So, first things first: Thumbs up or thumbs down?

I am part of the video game culture. I grew up with it. And for the most part I enjoy it. Thoroughly.

As for the film side of me? I enjoy movies.

As for the 40 % of critics who claim this movie sucks because it “feels like a video game”?

FUCK YOU GUYS
THUMB WAY FREAKING UP

Well, I’ve tried to make it a habit of limiting profanity on my site. In this case I just happened to fail.

This movie was as glorious as the Spartan victories: beautifully edited, filmed, colored, acted, played out, paced: yes, it is as visionary as it claims to be. Take all of the speeches of the three Lord of the Rings films, roll them into just any one sentence that Gerard Butler speaks as King Leonidas, and you have one of the most action, inspiration, and emotion packed movies I’ve seen in years. It’s a mix of old-fashioned “patriot” films like a Clint Eastwood/John Wayne WWII endeavor, mixed with the unleashed power of today’s “overblown violence.”

Let me say one thing about the violence- it is not going out of its way, a la KILL BILL to promote it’s action scenes- it feels freaking real, even with CGI blood thrown in.

This is a true myth coming alive as film, and the only time I’ve seen it done as strongly was with Hayao Miyazaki’s last few great works Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. And those were animated.

The acting in this film was classic and genuine. Not a single person or single line seemed to “ham it up”- it all went with the style the film wanted to convey- and that was pushing legend to the limit without breaking complete realism. The fact that the fight actually played out more historically accurate (although we can only assume) than the trailers make it look to be (this is NOT a “kung fu flick in disguise”), means that there’s just something brutal and passionate that I believe a majority of movie goers, from ANY COUNTRY would be proud to use as an example of human history.

Hell, even for angry Persians who might not like having their nation’s history being filled with a humiliating defeat- at least this movie makes your opponents look like something worth losing to.

The pacing never let up- every scene was interesting or visually poetic in some way. Not really a movie for actual imagery- this was hard, old fashioned “what you see is what you’ve got” stuff. But some moments, such as when one traitor is mentioned in a scene taking place in Sparta, and the film cuts to a scene of another traitor on the battlefield, really proves this movie has brains and was TRYING.

Honestly, guys- that’s all I want to see. Some serious effort from your film making. If Bodangofish can work out half as well as Sam and I think it might not have sucked, a movie about 300 angry white boys slaughtering everything in site shouldn’t be that hard. It isn’t.

And they beat, trampled, and crushed all GOOD expectations. My first words after seeing the movie, and it can be quoted as truth:

“IT HAD A PLOT!” which is not something I was expecting. I was expecting, pretty much “yeah these guys want us dead let’s kill them” and then 70 minutes of ripping colorful enemies apart in a crimson veil of unbridled massacre.

But, to my most pleasant surprise- there was more to it than that. I cared for the characters, I cared for the future of this brutal civilization, and I cared for the destruction of the invading enemy- I wanted to see them not only defeated. NO. This was much more important than, let’s say the proving of a point in Ridley Scott’s much under-appreciated Kingdom of Heaven or the “vanquish evil” motivation of the LOTR saga- no this was something far heftier and more important to my pathos:

I wanted to see these bastards humiliated.

And by the end of the movie: Everything you wish could have happened, did happen, and the fight scenes did not become at all repetitive. The final “battle” took the PERFECT turn, didn’t ham it up, and drove the story home.

This is a FOUR STAR MOVIE. No reason not to watch it, no reason not to enjoy it. No it is not some brilliant character-driven intellectual masterpiece, but in terms of raw film making, sheer effort, and complete payoff?

Damn…how can you actually not love this? I’m sure by the end of the weekend, the people who hate this film will be a lowly 300 hundred again the thousand nations of people who will LOVE THIS FILM. Too bad they won’t have the resources to win THAT fight though. This thing is going down in history as a classic of modern cinema- mark my words.