Merrick again...

...with two more messages from last night's screening of FRANK MILLER'S 300.

I've had a really good vibe about this film since some of the earliest video diaries were revealed, and I'm desperately curious to see how the final product shakes out.

Word is: this cut of the film is an uncompromising, hard "R". This is fantastic to hear -- we've been hit with too many diminished/pansyfied movies recently & I firmly believe audiences are waiting for (if not longing for) some good, old-fashioned Verhoeven-level excess. Rawness gives movies so much more...energy. Life. Something missing in many films these days.

First up? The Spartan -- who says 300 "will go down in the history books and will be talked about for years to come"...

Tonight, I attended a screening of Zach Snyder’s "300."

There are no words to describe how brilliant the film is. I just want to scream right now because the thought of having to wait seven months at the very least to see the film again is going to be absolute torture.

It’s been hours since viewing the film but already I am being haunted by it. My mind keeps replaying many of the breathtaking scenes over and over in my head. Limbs being chopped off. Goat creatures. Lesbian kisses. Watching the movie, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.

Zach Snyder has created a masterpiece. Imagine “Sin City” meets “Gladiator” and you have “300.” A movie which will go down in the history books and will be talked about for years to come.

Each scene is filled with breathtaking imagery, at times I could have sworn that I was looking at paintings by Da Vinci moving on the screen. Major kudos to the special effects team as well as to the cinematographer. The movie is an artistic masterpiece. For a movie which isn’t coming out for seven months, the special effects looked nearly complete. There were a few shots here and there which need some work but for the most part everything looked great. If you thought the stuff in Sin City looked amazing wait until you catch this flick.

As for the cast, Gerard Butler in the lead was absolutely fantastic. I’m convinced that if you look up the word badass in the dictionary, his picture will show up. He’s the fucking epitome of cool and this is the movie which is going to finally launch his career. He’s been producing amazing work for the past few years (i.e. The Phantom of the Opera, Dear Frankie) but this is the movie which is going to make him a star. He brings Leonidas alive and is believable as both a husband as well as a warrior.

His wife Queen Gorgo played by the beautiful Lena Headey is absolutely vicious. She hasn’t really had a movie which lets her shine but with this she can finally showcase her talent.

One thing which was so great about the movie was how much it felt like a hard R film of the past. It seems in recent years, movies have worked so hard to achieve the ever so desired PG-13. Cutting sex scenes down to mere glimpses of a woman’s back or cutting away from scenes of extreme violence. Snyder decides to show the audience everything and it really is a treat. There’s one scene in particular that keeps replaying in my head and it is of one of the oracles dancing nude. It was so naturally beautiful and haunting at the same time.

I can write pages and pages about this movie but I’ve decided that it’s best to go into the movie as the audience today did, knowing as little as possible. “300” is that rare film which delivers on action, drama and raw emotion. I felt so strange to have felt touched by the film in the end. It’s weird to be writing this but if Warner Brothers was really smart they’d release the movie next December f and try to push it as an Oscar contender. Yeah, it kills me to have to wait even longer but I truly felt that this movie was on par with “Gladiator.” It was that amazing! You're all in for a real treat when this movie is released in theaters.

If you use this review, please call me The Spartan.

Here's Sirand, who says "300 blew me the fuck outta my seat"...

Hey, guys. You're probably being flooded with reviews from tonight's screening of 300, so I'll keep mine brief:

I just saw the best movie of this year... and it's technically a movie from NEXT year! To be honest with you, as cool as Zach Snyder's DAWN remake was, I remained pretty skeptical about his abilities to tackle several classic graphic novels (even though AICN seemed to hail him as the Second Coming).

Thankfully, the test screening of 300 blew me the fuck outta my seat. This film is bloody, hyper-stylized, and absolutely gorgeous to look at (even with incomplete FX). If the studio execs trim a frame from this one, I'm gonna be royally pissed!

That's about it. It's late, and I don't feel like typing anymore. Sucks that I have to wait over 6 months to see this baby again. Right now it looks like Frank Miller has two masterpieces adapted from his work. Not too shabby. And if Snyder's version of 'Watchmen' is half as cool as this movie, we'll all be in fanboy heaven.

Just call me Sirand

Thanks for the messages, guys.

You can check out the film's official website (including the above mentioned video diaries) HERE!

300 is currently slated for a March 16, 2007 release.