300: I was worried 300 was going to be a war propaganda film. And it is. Complete with references to 'all the hoardes of asia', a fascinating but evil transgender leader & a token Feebleness-of-Body-reflects-Feebleness-of-Mind character. 300 is a fine example of pop culture's greatest achievement: the comforting lie.

I couldn't help but compare it to V for Vendetta. Both films attempt to examine ideas of honour and mortality, of legacy and victory, of troubling solutions for troubled times. But V for Vendetta struck me as a very brave film to make, and 300 just seems like more trouble.

His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives.
-- V for Vendetta

Or excuses.

Comparing the films took me on a tangent about what I believe are the responsibilities of art (none) and the values of censorship (none). It made me think that it's even more important than ever to allow freedom of speech. If for no other reason than we need to know what crazy-arsed violence informs the fantasies of our fellow humans, what inchoate rage they're trying to voice, what mess and mix of fascination and frustration art is attempting to capture and reflect back at its audience. This is the world as it stands. This is Sparta.

The irony of 300, for me, is that I didn't hate it. In fact, I really rather enjoyed the bloodlust and screaming and the surreal, washed-out sepia of the visuals. 'This. Is. SPARTA!' I said for days afterwards whenever I found myself duty bound to do something I didn't want to do. Iron a shirt? Answer the phone? THISISSPARTA!!

That's where 300's true power lies: it gives a voice to the rage & frustration of the modern day, with its invisible enemies & invisible ties that bind. This, I assure you, is fucking SPARTA.

Shooter: I was worried Shooter was going to be a war gun propaganda film. And ... I'm not really sure *what* it is. Angry at its government, yes. Trusting none but itself, sure. A film about honour and justice (as per its movie blurb)? Er...

...a sleek, scattershot and vigorously incoherent vigilante flick that assumes the high ground just long enough to slay every corrupt dirt-ball in its path.
--Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

A less musclebound 'Rambo' reimagined for the politically disgusted era of Dubya ...
-- John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

This may well be a film that thinks it has something to say. But if you give in to the idea of rough justice & ignore the occasional dutiful and hopeless appeal-to-authority, really this film is about paranoia and violence. And though we may tut-tutt the senselessness of that anti-message, or try to find a way to justify the guilty pleasures of its catharsis, really what we've got is a violent, paranoid film, giving voice to a violent, paranoid world.

Which is a perfectly delicious way to pass two hours -- but I wouldn't want to live there.