Lestat de Lioncourt (jad1981)

A few months ago when I saw the 1st pictures of this production, I was a bit worried. Being a Frank Miller fan, the pictures looked disappointing. Another worrying fact was that the director had only 1 movie under his belt. All of this changed when I saw the trailer. This movie had a lot of potential to be a disaster (or in true Spartan fashion, to come home with its shield or on it) but in the careful hands of Zack Snyder, and the help of creator Frank Miller, turned into one of the most thrilling rides you'll ever experience. First of all, though I'm a history buff, this movie never made the claim to be historically accurate. If that's what you're looking for, go read a book about the Battle of Thermopylae. But if you want to see a great action movie, this is it. This movie is style over substance; "300" takes a HUGE artistic license on the accounts of the Battle of Thermopylae and turns it into a visual feast. Snyder went to painstaking extremes to be faithful to Miller's vision and succeeded greatly. This film captures Frank Miller's look AND feel of his graphic novel. The color palette gave a distinctive look to the movie that enhanced & enriched it vastly. The art direction was superb, as was the minimalistic costume design. The crimson capes the Spartans wore made such a contrast with the sepia backgrounds that it made them stand out even more. The VFX are top notch, you know they're there but are not distracted by them at all. Music wise, I wasn't expecting much. Boy, am I glad I was utterly wrong. The same haunting music used for the trailer made its way to the final product. The already impressive action scenes were enhanced by an awesome sound score. Like its visual counterpart, the sound score is loud, aggressive, and testosterone ridden. Speaking of aggression and testosterone, the action scenes have plenty of both. The fighting choreographies are beautifully directed & edited. Very worthy of the lean mean fighting machine the Spartans were. A minor detail that caught my eye was that the way blood was portrayed on the screen gave it a comic book quality. I'm not talking "Kill Bill" here but it sure looks stylized. Call me morbid or worse but I loved that look. And last but not least, David Wenham's narration. Perfect delivery of his lines that elevated some scenes, making more memorable than they already were. A few cheesy lines but hey, it's a freakin' movie adaptation from a Frank Miller book. Overall, AWESOME movie that delivers the goods; pleasing both the casual fan AND the hardcore fan that has previous knowledge of the book. Highly recommended, two thumbs up. P.S. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

How can I begin to to describe the genius behind this movie? Thought provoking, this movie grabs your senses by assault. If you haven't seen it, run to your nearest video club and rent it.