It’s fast approaching. The day we get to watch "300" good guys and about a zillion bad ones meet their bloody, cool-looking demises. And you know what that means: advance reviews are now coming in. So far, praise has been unanimous: "300" currently stands with a 100 percent Tomatometer.
You’ve got to love a review that starts with, "Possibly nowhere outside of gay porn have so many broad shoulders, bulging biceps and ripped torsos been seen onscreen." Variety’s Todd McCarthy has minor reservations about how claustrophobic "300" feels, but concedes it’s a necessary evil to translate comic panels to frames of film:
"Miller fans should be more pleased than anyone with what Snyder has wrought, as the director made a point of trying to reproduce all the writer’s visual panels for the film, while necessarily expanding them."
Bringing out the dead in "300."
Critics occasionally pounce on a movie for historical inaccuracies and glossing over facts, but given "300"’s overt visual flourishes and pyrotechnics, nobody has any delusions this’ll soon be shown in social studies classes. As Emmanuel Levy puts it:
"Existing in a hyper-real world, it unfolds as a feverish dream of an inspirational fable, full of passion, politics, and brutality. In streamlining the characters, Synder retells Miller’s saga not as an ancient tale (sort of "once upon a time…"), but as a classic and eternal one."
Catching some air.
Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt agrees that by remaining faithful more to the graphic novel than a history book, "300" enters the realm of mythology come to life, a classic good versus evil tale envisioned again for modern times. Honeycutt writes:
"In epic battle scenes where he combines breathtaking and fluid choreography, gorgeous 3-D drawings and hundreds of visual effects, director Zack Snyder puts onscreen the seemingly impossible heroism and gore of which Homer sang in The Iliad."
Honeycutt, however, ends the review with a cautionary note:
"What isn’t clear after two Frank Miller graphic novel movies is where this technique is leading. So far it has served only exaggerated blood, guts and sex. ‘300’ suggests that it might create worlds of myth and fantasy not necessarily ruled by mayhem. If not, though, it’s going to get old, even ancient, very fast."
It’s always the kids who suffer.
"300" opens nationwide on March 9th, 2007. We’re heading to WonderCon 2007, which is hosting a "300" screening on Friday, March 2nd, so be on the lookout for our coverage.
