This is not a bad movie, but it is an over-the-top movie. It's unabashedly epic in scope and melodramatic in feel. I don't play video games, but the movie felt like that.
There is a lot of speechifying about freedom, democracy, patriotism, brotherhood, war, unity, revenge and death. Yes, it's all in there.
In a strange way, the primary theme of this movie was masculinity. It's the kind of film you'd show in military movie theatres. The men are all cartoonishly hypermasculine steroidal bodybuilders, like some gay porn fantasy. (CGI, I suppose. Not a single one of them had tattoos.)
This is a martial arts film. Men -- many men -- are slashed, stabbed or hacked in this film, always with a slow-motion splash of bright red blood. The Persians were dressed in dark colours, and after a while it seemed obvious the point of this video game was to kill as many of them as possible.
The historical aspects are cranked up to the level of fantasy. I don't know how accurate any of it is. Not very, I suspect; but I also think it doesn't really matter.
The language is strangely elevated in tone ("You shall speak of it no more") and everyone speaks in non-American accents
This movie glorified the Greek side. At times, I saw disturbing parallels to America. At times it seemed sort of racist.
Given all that, I still sort of enjoyed the movie. One scene even moved me. It is indeed epic in scope. "Rich with detail" would be another accurate description. The grand naval battles were, well, spectacular.
The 3D is effective. Some of the scenes are beautiful. Much of the movie is bathed in a hazy, dark golden luminosity, an effect I've not seen before.
Eva Green is evilly fantastic. Sullivan Stapleton is nobly hot.
In the end, I'm not sure what this movie really was. At times I thought it merited a 3; at other times a 9. It wasn't schlock or cheesy or campy, although you'd think it would fall easily into those categories.
There was a time in my life when I may have been blown away by a film like this, but that time has passed.
There is a lot of speechifying about freedom, democracy, patriotism, brotherhood, war, unity, revenge and death. Yes, it's all in there.
In a strange way, the primary theme of this movie was masculinity. It's the kind of film you'd show in military movie theatres. The men are all cartoonishly hypermasculine steroidal bodybuilders, like some gay porn fantasy. (CGI, I suppose. Not a single one of them had tattoos.)
This is a martial arts film. Men -- many men -- are slashed, stabbed or hacked in this film, always with a slow-motion splash of bright red blood. The Persians were dressed in dark colours, and after a while it seemed obvious the point of this video game was to kill as many of them as possible.
The historical aspects are cranked up to the level of fantasy. I don't know how accurate any of it is. Not very, I suspect; but I also think it doesn't really matter.
The language is strangely elevated in tone ("You shall speak of it no more") and everyone speaks in non-American accents
This movie glorified the Greek side. At times, I saw disturbing parallels to America. At times it seemed sort of racist.
Given all that, I still sort of enjoyed the movie. One scene even moved me. It is indeed epic in scope. "Rich with detail" would be another accurate description. The grand naval battles were, well, spectacular.
The 3D is effective. Some of the scenes are beautiful. Much of the movie is bathed in a hazy, dark golden luminosity, an effect I've not seen before.
Eva Green is evilly fantastic. Sullivan Stapleton is nobly hot.
In the end, I'm not sure what this movie really was. At times I thought it merited a 3; at other times a 9. It wasn't schlock or cheesy or campy, although you'd think it would fall easily into those categories.
There was a time in my life when I may have been blown away by a film like this, but that time has passed.