Yes, I’m devoting a very large and well decorated blog entry to the “300” DVD release. I recently joined up with the 300 DVD Challenge and am racing to be in the top ten. You would think I’d had my fill of this movie, but I have to follow it through to the end. The DVD is the last stand of the 300 and I want to be right there in the ranks with it.
“300” comes out on DVD on July 31st. You’ll have two editions to choose from and already, I am itching to get my hands on the special edition. It has hours of bonus footage and a prominent Gerry Butler on the cover.
This movie has, strangely, been following me around for the last year. I watched it develop from the casting of Gerard Butler, to the first photo stills, to each production diary video. It was facinating. I had never gotten to follow a movie from its beginnings before. I couldn’t wait to see the finished product. I knew this movie was going to be huge. Fans of Miller’s original graphic knocked the way they were filming it, but I was convinced that Zack Snyder had made the right decision. This was going to set it apart from all those ancient-themed bombs like “Troy” and “Alexander.”
When it was announced that there was going to be a “300” panel at ComicCon, I threw caution and financial consideration into the winds and flew out there. I wanted to see Gerard Butler and David Wenham in person. I wanted to see the footage before anyone else.
What was surprising about Comic-Con was how few people had even heard of “300.” How could they be comic book geeks? It seemed to have such a huge presence on the Internet, how could any self-respecting Frank Miller fan be in the dark? Once the movie came out, everyone claimed to have been “in the know” and anxiously awaiting that panel. Ah well. As long as they came around in the end.
I’ll never forget that first preview. We were pitched into complete darkness and booming over that 5,000 seat auditorium: “SPARRRTTANS!! Tonight, we dine in HELL!” Not even all the Internet jokes and overquoting killed that line for me, because I have that first, fresh memory. I was blown away. I had seen early photos and such, but nothing had prepared me for what it would look like in motion. It was the panels brought to life–and better. It was raw, fierce, violent and sexy. Gratitious in every way and unapologetic in being so. Gerard Butler and David Wenham scurried to the screen to watch it with as, as excited as we were. They played that preview three times. We all could have gone for a fourth or fifth.
It seemed a long, long time until March. I kept trying to sell the movie to people, but no one got it. No one believed me that this incredibly cool movie was right around the corner.
And then, in an odd twist of luck, I was invited to attend the famous Butt Numb A Thon. I was wildly hoping “300” might be one of the previews, but it seemed a bit much to hope for. It was enough to get into BNAT at all, “300” would be dark chocolate icing in the cake.
But play it did. At 11am, after 24 solid hours of film, I got to see the movie I had been following since the previous fall. I thought I was lucky to see the Comic-Con panel, but now I was seeing this before the rest of the world–and with Zack Snyder right there on the sidelines. It was, oddly, a repeat of Comic-Con…here was a theatre of film geeks who’s radar had not included “300” at all. Crazy! But I envied them a bit too, because they were being slammed with something they’d never seen, whereas “300” was an old friend of mine. I almost felt like I’d already seen it.
And as if my connection with this film hadn’t been long-winded enough, my review of it ended up being published on Aint It Cool News. I was the first woman to have ever reviewed it. No one will ever care about that bit of trivia but me, but there it is.
The wait from December to March was agony. I couldn’t wait for my family and friends to see it. Few believed me how cool it was. The excitement when the movie came out was unlike anything I had seen since Lord of the Rings. Lines that wrapped around the IMAX theatre. Men and women of all ages going to see this movie, which had become a sensation overnight. It was so exciting. You would have sworn I was in it, or had a hand in the production. It’s stupid to be thrilled like that, but I was.
I was especially happy for Gerard Butler, who has taken some hard knocks during his career. He worked his ass off for the movie, physically and mentally, and it was gratifying to see everyone respond so well to his performance. I’m a bit sad to lose him to the world of fame, but it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Meeting him was one of the highlights of my nerdy young life.
And the movie is just brilliant. It doesn’t pretend to be anything but a cool action movie and anyone who sniffs at it for being grandiose only looks stupid in the end. The movie has no pretention. It was a good bit of grown-up fun at a time when the cinema was desperately lacking in it.
If you haven’t seen it, do. If your a woman, you’ll love the loincloths and eight packs (count ’em, there’s more than six) and the fact that every guy you know will walk out feeling like garbage. (It’s more than their turn, how many times have we felt that way watching the latest Angelina Jolie movie?) And you’ll love the haunting romance between Leonidas and Gorgo. It is about time grown-ups got to see some adult loving.
If your a guy…well, there’s not much more that you could ask for. Except, perhaps, that Gerard Butler had worked out those pectorals a little less…
I can’t wait to see Zack Snyder’s take on “Watchmen.” I admit to having only just read the book, but I’m really curious to see if Snyder can bring that entire epic to the big screen. And I’m dead curious what part he wants to give Butler–I rather sense Leonidas might be sailing The Black Freighter…
Either way, I’d like to be there from the beginning again. So how about it, Mr. Snyder? Got room on the set for one more?