reviews

[jnpoe]

This is bull**** , 4 great sites gave great reviews about it , and one we never heard comes in and doesn't even try to understand the movie

I stick with IGN's review

 

[anela]

strange review indeed. i'm still game to see it

here's variety's http://www.variety.com/index.asp?la...ept=berlin&nav=Rberlin&articleid=VE1117932810

By TODD MCCARTHY

'300'
The Spartans fight to the last manly man in "300," a blustery, bombastic, visually arresting account of the Battle of Thermopylae as channeled through the rabid imagination of graphic novelist Frank Miller. Rendered by director Zack Snyder in a manner very similar to last year's Miller adaptation "Sin City," except in full color, this is a steroid-fueled fever dream about self-realization through extreme violence. In the larger picture, the cartoonish history lesson inescapably describes a monumental East vs. West conflagration, which might be greeted with muted enthusiasm in the Middle East. Action addicts in general and carnivorous fanboys in particular will chow down on this bloody feast.

Possibly nowhere outside of gay porn have so many broad shoulders, bulging biceps and ripped torsos been seen onscreen as in "300," a fact that will generate a certain bonus audience of its own; it's not even certain Steve Reeves, the original "Hercules," would have made the grade here. But then, this is Sparta, the Greek city-state where boys were separated from their families at age 7 to undergo years of training to forge a population of soldiers unmatched in strength, bravery and bloodlust.

Often referred to as the Greek Alamo, the Battle of Thermopylae remains one of history's great last stands -- a crucial encounter in the summer of 480 B.C., when the invading Persian army under Xerxes, often supposed to have numbered 250,000-plus, was bottled up by the Spartans under Leonidas in a narrow mountain pass by the sea known as the "gates of hell." Although all 300 Spartans eventually perished, they killed innumerably more Persians and held Xerxes at bay for three days, giving other Greek forces valuable time and preventing a Persian takeover of the Hellenic lands.

Unsurprisingly, little of the conflict's geopolitical import is conveyed in the screenplay by director Zack Snyder (the 2004 "Dawn of the Dead" remake), Kurt Johnstad and Michael B. Gordon. A couple of variations to the side, script declares intense fidelity to Miller's graphic novel, which first appeared across five issues of Dark Horse Comics in 1998 and was published in hardcover the following year. Miller was brought to the subject via his childhood enthusiasm for the 1962 feature "The 300 Spartans," a somewhat threadbare, second-tier epic starring Richard Egan and Ralph Richardson.

Miller fans should be more pleased than anyone with what Snyder has wrought, as the director made a point of trying to reproduce all the writer's visual panels for the film, while necessarily expanding them. Approach might explain the claustrophobia that cloaks much of the action, as well as the feeling that the film never breathes of its own accord. Although the sort of imagery found here and in "Sin City" -- in which actors, shot in largely bare studios against blue-screen backdrops, interact in dramatically stylized worlds achieved through extraordinary visual effects -- is relatively new in commercial cinema, there is also something secondhand and suffocating about it.

"There is no room for softness, not in Sparta," we learn. "There's only room for the strong and hard." This principle applies to no one more than to the king, Leonidas (Gerard Butler), a bearded, rugged blowhard who, after explaining that Spartans are a breed apart from Athenian "philosophers and boy lovers," proceeds to toss into a bottomless pit a dark messenger who proposes that he submit to the invincible Xerxes.
In the face of religious and oracular warnings to desist, Leonidas assembles his best and buffest, proceeds past a torched Athens and arrives at the coast, where the Persian encampment and fleet extend virtually as far as the eye can see. The battle proper starts 45 minutes in and only periodically abates thereafter, occasionally for the Persians to consider their next futile tactic and, back in Sparta, for its stalwart queen, Gorgo (Lena Headey), to overcome the vile maneuverings of council bigshot Theron (Dominic West) so as to send more troops.

Accompanied by a score that competes mightily to be heard over the roar of battle and the yelling of combatants, the action commences with the promised blackening of the sky by Persian arrows, which are successful repelled by the Spartans' shields, joined together to create a single, shell-like armored unit. Attempting a head-on assault, the Persians are picked off by Spartan long spears like olives by toothpicks.
In a mordant downtime interlude, Leonidas' men casually roam the battlefield administering the coup de grace to survivors, whose corpses are then piled up to form a giant wall their still-living comrades will have to confront to get at the Greeks. The enraged Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), a shaved, multipierced and bejeweled weirdo who looks like he'd be more at home on the New York club scene than on a battlefield, unleashes his metal-masked "Immortals," a cretinous giant, a charging rhino and giant elephants, to little effect.

Snyder visualizes the mayhem as graphically and gorily as possible. In contrast to the monochromatic backdrops of "Sin City," which were periodically splashed with color at key moments, sequences here are color-coordinated according to mood, location and timeframe; night scenes might be bathed in blue, as in tinted silent films, while a passage in a field is rendered in wheat tones.

Then there's the blood, which flows like wine or a river, depending on one's literary mindset. It would be impossible to count the number of soldiers run through with spears, swords and arrows, and decapitations abound in what finally emerges as an orgy of stylishly orchestrated violence whose only raison d'etre is the pure expression of a fighting culture's ethos.

Seriously pumped up since his starring turn in "The Phantom of the Opera," Butler cuts a fine leonine figure but bellows most of his bellicose lines, which become tiresomely repetitive as they underscore the obligations and destinies of Spartan fighters. Other male thesps largely declaim to one extent or another, so it's a relief when Headey is onscreen, not only because she's the only female in sight, but because of the intelligence and radiant womanliness with which she invests the queen. While her scenes with the adversary played by West are plagued by insufficient exposition and simplistic motivation, she shines with a now fully realized beauty and confidence that invite more fulsome opportunities.

Availing itself of the latest technical know-how, "300" is sumptuously realized. Strictly in terms of the dramatic logistics, pic could have used some overhead or otherwise orienting shots to clarify the geography, just as some visual grace notes expressing genuine human emotion, rather than just macho belligerence, would have helpfully expanded the film's range of impact. Camera (Technicolor, Panavision widescreen), Larry Fong; editor, William Hoy; music, Tyler Bates; production designer, James Bissell; supervising art director, Isabelle Guay; art directors, Jean-Pierre Paquet, Nicholas Lepage; set designers, Frederic Amblard, Celine Lampron, Vincent Gingras-Liberali, Guy Pigeon, Alex Touikan, Brent Lambert; supervising set decorator, Paul Hotte; set decorators, Daniel Hamelin, Phillippe Lord; costume designer, Michael Wilkinson; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS), Patrick Rousseau; supervising sound editor, Scott Hecker; supervising re-recording mixers, Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montano; visual effects supervisor, Chris Watts; digital visual effects, Hybride; visual effects, Animal Logic/Hydraulx/Pixel Magic/Scanline/Buzz Image Group/Screaming Death Monkey/At the Post/Lola VFX/Technicolor-Toronto and Montreal; visual effects art director, Grant Freckelton; special effects supervisor, Louis Craig; makeup and creature effects, Shaun Smith, Mark Rappaport; stunt coordinator/fight choreographer, Damon Caro; stunt/fight choreographer, Chad Stahelski; stunt coordinator, Stephane Lefebvre; associate producers, Wesley Coller, Silenn Thomas, Nathalie Peter-Contesse; assistant director, Martin Walters; second unit director, Clay Staub; second unit camera, Miroslaw Baszak; casting, Carrie Hilton. Reviewed at AMC Century City 15, Los Angeles, Feb. 8, 2007. (In Berlin Film Festival -- noncompeting.) MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 116 MIN.

 

[Hellrider]

Seeing this on the 1st weekend...When I 1st saw the teaser my jaw dropped, and I'm still amazed...Its gonna kick soo much ass.

 

[Nivek]

This is bull**** , 4 great sites gave great reviews about it , and one we never heard comes in and doesn't even try to understand the movie

I stick with IGN's review

Yeah it's bullcrap, but it's typical stuff to exspect from a site I know I never heard of, that sounds like it's establishing some sort of Euro friendly/ american bashing tone.

The Variety review was simply strange, especially the "gay porn" line and some of the other stuff stated in that mess.

 

[War Party]

Was that a good review or a bad review by Mccarthy from Variety?

 

[A.J.Rimmer(BSC)]

[BLACKOUT]I did NOT need to know they all died....[/BLACKOUT]

Bummer

 

[green]

Yeah it's bullcrap, but it's typical stuff to exspect from a site I know I never heard of, that sounds like it's establishing some sort of Euro friendly/ american bashing tone.

The Variety review was simply strange, especially the "gay porn" line and some of the other stuff stated in that mess.

Cinematical is usually pretty spot on, I dont know what the hell was up with that reviewer.
Anyway Hollywood Reporter has a positive review.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=8813

300
Bottom Line: Frank Miller's graphic novel about an ancient Greek battle comes to vivid life.
By Kirk Honeycutt
Feb 15, 2007


This movie screened Out of Competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

BERLIN -- The Frank Miller experience continues in "300." This is the second movie to transfer a muscular story and visuals from a Miller graphic novel to the screen. Instead of the neo-noir, pulp-fiction theater of cruelty in the Robert Rodriguez's 2005 film "Sin City," "300" dives into the mythology of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Here, according to the graphic novel by Miller and Lynn Varley, 300 Spartan warriors went up against the barbarous hordes of the Persian god-king Xerxes and died valiantly defending Greek notions of freedom and justice.

Those turned off by the sex-and-violence cartoonery of "Sin City" can embrace "300," which screened Out of Competition here. In epic battle scenes where he combines breathtaking and fluid choreography, gorgeous 3-D drawings and hundreds of visual effects, director Zack Snyder puts onscreen the seemingly impossible heroism and gore of which Homer sang in "The Iliad." A raging hero mowing down multitudes with sword, shield and spear suddenly seems plausible.

The designed look of this alternative world, the abstraction and beauty of its topography, colors and forms, open up the human action to larger-than-life deeds and grand gestures that in a more realistic context would be pure camp. The film, which opens domestically March 9, will attract a sizable worldwide audience, skewering heavily male, of course.

Greece in the 5th century B.C. is a land truly favored by the gods, bathed in rich, harmonious dark chocolate, beige and gray colors. A prologue swiftly establishes the austere warrior city-state of Sparta, whose men are trained from birth to fight, to never retreat and never surrender.


The film's hero, King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), has lived his entire life to fight this battle against the Persians. Its sole survivor, Dilios (David Wenham), is the one who narrates the tale. Messengers from the Persian army arrive in Sparta, arrogantly offering either capitulation or annihilation. Leonidas kills the messengers.

But political opportunism rules the Spartan Council, which insists that Leonidas consult the Oracle. This consists of beautiful young and drugged women controlled by sickly, corrupt priests. The Oracle refuses to release the Spartan army to its ruler as no battle can occur during an upcoming religious celebration.

So Leonidas has little choice but to "take a stroll" to the north with 300 of his best warriors as "bodyguards." He chooses to engage the Persians in the Thermopylae pass, a narrow corridor between the steep cliffs of the Aegean Sea. Here the vast numbers of the enemy count for little since only a few can go up against Sparta's best at any one time.

The stage is thus set for a cinematic meal: A succession of charges by Persian forces -- slave warriors, physical oddities, African animals, magic wizards and an elite guard called the Immortals in black Darth Vader masks -- is slaughtered by the 300. Snyder instinctively knows when to shift to slow motion or quick stop-action to catch the brilliant athleticism of his fighting choreography. This is thrilling stuff.

Then comes Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) himself, a bejeweled, depraved giant carried on a high tower by his slaves. The god-king tries unsuccessfully to seduce Leonidas in a homoerotic passage as the ancient world stands still.

But it is a deformed and pathetic creature, Ephialtes (Andrew Tiernan), an outcast Spartan, who betrays the 300 by showing Xerxes a hidden path leading behind Spartan lines. The 300 are doomed yet die "beautiful deaths."

Adapting Miller's take on Spartan battle wear, Snyder and costume designer Michael Wilkinson strip the warriors down to essentials: a helmet, shield, red capes, loin cloths and scandals in warm colors. All the rest is manly flesh. The Persians, by contrast, are dressed in all sorts of jewels, peacock color, gold, purple, black -- a hooker's ball of exotic, foreign and decadent costumes.

Snyder and his writers Kurt Johnstad and Michael B. Gordon open up a second front of villainy back home as wily politician Theron (Dominic West) manipulates the council against sending reinforcements and crudely takes Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) sexually. This is weak and unconvincing, but it does get the writers around the historical fact that the expedition against the Persians, fully supported by the city-state, probably numbered around 7,000 rather than 300.

Butler is a paragon of manhood as the fine warrior-king, but in a Frank Miller world there is no time for introspection and doubt, making him a two-dimensional creature in this 3-D world.

Headey, looking alarmingly skinny, seems more like a fashion model than reigning queen. Vincent Regan as the Captain is a man with a ferocious appetite for killing. All other roles are somewhat perfunctory as Spartan ideals overrule much of an inner life.

Obviously, the true stars here are the armies of technicians, designers, fight choreographers and cinematographer Larry Fong, who collaborate on this stylized vision of the ancient world. Then add Tyler Bates' robust, haunting and soulful music.

What isn't clear after two Frank Miller graphic novel movies is where this technique is leading. So far it has served only exaggerated blood, guts and sex. "300" suggests that it might create worlds of myth and fantasy not necessarily ruled by mayhem. If not, though, it's going to get old, even ancient, very fast.

 

[green]

Another positve.
http://emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=4724

 

[Fanticon]

I love how RT posted this excerpt from the AICN insider who saw the flick.

You know my policy on early reviews, so I'll just throw you an amusing line from the fan review: "It’s about these 300 Greek dudes who stomp the sugar-coated s*** out of like a million other dudes. I have a feeling that a lot of high school sports coaches are going to show this film to their teams before they play. Also, gay dudes and divorced women are going to use screen captures for computer wallpaper."

 

[anela]

Was that a good review or a bad review by Mccarthy from Variety?

rottentomatoes.com has designated his review with a pretty, plump, red, tomato - so looks "good" to me.

 

[Fanticon]

Damn...lots of people are quoting that horrid review...this little sh** got what he wanted I guess...some attention. More than one search on google over the 300 Berlin Film Fest screening has quoted this guy.

 

[green]

http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=5221

The front page says it got a standing ovation.

 

[Mr. Socko]

Very very good!

 

[chesslover]

People began walking out shortly after it started?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

 

[Fanticon]

I figured it out...
he's a disgruntled P.A. that was almost involved in the production.

 

[anela]

well, i'll say one thing about cinematical, it's been very interesting reading their "reviews"
http://www.cinematical.com/2007/02/15/audience-raves-over-300-at-berlin/

Audience Raves Over 300 at Berlin
Posted Feb 15th 2007 7:01PM by Scott Weinberg
Filed under: Action & Adventure, Berlin, Warner Brothers

You know how there's often this "rift" between film critics and general moviegoers? Like when something like Meet the Fockers scores only 38% from The Tomatometer -- yet goes on to gross well over $279 million domestically and $237 million overseas? Yeah, that kind of thing happens a lot. (koff-NORBIT-koff) And it looks like it might be happening with Zack Snyder's 300 at the Berlin Film Festival.

A few days back our Erik Davis informed us that during and after the press screening for 300, a small-yet-vocal contingent of the audience was, well, let's just say they were unimpressed. And since it's a European Film Festival (where "cineastes" often behave like childish jerks), their disdain devolved into a round of scattered jeers and boos. Frankly I don't think it's that big a deal. (I remember a press screening of The Two Towers in which a few people booed. Those people were morons.)

But now comes word that Snyder's mega-sweaty 300 was not only well-received during its "ticket-holder" screening; the folks absolutely devoured the thing and greeted the end credits with a big fat standing ovation. (Two things that seem pretty prevalent at European film festivals: booings and standing ovations.) According to Bloody-Disgusting.com, the flick elicited big waves of applause throughout and people really seemed to like it. So I guess the moral of this story (and the Marie Antoinette story and the Clerks 2 story and the Southland Tales story and the Fountain story) is that you shouldn't judge a film's quality by the pleasant/nasty reaction it receives at swanky film festivals. Better to either stick with your favorite and most-trusted film critics -- or, heck, just drop the nine bucks and see the flick for yourself. (300 opens on March 9.)

 

[matrix_ghost]

I was confused as well
I mean i read the review and the comments , but it's a complete contrast with teh news articles saying it got raves and a standing ovation.

Is the guy an actual reviwers from the site or merely someone who submitted his review
One thing's for sure , he's lost all credibility

 

[Nivek]

People began walking out shortly after it started?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

Doesn't sound right compared to the other reviews coming out from the same festival, eh? I think someone is trying to be one of 'those" critics that go against the grain. Or he's a putz.

 

[green]

Not exactly a review but...

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news07/070216g.php
"300" Gets One Boo, But Mostly Raves
Posted: Friday February 16th 2007 6:35am
Source: Assorted Sources
Author: Garth Franklin

Mixed messages are pouring out of Berlin this week after two screenings of the highly stylized Spartan epic "300" delivered wildly differing results and reports.

European film festivals are known for their vocal critics, last year's Cannes screening of "Marie Antoinette" yielded a famous round of booing from attending critics - yet eventually went on to become one of the best reviewed films of last year and cropped up on many Top Ten lists.

Now the controversy erupted starting with Cinematical which reported on Wednesday that audience members left throughout the press screening and loudly booed as the end credits scrolled up the screen. Their review was far from glowing as well.

Yet long standing reliable critics like Todd McCarthy from Variety, Kirk Honeycutt at The Hollywood Reporter, the very picky Emanuel Levy and the always verbose but I trust his taste (there's not many people I hand that compliment to) Todd Gilchrist at IGN have all heaped major praise on the film. Another report indicated that the press screening did have some booing, but it was limited to only a handful in one section.

The following day the premiere yielded a spectacular result with frequent applause throughout and a long standing ovation afterwards by the packed 1700 member audience. The film's stars Gerard Butler and Rodrigo Santoro, two men one can't help but wonder what it would be like to be spit roasted by, who were in attendance.

The movie is released States-side on March 9th.

 

[Fanticon]

two screenings, two different reports...mystery solved.

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

http://glennkenny.premiere.com/blog/2007/02/berlinale_blues.html

My poor pal Filmbrain got so agitated at the Berlin Film Festival screening of 300 that he forgot to put a period at the end of the sentence wherein he compared it to Showgirls. Umm, good gawd, ya'll. Within said post he references a negative review of the film from Erik Davis—hey, is that Erik Davis, the one-time rock critic?—and says poor E.D. is taking a beating for said review.

Well. This is one of those times where being a responsible old media critic conflicts with one's obligations to the freeeeeeeee-dom of the blogosphere. I mean, what if one such as myself had himself happened to see a film not entirely physically or metaphysically dissimilar to a film screened in Berlin, and what if that one had found said film to be, while handsome and impressive and galvanizing on many cinematic and otherwise levels, to be pretty much the most overtly fascistic thing to come out of the North American movie industry since, oh, I dunno, Robocop 2? And what if said film were seen in a not-for-review context? I mean, one would probably feel, at this particular moment at least, obliged to keep one's mouth, cyber-space-animated and otherwise, pretty much shut, no?

But then again, one might also not be in any kind of hurry to beat up on Erik Davis, no matter how overheated a particular film has made the poor fellow.

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

The Cinematical review
http://www.cinematical.com/2007/02/14/berlinale-review-300/

If Braveheart were stripped of its meat, spray-painted gold and served as the poorest of value meals at McDonalds, there's a good chance you'd end up with something resembling 300 -- Zack Snyder's long-awaited adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel. Imagine if the front page of (insert the name of a popular muscle magazine) suddenly sprung to life -- in all of its fake tan glory -- and brought with it one of the most overly hyped films in history. You know its bad when the audience laughs at your main villain and, when they boo as the end credits begin to roll, all there's left to do is whisper -- not scream -- "This is Sparta?" Like Robert Rodriguez's Sin City, 300 was filmed entirely in front of a green screen. Thus, it looks pretty but feels fake, making it so the entire film rests on the shoulders of its script and cast.

At least Sin City had actual talent to go along with its intertwining storyline and poetic dialogue -- all 300 has going for it is a bunch of sexy men swinging swords and screaming bloody murder. Spartans believe that death on the battlefield is their greatest glory, and so they train their sons to become warriors from a very young age, forcing them to leave home and live amongst the wilderness for years as a test of willpower and strength. This is the path Leonidas (Gerard Butler) takes as a child -- trained to fight by his father -- and sent into the woods to do battle against mother nature and a lone, fierce-looking wolf. When Leonidas emerges, he is king of Sparta -- a militant man who will fight to the death any army that threatens to strip him of his wife, his home and his freedom.

But all is not well in Sparta; the Persians are advancing, and they have sent a messenger to offer Leonidas a deal: kneel down before Persian King Xerxes and your people will be spared rape, torture and death. Before the Spartan council can discuss the matter, Leonidas takes it upon himself to promptly kill the messenger and declare war -- calling upon his strongest 300 soldiers to join him in battle. When the Oracle (a half-naked woman who dances around a scarf in slo-motion while somehow predicting the future) informs Leonidas that he will fail in his mission, the rest of Sparta refuses to accept their King's decision. Denied the use of his own army, and with all of Greece turning its back, Leonidas angrily leaves Sparta with his 300 soldiers on a quest to defeat the great Persian army ... and its thousands upon thousands of followers.

Leonidas comes up with a plan to trick the Persians; trapping them within a narrow path so that the Spartans can have their way with the enemy. Of course, there's a secret back-door entrance that, if the Persians discovered, could give them the sneak-attack advantage. But no Spartan would dare give up that information to their rival, right? Finally, after a long drawn-out opening (which felt as if it were written by a seven year-old, and not the great Frank Miller), Zack Snyder's epic battle sequences begin. Heads are sliced off, bodies stack up -- you've got evil elephants, a rhino and an eight-foot warrior who goes down fairly easy -- not to mention the Persian's fearless leader; the awfully feminine-looking Xerxes, who comes draped in gold, bronze as can be.

The enemy comes in all different masks, shapes and sizes, but the fight scenes are way too stylized to effectively engage the audience. Snyder's effects take all the realism out, and the acting (with lines that range from "Spartans Blah Blah Fight!" to "Spartans Blah Blah Attack!") drowns out the passion. There's no doubt Frank Miller's graphic novel is a fun read, but Zack Snyder's interpretation was a boring, fast-food version of better films, with better scripts, better acting and better battles. 300 men fought to defend their freedom but, in the end, 300 people (including me) wanted their two hours back.

 

[jnpoe]

I knew this guy was idiot , but not THAT idiot , the fellow is so dumb , that he doesn't realize lines like :

"Spartans Tonight we dine in Hades (Hell) "

Were actually said ....... And all the laconian way of speaking , that was pretty much based on lines like that , and the idiot goes on criticizing the dialogue .......

Dude get a life , or at least try to make yours a bit more exciting

And yeah get a bit more informed as well

 

[Nivek]

Now thats a dickish review if I ever heard one.

 

[Fanticon]

Seems like the "booing" wasn't heard just at the 300 screening. Jennifer Lopez's movie which is about some serious subject matter...Juarez, Mexico is dealing with either one of the most notorious serial killers of all time...or there is ring of people who are abducting, raping and killing women and the cops do nothing. In this Bordertown...Women and children go missing...turn up dead, are used for slave trade<---- a lot of this is in theory...because who knows how many are already dead that have gone missing.
For people at the Berlin Film Festival to boo a movie that deals with such subject matter....well, I guess its obvious that they really don't like anything non-European made.