Miller's done in the last 20 years (everything I've seen, at least). So if you thought visual style of Sin City was cool, you might dig this. And like Sin City, it does have some great lines.

Frank Miller has done exactly two good books out of all I've seen: Ronin and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

I've read the whole Sin City and I'll probably watch Hell and Back when it's made into a movie, but I'm unlikely to touch 300

[DKT]

300 is...interesting. It's very manly and testosteroney and has some issues, but if you want to watch an epic graphic cartoon-style battle, there's nothing else really like it. It's completely ridiculous and oversexed in every way everything Frank Miller's done in the last 20 years (everything I've seen, at least). So if you thought visual style of Sin City was cool, you might dig this. And like Sin City, it does have some great lines.

Frank Miller has done exactly two good books out of all I've seen: Ronin and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

I've read the whole Sin City and I'll probably watch Hell and Back when it's made into a movie, but I'm unlikely to touch 300

I liked Batman: Year One and Daredevil: Born Again both quite a bit. Daredevil: The Man Without Fear was alright, too, except it definitely felt like Daredevil: Year One.

But yeah, all that stuff came out in the late 80s/early 90s, right? He's definitely got an interesting visual style, but it's been a while since he's told a story I cared about.

[yicheng]

Ugh!  I hated this movie and actually had to turn it off half-way through.  There are so many cringe-worthy factual errors and the movie itself was 90% softcore gay porn and 10% neo-con political dogma. 

[Unblinking]

90% softcore gay porn and 10% neo-con political dogma. 

I think that's verbatim from the movie poster.   

[stePH]

Frank Miller has done exactly two good books out of all I've seen: Ronin and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

I've read the whole Sin City and I'll probably watch Hell and Back when it's made into a movie, but I'm unlikely to touch 300

I liked Batman: Year One and Daredevil: Born Again both quite a bit. Daredevil: The Man Without Fear was alright, too, except it definitely felt like Daredevil: Year One.

But yeah, all that stuff came out in the late 80s/early 90s, right? He's definitely got an interesting visual style, but it's been a while since he's told a story I cared about.

Oh, damn... forgot Batman: Year One; that was okay too. But it was no Ronin.

[Sgarre1]

I always have to mention ELEKTRA:ASSASSIN.  I'm not even a big Frank Miller Fan (BATMAN: YEAR ONE and DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN are the absolute hits for me - although I enjoyed DARK KNIGHT RETURNS at the time it was coming out, maturity hasn't been kind to my opinion of that book - it's got some good stuff, don't get me wrong).  But ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN is just...indescribable?  Amazing?  Totally unlike anything he's done before or since (I assume - I couldn't take  SIN CITY or HARD BOILED or MARTHA WASHINGTON)?  It's just the right mix of gonzo action, surreal humor and cartoonish extremism.  Bill Sienkiewicz is as responsible as Miller for this being the bizarre classic it is. Those panels of Nick Fury testing the Big Gun or John Garrett strapped to an enormous sewing machine just crack me up every time.  And yet Elektra's face-off against the cyborg assassin and The Beast is just pure comic-book action and amazingly written.  All the other titles mentioned may be more popular but ELEKTRAA: ASSASSIN is some kind of lost gem only for the adventurous.

[Fenrix]

Wow this review aged very poorly. It fine as a relic blog post from the time, but as a film review it fails to deliver.

Also from an interview with the director (emphasis mine):

Interviewer: In the film, a tiny bunch of European freedom fighters hold off a huge army of Iranian slaves. Everyone is sure to be translating this into contemporary politics.

Snyder: Someone asked me, "Is George Bush Leonidas or Xerxes?" I said, "That's an awesome question." The fact they asked tells me that this movie can mean one thing to one person and something totally different to another. I clearly didn't mean either. I was just trying to get Frank's book made into a movie.