300: Impressive

I did not want to see this movie.

I was poked and prodded into seeing this movie but I'm glad I caved. I loved it. I didn't realize that it was based on a comic book by Sin City's Frank Miller. I'm sure people told me but it just didn't register.

The movie was a comic-book fantasy version of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., in which a force of 300 Spartans held off a massive Persian army at a mountain pass in Greece for three days.

I was impressed that the comic book was used as the story board. Sounds like cheating but I like the idea of it.

This movie was beautiful. The imagery, the camera angles, the framing, the special effects, the textures- it was a visual treat. That wasn't the only visual treat. The men in this film were in tip-top shape. They were finely tuned machinery. Half of the time I missed what the soldiers where saying because I was looking at their chests and abs. These guys were hard core. No armor just a helmet, a cape, underwear and sandals. Mmmmmm........ They just don't make 'em like that anymore. :)
You know.... If we gave those 300 Spartans bumpy foreheads and bat'leths this could have easily been Star Trek XI and I would totally love to see a Trek movie like this.

The movie seemed like an ancient, epic MTV video for the most part but I think this is what sets it apart from Lord of the Rings and other similar movies released in the past few years. I will have to say that Xerxes reminded me of a Go'u'ld from Stargate. He had the voice and everything. He even spouted off something about false gods.

I guess because I wasn't expecting anything out of the movie is why I enjoyed it. I'd like to hear other opinions on it.

[Also... Second Life had a recreation of the set of 300 along with some costumes. I visited and it was a real treat. I even went down into the hole that the Persians were kicked into at the beginning of the film :)]