Movie Review: "300" (4 Stars)

Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

*puts hands up in surrender and then swoons ala Southern belle style in the hope one of the manly Spartans will catch me* ouch!

I admit..I really watched the movie more for the eye candy it provided me than for anything else. So what? Who can blame me when you've got more than an hour of sitting through a spread of delectable hunka-licious men all battling it out for the glory of their country (ahu!, ahu!!, ahu!!!) and for the free man's rights.

I'm not going to put a summary of the story, or discuss in detail the actors since this will turn out to be a very long review if I do so..but be warned though, the movie IS based on a comic book (Frank Miller's graphic novel) and so please do expect some unrealistic and cooly surreal scenes once in a while. The story has also been tweaked...it is supposed to be based on a real battle but of course its been given the dramatic, over-the-top treatment sometimes...I'm sure there were no ghastly, misshapen creatures that Xerxes managed to conjure from somewhere in his kingdom (except for the big elephants maybe) and from what I know of Persians I don't think the God-king Xerxes would look like the way he did (never mind, he is still drool-worthy *ehem*).

Suffice to say I've chosen as my first ever review this movie since I...deigned to fork over a goodly amount of Philippine pesos just to sit through ONE (I tell you, just one!) sitting of this movie...when normally I'd get my money's worth by reviewing a movie I especially liked at least twice!

Greek mythology was a favorite of mine since elementary days..and I recall we even formed a club and our code names were some Greek goddesses (hehehe, guess who I was...and no its not the goddess of love...phoo!), hence I never miss out on any movie which has touched on the Greek myths and legends.

The scenes do appealed to the gallery. I always liked science fiction because of the special effects used, and in here, though it can't be categorized really as sci-fi, one of my fave scenes was the particular one about the beautiful, nubile, young Oracle doing some amazing, swaying moves as she woved and contorted her scantily-clad body about in a sort of drunken prophetic daze. Getting licked by a gruesome creature afterwards was no picnic though. (I wonder what would happen if we dress the way the Greeks dressed here in the Philippines? its certainly hot enough now to warrant that kind of attire).

I liked the script...Leonidas traded witty, dry repartee with Xerxes..and some uttered lines (though a bit obvious) from different characters still had a very good effect of making titters pop out from the audience's mouth once in a while. Xerxes looked very different from the actor underneath the makeup (he played one of the villains in Charlie's Angels 2) and thanks again to movie magic, he towered above our good ole King Leonidas.

All the blood flying about made me think about "Kill Bill" and Uma Thurman. But I liked the latter..probably because I lean more towards Japanese style hack-and-chop scenes with the sword than with the spearing action here. But, the balletic grace and moves of the fight scenes were simply divine! I liked seing slow-mo effects of soldiers beheading and stabbing people repeatedly as if they were skewering marshmallows..yummy! (uhm..sorry if that came out wrong).

One thing I am also reminded of are the tactics in the book "The Art of War" when I first heard Leonidas explain his plan to hold off the invading army. That narrow valley or gorge is a good application of how one holds off enemies of a vast number, essentially rendering their numbers of little consequence. Logically though (blame the left brain and too much analyzing!), I wondered why they didn't do anything about the weakness of the separate path where the Persians could then outflank the Greek fighters...oh well...*shrug*...then it would have dragged on and on...and the director would have no heart-stirring ending.

Bottom line is, yes, go and watch this movie if you have a fondness for anime, comic books, graphic novels, gym regular hunks, bishounen, blood spurts (hmm..blood sports?) and such. I liked "Kill Bill" and Akira Kurosawa's movies so I guess its natural I gravitated towards this too. I wish the effects were less obvious...it looks too smooth sometimes...

Afterwards, I ran to the bookstore and read Neil Gaiman's "Season of Mists" in the Sandman library. That is also one cool series...I wonder if they will ever make it into a series of movies like HP (Harry Potter) or even a tv series one of these days? Hmm...even some cartoon series is fine with me...

Wahoo!! Not bad for a Saturday lazy meandering around Greenbelt area eh?

P.S. trivia: "ahou" in Japanese means "idiot"...its just that when I heard the Spartan's battle cry, which sounded suspiciously like this (ahu!) if given the kind of sudden and strong intonation...I suddenly, uncontrollably snickered...and I became the recipient of weird looks from my fellow movie-goers. Good thing it was dark, coz I stuck my tongue out at them (at the audience or at the actors?)...\(^_^)/ 

- Mar 26, '07 10:59 PM

Today is my own Groundhog day

I just wanted to write down how I felt earlier yesterday, my first day in another job, another company, another set of people to work with, another set of rules to live by and another risk taken. I've moved from company to company since I've started working at age 19 and an orientation in a new company may seem like something to become jaded about...but there is always an element of excitement for me, no matter how many times I've gone through it.

For now I will hold off talking about this current company of mine since I've yet to see how it goes and prove to myself how I can handle this major change. Some would say I must be mad, trading off something familiar with something uncertain, regardless of how the company's brand stand out, and I can probably hear about the line in playing to your strengths instead of going after the weaknesses. Of course, having the company's office within walking distance of one's domicile is a plus factor!

Not only was the environment, the culture I've heard about, and the first day of orientation group dynamics good enough to make me happy about my decision to take the plunge. While watching a couple of videos about the company,about the antics of its people (Ngek! may spoof pa kay GMA, and The Ring, complete with authentic Japanese dialogue subtitles, made by the employees and starring the employees and which pokes fun about the work they do, makes you wonder if they just do videos the whole day!), it made me teary-eyed, metaphorically speaking of course.

I got reminded me of the videos and case studies about this company in B-school.

As I walked back home, all I could recall after the day was done was of how one of the major founders emphasized how important it was to take risks. He said it more magically than I ever could, but the idea was the same.

This line reverberated inside me as I walked home. To think that they put themselves at risk to do something which would turn out to make things better for people, that is something I would like to do myself again and again. I've tried to start something like this in my previous companies and although it's not in the magnitude of these guys but it's humbling to think I may have the measure of success they have in the future, who knows?

It is inspiring, it is terrifying to step up to the plate, but in the end, if one surpasses that particular hurdle, no other feeling can compare with it. And to see, years later how one's particular actions inspired other people and practically spawned an entire new paradigm...all I can say is..."wow, awesome, coolness!"

- Mar 2, '07 1:37 AM