Sunday, March 18, 2007

300 guys

Some time ago I came by 300, a Frank Miller graphic novel with a
striking cover. The starkness of the book's colour palette seemed to me
to balance the absence of words. It is of course what graphic novels
do, but I was struck then by how little dialogue was needed to depict
war. As 300 Spartans held back Asia's relentless hordes, this book
plunged into the war, weaving between its characters like a movie
camera in a battlefield. Part of the book's mastery was in its power to
suggest something - a slash or a thrust - and have us imagine the
violent follow through. So words counted for little in this novel even
though the book itself was a retelling of the battle. It was classy war
pornography.

With this in mind, I braced myself in seat K2 of a dark hall yesterday,
armed with popcorn and a coke. The theatre brimmed with a horde of
young men, some clearly years away from admittance to an 'A' certified
movie. They came prepared like spectators at the Colliseum. The first
moments, where a baby is dangled over a ravine containing skeletons of
other babies, hint at what's to follow. They put in place a tenuous
prehistory to what is the main event. What this director, Zack Snyder,
really wants to show you is that main event. He's as eager for war as
the Spartans are. Every so often his characters assault women, jump
into orgies, and consult a fetching oracle. I like comic books, and
enjoy the stereotype of the fan they play up to ("likes muscular
bodies, big guns, large hybrid beasts and spandex") but this was too
heavyhanded for my taste. These incidents are held by a slender thread,
and just as they are on the verge of snapping, on comes another battle.

The war scenes by themselves are surreal in their effect, as the
director changes angles, colour, and slows down the pace before raising
the tempo again. There are two particularly delicious fights inspired
by video games. One is when a Spartan breaks out of his cordon and cuts
through a rush of enemies with his sword and deflects others with his
shield. The camera runs with him at the screen's centre, making him and
his enemies two-dimensional. Gamers will know what that's about. The
other fight is a trick we've witnessed in kung-fu flicks as well as the
second Matrix movie, but here we know they're fighting a losing battle,
that this bravery has its price - two Spartans, back-to-back, overcome
dozens coming at them from every conceivable angle, materialising out
of the mist. I'm in the market for this movie's conceptual art.

A few hours later I couldn't help but wonder: its weakest moments were
its overwrought dialogue. In this manner, I though, it continued to
evolve the language of earlier Arnold and Stallone guy movies, of
comebacks and dramatic declarations interspersed with the universal
language of guns and bombs. Then came Gladiator and its close relation,
The Mummy. After which came Kingdom of Heaven, Alexander, and Troy, all
in a short span. Now this. Of all the things it could have become, it
chose to be a guy movie.



____________________________________________________________________________________
8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time
with the Yahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut.
http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#news

4 comments:

alex said...

If a spirited Episcopalian takes an interest xanax in the almshouse, and is put on the Poor Board, every other denomination must have a minister there, lest the poorhouse be changed into St.. The next morning her story was that during the night she had been on the xanax sea, thus continuing the interrupted trip.. Van Kamp, but trileptal this water belongs to us.. Hour after hour passed, and her wrath refused to be celexa quelled.. Smiley he stood scratching his head and looking down at Dan'l a long time, viagra and at last says, I do wonder what in the nation that frog throwed off for--I wonder if there ain't something the matter with him--he 'pears to look mighty baggy, somehow.. The simplest way to approximate two dream thoughts, which have as yet nothing in common, consists in making such a change in the actual expression of one idea clindamycin as will meet a slight responsive recasting in the form of the other idea.. His hands were simvastatin large, and mine.. No; my zantac wife usually 'tends to the town bizness, while I run the church and farm.. Dare iz te pottle--elp yourself, und pe tam'd! toprol With these words he let fall a heavy bottle of Kirschenwaesser, which, dropping precisely upon the crown of my head, caused me to imagine that my brains were entirely knocked out.. It is always curious the extent of influence ritalin that some men have upon wives who are their superiors.. As a rule, however, the identity of the blended persons is only discoverable by analysis, and is only indicated in the dream content by the formation of the combined phentermine person.. They remind one of all sorts of crestor childish, superstitious notions, which make up the thread and woof of dream books, read by none but the ignorant and the primitive.. It's-a flexeril -pleasant-evening.. Just then a remarkably handsome carriage drove up adderall to the private door of the hotel.. A long plank was put out from her side, and the debarkation commenced. coumadin..

alex said...

If a spirited Episcopalian takes an interest celebrex in the almshouse, and is put on the Poor Board, every other denomination must have a minister there, lest the poorhouse be changed into St.. The next morning her story was that during the night she had been on the nexium sea, thus continuing the interrupted trip.. Van Kamp, but viagra this water belongs to us.. Hour after hour passed, and her wrath refused to be estradiol quelled.. Smiley he stood scratching his head and looking down at Dan'l a long time, lexapro and at last says, I do wonder what in the nation that frog throwed off for--I wonder if there ain't something the matter with him--he 'pears to look mighty baggy, somehow.. The simplest way to approximate two dream thoughts, which have as yet nothing in common, consists in making such a change in the actual expression of one idea viagra as will meet a slight responsive recasting in the form of the other idea.. His hands were doxycycline large, and mine.. No; my valium wife usually 'tends to the town bizness, while I run the church and farm.. Dare iz te pottle--elp yourself, und pe tam'd! quinine With these words he let fall a heavy bottle of Kirschenwaesser, which, dropping precisely upon the crown of my head, caused me to imagine that my brains were entirely knocked out.. It is always curious the extent of influence insulin that some men have upon wives who are their superiors.. As a rule, however, the identity of the blended persons is only discoverable by analysis, and is only indicated in the dream content by the formation of the combined doxycycline person.. They remind one of all sorts of xanax childish, superstitious notions, which make up the thread and woof of dream books, read by none but the ignorant and the primitive.. It's-a acetaminophen -pleasant-evening.. Just then a remarkably handsome carriage drove up captopril to the private door of the hotel.. A long plank was put out from her side, and the debarkation commenced. lexapro..

alex said...

If a spirited Episcopalian takes an interest adderall in the almshouse, and is put on the Poor Board, every other denomination must have a minister there, lest the poorhouse be changed into St.. The next morning her story was that during the night she had been on the norvasc sea, thus continuing the interrupted trip.. Van Kamp, but advair this water belongs to us.. Hour after hour passed, and her wrath refused to be ultram quelled.. Smiley he stood scratching his head and looking down at Dan'l a long time, actos and at last says, I do wonder what in the nation that frog throwed off for--I wonder if there ain't something the matter with him--he 'pears to look mighty baggy, somehow.. The simplest way to approximate two dream thoughts, which have as yet nothing in common, consists in making such a change in the actual expression of one idea soma as will meet a slight responsive recasting in the form of the other idea.. His hands were avelox large, and mine.. No; my neurontin wife usually 'tends to the town bizness, while I run the church and farm.. Dare iz te pottle--elp yourself, und pe tam'd! potassium With these words he let fall a heavy bottle of Kirschenwaesser, which, dropping precisely upon the crown of my head, caused me to imagine that my brains were entirely knocked out.. It is always curious the extent of influence phentermine that some men have upon wives who are their superiors.. As a rule, however, the identity of the blended persons is only discoverable by analysis, and is only indicated in the dream content by the formation of the combined synthroid person.. They remind one of all sorts of clonazepam childish, superstitious notions, which make up the thread and woof of dream books, read by none but the ignorant and the primitive.. It's-a xanax -pleasant-evening.. Just then a remarkably handsome carriage drove up premarin to the private door of the hotel.. A long plank was put out from her side, and the debarkation commenced. cialis..

alex said...

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ...