300

Can's say this for all but for me, salsa is addictive. Where there's a salsa beat, there's a salsa move. Sure ... the fire doesn't burn out .... it just sizzles slowly ... and sometimes ... you just feel tired.

You want a rest. A break.

That's when we go watch a movie together ! Ok, I admit. Besides salsa, I like photography .. I lov e to sing ... and occasionally if it doesn't clash with my salsa lessons, I'd love to catch a movie. And incidentally, I just saw 300. No, not 300 movies ... and it's not the number of DVD titles I have either. It's the title to this new movie by Frank Miller ... hey come on, Frank Miller? Sin City? No?

Ok, ok ... here it is.



300 is a 2007 film adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller about the Battle of Thermopylae. The film is directed by Zack Snyder with Frank Miller attached as an executive producer and consultant, and was shot mostly with bluescreen to mimic the original comic book work. 300 stars Gerard Butler (Trainspotting, Dracula 2000, Tomorrow Never Dies), Lena Headey (The Cave, The Brothers Grimm), Rodrigo Santoro (Charlie's Angel, Love Actually, Stuart Little 2), Andrew Tiernan and David Wenham.

I missed the starting bit as I was late but as I walked into the cinema hall, my eyes were already glued to the screen watching mighty King Leonidas (pronounced Leo-nai-das) kicking this funny-dressed black fellow into a dark deep hole. Well, I am very tempted to tell you what happened but I'd rather you watch the movie.

Spartans believe that death on the battlefield is their greatest glory, and so they train their sons to become warriors from a very young age, forcing them to leave home and live amongst the wilderness for years as a test of willpower and strength. This is the path Leonidas (Gerard Butler) takes as a child -- trained to fight by his father -- and sent into the woods to do battle against mother nature and a lone, fierce-looking wolf. When Leonidas emerges, he is king of Sparta -- a militant man who will fight to the death any army that threatens to strip him of his wife, his home and his freedom.

But all is not well in Sparta; the Persians are advancing, and they have sent a messenger to offer Leonidas a deal: kneel down before Persian King Xerxes and your people will be spared rape, torture and death. Before the Spartan council can discuss the matter, Leonidas takes it upon himself to promptly kill the messenger and declare war .......


Finally, after a long drawn-out opening (which felt as if it were written by a seven year-old, and not the great Frank Miller), Zack Snyder's epic battle sequences begin.


Well, since this is not a movie site ... I am not going to give a lengthy rating and review. I'll summarize the whole thingy into a sentence.

Go watch it. It's bloody good.

Ok, ok .. that's 2 sentences. So sue me.