This is completely OFF THE CHAIN!
It’s been a while since I really got excited about a movie. Some of you may remember my praise for Tony Jaa after seeing "Tom Yum Goong", which was released in the States as "The Protector". My excitement was after the fact.
No, what I’m talking about now is a movie that’s not scheduled for release until March: 300. It tells the story of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. More significant is that the film is based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, the creator of Sin City and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, two classics in their own right. Even more significant for me is that the film seems to have captured the look and feel of the graphic novel.
An aside: What is it about Frank Miller that attracts filmmakers to his work?
As someone who grew up reading comics in the 70s and 80s, I’m thrilled to see this kind of heroic aesthetic successfully make the leap from the page to the screen. A good subject for a future post could be why this movie works and why, say, X-Men 1 and Daredevil didn’t. Guess I’ll have to wait until March 9 when it opens.
If you want to see a better version of the trailer, check out the official film site here.
