300

[andygates]

Well, I've finally seen 300 and I think I agree with the detractors.  The "you can't trust appeasers / support the troops" subplot was entirely added and even used lines the American political right have used, verbatim; the "Hooah!" Spartans were really silly; the clean-cut = good, simpering dark pierced weirdo = bad schtick was way overplayed; and I hated hated hated what they did to Xerxes, who's just your overweening god-king in the original but turned into some sort of pervy Stargate mutant freakoid.  Oh, and they got rid of the whole Stelios/Stumblios thread and humoured-up the Spartans so they weren't such hard icy bastards, just to be sure we emoted.  And they conveniently underplayed the baby-killing psycho part of the Spartans to overplay the "flower of democracy" - even while saying "we do what we were bred to do" with no irony.

The war rhino was crap too.

In good: The shield clash was perfect, some of the fights were a delight, the Spartans' magic leather pants of invulnerability were nice eye candy. 

But mostly, the eye-candy left me cold.  I like silly war porn, I like comic-book cheese, but this did leave me with that dirty, you've-had-your-strings-pulled-by-Leni-Reifenstahl feeling.  I wanted to rave about it; I came out ranting instead. 

Now Wash Your Eyes.

Comments

[n-decisive.livejournal.com]

magic leather pants of invulnerability

Great description!

So, the pierced Persian didn't go over well with you, either, huh? I'd heard he didn't quite mesh...

[andygates.livejournal.com]

I can forgive him being a Nubian with "I are pershun" stuck to his loincloth label. He was preposterously tall. His infra-bass voice - true to the comic - was clumsily done, but mostly he was a simpering queen. And that was totally bogus, IMO. I was expecting to see casual majesty laid low by Spartan pluck; I got a gilded Claudius-with-nipple-rings, and it annoyed me.

Xerxes' weakness is hubris, not vanity. There's a difference.

The Foxy Cleopatra cameo was nice, but I would say that...