300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE out March 7th 2014

[slumcat]

Here's a great opportunity, those of you who haven't experienced Zack Snyder's masterpiece on a giant screen - here's your chance.

300 is being re-released for a day along with 13 minutes of this film on 4th feb.

Watch 300 on a giant IMAX screen and you will realize what the fuss is about. This movie is overwhelming on a giant screen.

For those that did see it in theaters back then, a chance to see it again on the big screen after 7 years.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Masterpiece?

 

[slumcat]

Of its genre. It is the most successful translation of a comic book frame by frame to the screen.

So I do consider it a masterpiece. It is also extremely cinematic.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I really like 300, but I wouldn't put it in the top 10 comic adaptations. There is more to adapting a comic then looking like it.

 

[slumcat]

I would put it in the top 3. And as a direct adaptation, maybe even no. 1. It is the purest example of a comic book sprung to vivid life. People often enjoy a comic and wish it could be seen on screen, undiluted. 300 is that and more. It doesn't just look like the novel it is based on, but the perfectly pitched performances and the dazzlingly visuals capture the very essence of the book. It is pretty much a perfect translation from page to screen.

Snyder bottled lightening with this one. The only time in his career.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The "purest" example of a comic book coming to life is Scott Pilgrim. It capture the heart, story and visual style of the material, while delivering an incredible film. Then you have something like Sin City. Not that "purity" is really relevant when it comes to the quality inside the genre. A film like The Dark Knight or The Avengers capture the essence of the characters and story, while delivering much better films.

300's biggest benefit is that it is really, really simple, and even still Snyder figures out a way to make it drag.

 

[slumcat]

 

[slumcat]

 

[slumcat]

 

[Rowsdower!]

This might be good but so far... it just looks like a knock-off of the first one. I can't quite put my finger on it; the trailers just aren't grabbing me.

 

[slumcat]

Till date the trailers for 300 are the best I have ever seen. Just hair-raising, striking image after striking image. They were all the craze back then. It was to do with the way the movie was made. Every shot in that movie is a trailer shot, pick any combo of shots from 300 and lap on some Nine Inch Nails and you would have a great trailer.

The music is off for this campaign a bit. Also the images are not as immediately spell-binding as the first time around. But still immensely excited for this. This kind of R rated action done with this quality and on this scale is a rarity these days.

 

[Poni_Boy]

So.... anyone else go to the screening event tonight? Curious to other reactions

 

[Kane52630]

300: Rise of an Empire Behind The Scenes Featurette

 

[Hush]

Man I'm really damn excited for this movie, gonna be good.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I hope this sequel can live upto the original, I loved 300, even as an adaptation of the battle of Thermopylae it was good to me, so hopefully this sequel is like Kick-Ass 2 was for me, not as good as the original but still a really good sequel.

 

[DACrowe]

Till date the trailers for 300 are the best I have ever seen. Just hair-raising, striking image after striking image. They were all the craze back then. It was to do with the way the movie was made. Every shot in that movie is a trailer shot, pick any combo of shots from 300 and lap on some Nine Inch Nails and you would have a great trailer.

The music is off for this campaign a bit. Also the images are not as immediately spell-binding as the first time around. But still immensely excited for this. This kind of R rated action done with this quality and on this scale is a rarity these days.

Do you or someone you know work at Warner Bros.?

I am just curious.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Well, hm. My mini-review of the 13 minute preview will be up later tonight or tomorrow morning. It.. looks weird. And it looked weirder watching 300 in IMAX 3D right after it.

 

[Octoberist]

I think too, that there's a striking difference between the look of the first film and this one. I prefer the look of the first, with the richer colors and deep blacks.

Here, it looks like the cinematographer is still learning how to handle the Alexa cameras, and the colors are so muted. A Digital look with muted coors aren't my thing.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Another problem with this movie: the abs aren't as impressive. Sullivan Stapleton is easily a better actor than Gerard Butler, but he needs to do a few million more sit-ups.

 

[slumcat]

Gerard Butler won the golden ticket in the genetics lottery - he had a truly insane six pack for 300. Of course it was not just genetics, he worked out like a madman for it. It was really impressive that for once, in a movie fully of outstanding physiques, your hero had the best of them all. He truly deserved to be their king.

Stapleton is not nearly as impressive and his physique will be upstaged by half the extras in the film. But the film-makers have very cleverly found their way around it. Themistocles is crucially presented as an Athenian statesman rather than a Spartan warrior king. They would have frankly preferred Stapleton to equal Butler's physique but are offering a good-enough explanation/excuse.

As for the performance, I will judge once I have seen the film. I do think Stapleton is the better actor but Butler's performance in the original will be hard to top. Butler is an OK actor but 300 was one of those rare perfect marriages of actor and character. Butler was born for that role and hit it out of the stadium the one time in his career.

For the sequel, the most interesting performance by far seems to be given by Eva Green.

 

[slumcat]

I think too, that there's a striking difference between the look of the first film and this one. I prefer the look of the first, with the richer colors and deep blacks.

Here, it looks like the cinematographer is still learning how to handle the Alexa cameras, and the colors are so muted. A Digital look with muted coors aren't my thing.

Yeah, this movie look very very digital. The original was shot on film AND added grain in post! It looked beautiful.

But I have now seen the trailers in the theaters many times and it looks far better on the big screen than on my laptop. I am sure it will look great in IMAX.

 

[slumcat]

Do you or someone you know work at Warner Bros.?

I am just curious.

No!

I am curious as to why did you ask that?

 

[dark_b]

Another problem with this movie: the abs aren't as impressive. Sullivan Stapleton is easily a better actor than Gerard Butler, but he needs to do a few million more sit-ups.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Do you or someone you know work at Warner Bros.?

I am just curious.

 

[Poni_Boy]

I think too, that there's a striking difference between the look of the first film and this one. I prefer the look of the first, with the richer colors and deep blacks.

Here, it looks like the cinematographer is still learning how to handle the Alexa cameras, and the colors are so muted. A Digital look with muted coors aren't my thing.

Honestly I'm not even going to waste my time writing up a mini-review because there's nothing positive to say except: general audiences will eat it up

The blood is the most CGI looking liquid I've ever seen. Looks like water spilling in a zero-g environment. Doesn't look real. Not even if you watching it in 3D without your 3D glasses.

There is SO MUCH slow motion. No speed ramping like in the first (so far) just straight up slow mo in loooong mashup takes with quick cuts. Slow mo fighting, slo mo death, slo mo close up of a horse's eye, slo mo scream, etc, etc, etcPretty sure when Zack Snyder sees this he'll be like "dude, cut it out"

The dialogue is horrendous. Horrendous. Once again, horrendous. Two characters break the fourth wall during the first 13 minutes. I just, I can't.

The added supernatural fantasy stuff to the story.

Stapleton, who I loved in Strike Back, has no screen presence so far. It's like they said "try to talk and walk like Butler" and he's doing it. Another Routh/Reeve dynamic.

The whole color palate is completely off too. The saturation shifts drastically from one scene to the next. Gold to blue to gold to blue to gold to blue. Bleh

anyway, those are my thoughts