Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Then We Will Fight In The Shade ... 300 Review, 24, MORE

So it's back to work after a crazy, extended weekend of family fun. And yes, I truly am in need of a vacation from this vacation, as it's been a fun but exhausting few days. Friday my parents and brother flew in, and we met for some dinner before my brother and I went to see the much-anticipated 300. On Saturday, we did some shopping at The Grove and Farmer's Market then met my great uncle Josh for some dinner in Brentwood - the first time that he and his wife Lianna had ever met my brother. Sunday, we headed down to Long Beach for some scenic ocean views and a visit to the highly-regarded aquarium there. Good times - Long Beach has a great board walk and is a place worth checking out. Yesterday, we headed to Anaheim for a day at Disneyland, which was a lot of fun, though of course kind of exhausting. Anyways, my parents are still here until tommorow afternoon, though now they are in "get down to business" mode, which means microanalyzing my apartment's cleanliness, my wardrobe, my finances, and everything in between. Fuuuuuuuun ...

24! 24! 24!

Last night, Prison Break and Heroes were MIA, so it was up to Jack Bauer and co to carry the night and bring the gravitas. Luckily, the gravitas was sufficiently BROUGHT, as we got a tense, nail-biter of an episode that saw the welcome return of Martha Logan and AARON PIERCE to the world of 24. Seeing Jean Smart and Greogroy Itzin together again was an instant reminder of what made last season a breakout one in terms of great character performances. Martha and Charles Logan had some great scenes together, and even though it was telegraphed, Martha's deadly stabbing of her ex-husband still suprised me and had me gasping. Damn, First Lady gone crazy! While Aaron Pierce could have used a little bit more to do, it was still great seeing one of the true heroes of the 24-verse back in action. Now get him suited up and in as a field-ops agent at CTU - this new guy Doyle seemed okay but was a bit too metro to carry much gravitas. We need some badasses at CTU in the tradition of Jack, Curtis, Tony, Castle, etc, dammit all. Once again though, Powers Boothe as the VP did a great job of bringing the awesome, and he is already making a very interesting fil-in prez. My only hope is that they make him less a right-wing idealogue and more just a guy who is a hardliner. I mean, let's be realistic here - in the real-time world of 24, this is the DAY of a nuclear attack on US Soil - people are going to be pissed. In any case, this was a really fun episode of 24 that had some of the better character moments of the season. Unfortunately, much of the coolness came from old favorites brought back on a special basis, so, long-term, this show still needs to find its footing for this season.

My Grade: A -

300 Review:

TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL! Going into 300, the great marketing campaign had me pumped for a movie that would be filled with nonstop action the likes of which had not been seen outside of the latest next-gen videogames. Coming out of 300, this was exactly what I had just gotten: two hours of elegantly staged action, with all the trappings that make this type of movie fun: badass heroes, twisted monsters, grand battle cries, and a hyper-stylized artistic vision. More so that almost any movie to date, 300 replicated the experience of playing a good videogame, to the point where the violence became so immersive that each new adversary seemed like a new challenge that we the viewers must overcome. Director Zach Snyder makes strong stylistic choices with this movie, expanding upon the green screen technology that made Sky Captain and then Sin City able to exist as live-action / animation hybrids that brought to life unique worlds with hyper-stylized flair. Like Sin City, 300 takes the comic book stories of Frank Miller and quite literally brings them to life. Frankly, I love it. I mean, realism is great at times, but what's wrong with a little hyper-reality every now and then? 300 earns my respect by having a very specific artistic vision and going all out to see it realized.

Basically, this is a movie about one giant battle. We are quickly introduced the warlike Spartans, their prideful king Leonidas, and their struggle to overcome the invading armies of the conquering Persian empire. The subplots, character backstories, and so on are only important in so far as they drive the action forward, and in that regard they are quite servicable. I mean, think of the cut-scenes in an action video game -- they give a little context to the gameplay but ultimately its the fluidity and immersiveness of the action that counts. What counts here, as in say God of War, are the character designs, the artistic direction, and the energy of the action. 300 may appear as an oddity to those expecting a classic action movie epic in the vein of Gladiator, but for Generation Y, well-versed in the methodology of action, the trappings of the movie will feel familiar and welcome in a medium that is still trying to catch up to its digital cousins. Basically, 300 feels like a series of videogame levels, each with its own variety of enemies, bosses, and stylized combat. What this does is imbue the movie with an immersive quality of progression, to the point where, whenever the action slows, there is a feeling of anticipation for the next outbreak of violence. Does this make for a movie with the depth of character, emotion, or resonnance as, say, Gladiator? No, but 300 is the equivalent of an AC/DC song on film - this is rock n' roll in movie form, clad in loincloths, armed with swords, ready to rock.

The cast here does a good job, though as I said, the characters are presented in broad strokes of hero and villain - we get to know them in the same way we get to know the players on a sports team when tuning in for a big game. We have the team captain, Leonidas, played with charismatic grandiosity by Gerard Butler. Looking like a roided-up rabbi, Butler nods his head, furrows his brows, and yells things like "Nice Thrust!" with a great sense of campy gravitas. I mean, as I said, this is a VERY stylized movie, and I admit, some of the stylistic choices here are a little weird - it's one thing for the 300 Spartans to be a hard-nosed, badass bunch of warriors. But Snyder gives each one an eight-pack of abs made of stone with musculature looking like it was drawn by Jim Lee. Possibly overdoing it a little ... But as I was saying, Butler makes the most of his role and is a lot of fun to watch here - his Leonidas overcomes the potential to come off as unintentionally funny and instead is a hero worth rooting for (and worth quoting / imitating ad nauseum after seeing the film). The other standout is David Wenham, familiar from Lord of the Rings, who narrates the movie with steely aplomb, and whose character is one of the most fun in film, framing the story as a kind of rallying cry for his troops. Rodrigo Santoro is completely over the top as the androgynous god-king Xerxes, and while some dismissed him, I thought he was the perfect counterpart to Leonidas' alpha-male hero. Finally, Lena Heady is great as Queen Gorgo of the Spartans, exuding a calm, powerful vibe as an amazonian queen who can hold her own with the men of Sparta. While her political subplot does kind of drag, Lena does a great job with what she's given and has a few great moments. Otherwise, the rest of the cast is admittedly just window-dressing, and we never get to ecplore them as more than just "that one Old dude," "hunchbacked-freak," or "that guy who says 'Then We Shall Fight in the Shade ...'" But like I said, this is a movie that is painted in broad strokes ... Would it have been nice to see some of the other Spartans fleshed out a bit more? Yes. But would it have really added to the film as a whole? Probably not ...

And that's the thing -- while on one hand I sound like I'm advocating the virtues of a totally action-centric movie like 300, it remains hard to place it in the same category of greatness as a film that places as much of a premium on character, plot, and dialogue as it does on action and visual artistry. But man, this movie manages to kick ass in style, and for that I respect it. Rarely has a movie made each sword-swing, each battle, each leap and parry and clang of metal so vivid. I enjoyed watching it from start to finish, and left suitably hyper and ready to take on the Persian empire. Like I said, this is heavy metal and Frank Miller comic books and videogames in movie for, enough to amek everyone's inner twelve year old boy jump up and down in a gleeful state of testosterone-feuled bloodlust. Sorry if that sounds crude, but it's why the movie rocks.

My Grade: A -

- Okay, more to come, but for now I've gotta jet. A reminder to myself: be sure to tell of ghetto movie audiences, the glories of Tango and Cash, Space Mountain, Pirates, and Snake ...

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