Rated: R
Running Time: 117 Minutes
Year: 2007
Boobs: More than 3 sets.
One Sentence: Casting required no lines, just for the males to take off their shirts.
I do not care about the historical significance of this movie, as I have learned in my old age of 29, is that historical accuracy is the lowest thing on a writers and directors mind. So we will assume that this movie is NOT historically correct. However reading the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae) it is closer than I thought. But still of course not correct. We as movie watchers don't care if it is accurate anyway. We just want a good movie. Being bombarded with 300 trailers for 4 months now, posters, ads on the internet, 300 pictures available on myspace, the producers decided it didn't matter if they were making a good movie, they had a trailer, the buzz, and were going to make their money back. 70 Million they made this weekend for those not keeping score. So if you were one of the 8 people who didn't see this last weekend, and want to know if you should go see it, well, I guess you better keep reading.
I am sure there have been about 250,000 reviews for this movie, every click I see a new one, from someone else, those who have never written a review before have taken it upon themselves to declare this movie as either the most fantastic spectacle ever created, or the biggest pile of crap to grace the silver screen. I, being one to never tow the line, am not going to go to such extremes.
The movie was good, however it wasn't great. I would even go as far as to say that it is not as good as Sin City, the movie it has splattered across the posters and commercials saying that it's from the creator of. Splattered is a good word, as the amount of blood sent splattering across the screen could turn the ocean red. Yet, the violence, seemed to be comic book in nature, and never seemed overdone, silly, or gratuitous. A beautifully put together set of images, that would make any special effects group and editor cry tears. The movie is as pretty as you think it is going to be. With the addition of stabbing with spears. Hot shirtless Spartans who all just came from a Bod Man spray commercial, fight with their golder shields and helms behind a golden sun, with crimson capes fluttering in the wind, is really wonderful to look at. Dark evil members of the Persian army help us know who is good and who is evil. But still looking awesome while enslaving all of Europa and Asia. Greek woman who are naturally beautiful and often naked keep the theme of everything in 420 BC was hot hot hot. It all melted together to really make something that I enjoyed visually.
The story, stuck me a lot lighter than the visuals. A good story, which is actually a very interesting and powerful real story, of heroes who wanted to protect a nation, sort of fell flat. While it had all the elements that should have made the men, and their sacrafice mean something to us, it seemed to miss the mark. I am not sure what kept it from the grand Braveheartesque ending it so longed for, it just didn't nail it. I can't tell you why, it just was a little weak on that part. I would not say that this really breaks the movie however, it is still worthy of viewing, and even worthy of you dropping the 8 bucks per on it. So overall, I would say, yes to most of the hype, but the story could have done a little bit more.
