300

This is a movie Leni Riefenstahl would have enjoyed and I'm sure John Milius got a huge hard-on from watching it. It's based on Frank Miller's comic book 300. The 300 are the 300 Spartan soldiers who fought against Xerxes and the armies of the Persian Empire at the Battle of Thermopylae in the year 480 BCE. Epic stuff. And Frank Miller has made some really great stuff before in his career. I love his take on Batman and Elektra. But his version of the Battle of Thermopylae felt both bitter and tired and it didn't speak to me. Neither did this movie. Eventhough Zack Snyder has done an excellent job. The movie is visually stunning. It's the source material that's the problem. The story isn't good enough. The heroes are super heroes with oiled and extremely well defined muscles and very little clothes. All the women are beautiful and seductive and have iced and very stiff nipples. And all the enemies are inhuman monsters. And that's the real problem. They aren't interesting. It gets boring watching a bunch of grand Spartans/Americans fight against monstrous super evil Persians/Muslims/Arabs/Black dudes and freaks. Among the first thing you hear about the Persians is that they demand submission - the interesting thing is that Islam means submission! The Persian Immortals look much more like the Iraqi insurgents or the suicide bombers you can see on the news than ancient warriors. They are Muslim soldiers - not Persian. Behind their masks they are monsters - not humans. Stories like the Iliad and Henry V are much more interesting and gripping because they are about humans fighting against humans. The really interesting monsters are the monsters we can find inside ourselves or the freaks who hide a human side. Unfortunately this movie lacks all subtleties. It's a gut movie without brain and heart. Fun for a while but easily forgotten. And I wonder about the symbolism. I'm sure most americans view themselves as the Spartans. But in many parts of the world I'm sure most people would view the Americans as the modern Persians. One thing is sure. George W Bush is not King Leonidas and this movie is much more Rambo III than Henry V. Go and see it for its visual style, the beautiful violence and all the cool freaks. But don't expect too much.