Disapointment

Thanks to Netflix I finally got around to watching the much hyped and discussed 300. Frankly, I was disappointed. Stylistically it was very interesting. One could clearly see the comic roots of the project but film wise, there was nothing to it. A member of the fencing club sort of summed it up best when he said that it was like the WWF in a movie format. Lots of big men stand around talking macho and then there is a fight followed by more macho talk and another fight. I couldn’t argue with him on that. The characters were exceptionally two dimensional. The dialog was stilted and over blown. Plot development was about as linear and uninspired as it is possible to get. And of course, there were HUGE historical inaccuracies. The cinematography was very good. The fight choreography was excellent. (If you kept the fact that it is a comic book firmly in mind.) But overall I was a bit let down. There had been so much talk and frothing about it that I had expected more. I can see why some of the political left declared it a propaganda film. It was. But not to hype a war with Iran (Persia) as they claimed, just a standard “Look at the glories of Western Civilization” type film. And, as is typical with films of this nature, it treats the subject in a totally superficial manner. Which would have been ok I suppose if people had treated it as a comic book put on film when it came out instead of talking it up like some sort of serious cinema experience.
Oh well.