Last night's movie was 300.
Basically, it's about Sparta and a war with the Persians. It starts out with an narrator explaining how Spartan boys were trained to become warriors, then we see the king meeting with the messenger from the Persian god/king who wants Sparta to surrender and kneel to him. Of course, that message didn't go over real well. The king, though, can't take Sparta to war unless the oracle gives permission and the bad guy has bribed the oracle to say no. In order to circumvent that, the king takes 300 soldiers and calls them his personal bodyguard or something like that and they go off to fight the Persians.
I only made it halfway through this movie. Quite frankly, I was bored. This is the second of those graphic novels made into films that I've tried to watch and the second one that I didn't particularly like. (The first was Sin City.) I'm thinking this will be the last of this type of movie that I watch because it apparently isn't something that holds my attention. Or maybe it's just graphic novels by Frank Miller that bore me. (Yes, I had to look up his name, but this guy did both 300 and Sin City.)
While I was watching the movie, I started getting up and wandering away. I checked out flowers online, I folded and put laundry away, I played Hearts. My interest had perked up slightly once the battle scenes began, but after the meeting between the Spartan king and the Persian king took place, my attention waned again. I went online and read the spoilers for 300 and I didn't like what happened. I turned it off and did other stuff.
The other problem I had with the film was that from almost the minute it started, I kept thinking, "that's not true." It happened over and over. I don't know if I was calling on knowledge picked up in a past life or from my tenth grade Social Studies class, but having that thought continually come up didn't help me get into the story at all.
I've been considering this, wondering why this movie just didn't do it for me, and I think I have the answer. I didn't care about any of the characters. None. All we get is background about how Spartan boys are trained, then we're right into the arrival of the messenger. There's barely any personal glimpses given into any of the characters and it makes it hard to feel invested in the battle scenes. Actually, it was hard to be invested in any part of the story, period, because I didn't have a connection to any character.
I'm not sure I should rate it since I didn't finish the movie, but I will anyway.
2 stars.
