300

300 (2007) - Feb. 26, 2007
Jeez, what a disappointment! After the trailer, which was, quite frankly, awesome, this film couldn't help but disappoint. But even disregarding that trailer, this just wasn't a very good film. As a matter of fact, that's too kind: this was a bad film. The stylized visuals are surprisingly drab; with the limitless possibilities of the entirely CG backgrounds, you'd think the filmmakers could come up with something a bit less bland-looking (though I guess that's expecting too much from the guy behind the awful Dawn of the Dead remake). And I don't know if they had to cut out a lot of stuff from the comic, but the whole thing feels a bit disjointed -- it just sort of lurches from one scene to the next without all that much narrative momentum. Some of the scenes were better than others, but I spent the bulk of the film in boredom. The battle scenes were okay -- they were quite violent, though I don't think I've ever seen faker looking CG blood. The problem here is that they were too flashy for their own good (lots of quick cuts, quick zooms and jarring shifts from slow-motion to fast-motion to regular speed). Boo-urns. *1/2