300

I saw 300 this past Friday. Um... "Wow!!!".

Great movie, wonderful film making and a magnificent story. Easily as good as Sin City, which was also done in the comic book style. Here is a link to the trailer. It will tell you more about the movie than I can in words.

In case you have not heard about it, 300 is a story based on a comic book by Frank Miller, which is itself based on a the battle of Thermopylae where 300 brave spartan soldiers face down an army reported to have been anywhere from 100,000 to 1,000,000 men. A true feat of bravery, courage and a warrior's skills.

Though in truth, I do have my doubts that 300 men stood against the kinds of monsters that they faced in this film. There were so many creatively styled opponents that just watching the variety alone was overwhelming.

While a strictly historic view of the events would probably not involve monstrous and misshapen giants and twisted versions of elephants and rhinos trained for war, this more imaginary view adds them to great effect. In fact, the variety really helped the battle scenes feel unique at every turn.

The cinematic quality of these battle scenes is amazing and I found myself being drawn deeply into them. I suggest that you find a theater with a massive sound system if you truly want to experience the full effect of the film since there are several points where a booming bass hit adds intensity to these battles - the pressure of the booms that happen when the warriors slam opponents with their shields makes you feel as if you were the one getting pounded.

Of course, the movie is a bit on the bloody side, as you can see in this YouTube video that depicts a particularly gruesome battle scene:


Even with the gore and shocking images, this movie feels tastefully done. This is probably a result of the comic book style of the film, which in a funny way makes the ultra-violence feel much more like a video game than an over the top gore-fest.

Bottom line, This movie made me feel like a kid again and I'd recommend it over almost anything I've seen recently.

For a great look at this film, try viewing the "making of" video podcast on iTunes, It's free and well worth the time: