300 (2006)

User Review

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  Barneyonmovies

  2 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: Weirdly, the general consensus around '300' is that it's just fluffy and weightless "fun," but clearly the bloody single-track narrative here is only a device for visual and thematic portrayal rather than anything else. Indeed on that front you can only really find merit in the dreamy editing, and in the fact that the film can, at a stretch, be interpreted as its very own antithesis as Snyder's serious (if rather hideous) visuals and the extent to which he shows the dangers of this kind of mentality can occasionally be interpreted in that way.
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: At the same time however, the fact it never delves remotely deeply into any of that or builds a narrative from it (and the fact it seems to enjoy the bare chests and dark ugliness just a little too much) either suggests that Snyder's trying desperately to provoke his audience, or more realistically that he might not have much of a grasp on what he's doing and is instead staying ridiculously faithful to the source material without fully understanding it. Either way, it doesn't have anything to say thereafter, and the fact it takes itself so seriously and makes visual statements far beyond its grasp means it feels horribly unintelligent and laughably pretentious. On top of that there's literally nothing to engage the audience as every single character is - if intentionally - madly one-dimensional and single-minded, and the end result is genuinely one of the most distasteful and dull blockbusters of recent years.
  VERDICT: '300' might have one vaguely interesting thing to say, but it fails to explore it, build a narrative around it, or even let it bubble under the surface of something more engaging or exciting. That's a real issue in a film that thinks it's the most intelligent thing in the world, and sadly in the end you'd probably be better off watching paint dry.

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