300

It's a decent number. Some have called it The Greatest Number (though they were quickly silenced by the 301 Boyz). More importantly, however, it's the name of the film I saw yesterday afternoon. The film that I'd been looking forward to for nigh on six months. The film based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, which is a highly stylized version of the historical Battle of Thermopylae. Yes, that film.

So, after all the waiting, did I love it? Mayhap. In terms of visual presentation, it was superb. The backgrounds, the soldiers, the blood--everything looked like it had been painted. No, not painted. Inked. Especially the blood, and there was lots of it. The Spartans didn't wear armor in this movie, so when they got spear'd or arrow'd or sword'd, you saw the blade go in one side and out the other, in graphic detail. As Netty pointed out, though, the deliberate, dance-like choreography of the fights often took your attention away from the copious amounts of blood. The swinging of the sword and shield tended to be more visually captivating than the gutting and dismemberment. And then there was Xerxes, the Persian "god-king," who was portrayed as some kind of weird sexually-deviant giant. I dug it, if only because I've never seen a 'bad guy' quite like him (though I did get a bit of a Ra vibe from him, a la Stargate--not that there's anything wrong with that).

And now, having said all that (and there's much more I could say here), I've decided that I did love it. In fact, I think I'd enjoy it more the second time around, since I know that...well, I won't spoil it for you. I'll put it this way: now that I know how the film handled the historical aspects of the story, which I was wondering about most of the way through, my second viewing could dismiss that and I could simply look at this film again. I may just do that.