300 - March to glory

Just saw 300, the movie based on the comic book by Frank Miller. The story is about 300 Spartans who fight against the huge army of Xerxes, a Persian king. It is based on the battle of Thermopylae, though both Frank Miller (in his comic) and Jack Snyder (in the film) have tweaked it to make it more stylistic. I haven't read the comic yet but I know of Frank Miller's Sin City (which too was made into a movie by Robert Rodrigues of Desperado fame). His comic book style is - for the less comically inclined - Max Payne style. Stark, high contrast, two colour work. The trailer of the movie will be enough to get you to line up for the tickets. Though I must warn here that the movie is beautiful but is not like the typical Hollywood movie. There is enough violence in the movie but people expecting stuff like Gladiator will be disappointed. One needs some patience to sit through the movie. The good part is that there is something for almost everyone. If you're a fan of Frank Miller's style, then you'll like the way that Jack Snyder has been faithful to the comic book. If you're a fan of CGI, you'll absolutely love the landscapes. The movie was entirely shot on blue/green screen with the backgrounds added later on. If you like war, you'll like the 300 men fighting against the 'hundred nations of the Persian empire'. And to top it all, the soundtrack highly complements the action on screen.

This movie is likely to become a cult favourite like the Matrix or the LOTR trilogy. Though a sequel seems improbable, lets hope that Frank Miller comes up with another equally interesting story to follow up on this amazing movie.

PS. One thing though, watch this movie with your friends. If you have a girlfriend don't take her to this movie. She'll berate you for the same all your life. Instead treat her to some half-baked movie like Honeymoon Travels or Just Married. Then you can berate her for all your life.

Update: The only thing I didn't like about the movie were the cliched speeches. Some samples - "This is where we fight. This is where they die", "Remember this day, men, for it will be yours for all time". Another thing I found unnecessary was the narration It was really irritating. Yes, the whole story was written from the point of view of Dilios narrating the epic battle. But it could have been avoided in the movie.