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300: It wasn’t the Persians …

… who killed King Leonidas.

It was the bloody narration.

300 was entertaining at best, and worth watching in the theater if you enjoy stylized battle cinematography. Otherwise, the superb acting of Gerard Butler as Leonidas, and Lena Headey as his queen, don’t do quite enough to pull the film’s head out of its ass and give us something interesting to watch. I enjoyed the sylistic fighting, but I wasn’t invested in it, mostly because I felt like the film kept me at arm’s length the entire time. And I think a lot of that was because of the narration. I would find at times that just as I was getting drawn in to a moment in the film, all of a sudden I’d be slapped in the face by the narrator’s voice, telling me what the character was thinking, describing to me a moment that I could plainly see on the incredibly large IMAX screen.

Following the annoying narration present in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, I’m really hoping that this isn’t going to become a new trend in Hollywood. Some narration is fine: see Chocolat and Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain for examples. Too much narration strangles the story, and constantly reminds the viewer that they are sitting in a movie theater, watching something.

A further, excellent and concise review may be read over here.

3 replies on “300: It wasn’t the Persians …”

Nice! I don’t share the Easter tradition per se, but I was recently asked in a little survey what five movies I could watch over and over, and Chocolat was definately on the list. Everytime I see it I get the same thrill, the same sense of magic and beauty, that I got the first time I saw it in the theater.

Maybe I’ll borrow your Easter tradition this year! 😉

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