300 (2007)

300 is an action movie adapted from a graphic novel by the same name. It’s directed by Zack Snyder, with Frank Miller as executive producer. Frank Miller is the also the man behind the graphic novel. 

In 300 we meet King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), a Spartan king who brings 300 of his finest soldiers to take a stand against the Persian warlord and ‘God-king’ Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his enormous army of slaves.  It is said that Xerxes “Gets everything he puts his eyes at”, and now he wants Greece. A parallel story is going on back in Sparta, where we follow Leonidas’ wife Queen Gorgo as she tries to convince the Spartan council to send the rest of the army to help out the 300 soldiers. If the 300 men loose, the chances of beating Xerxes will be decreased. The story that’s focused on is Leonidas’, so we follow the 300 soldiers the most.  

King Leonidas (to the left) and King Xerxes

The plot in the movie is not revolutionary in any way and the acting is fair enough. Not bad, not at all, but not award winning either. But even though this movie isn’t a perfect 10 movie after the objective reviewer’s criteria, the movie is incredibly entertaining. This is the sort of violence that makes you happy, and as long as you like fighting scenes you will probably like 300. We are also shown a variety of fights, because the giant Persian army has got warriors from many different places: special trained soldiers, elephant riders, large warriors from the East and magicians. The Spartan’s skills were tested in many ways

The movie does not try to be anything else than pure action. There’s no moral questions picked up and it does not touch any philosophic questions. It’s a movie meant for the bloodthirsty audience, with the tall, muscular and handsome Spartans fighting abominations, malformed creatures and oppressed warriors fighting for no cause other than orders. It’s a noble story of how 300 men used their skills and familiar terrain to fight off a horde of soldiers, but even the noblest man can be betrayed and slain. 

The Spartans won another battle against Xerxes' men.

The music is a vital point for great movies, and without a great soundtrack a film that wants to be what we call “epic” can’t be “epic”, because the music is what builds the atmosphere. Without this music that puts you in a state of mind where you want big battles and cool action scenes, the scenes will feel a bit dull. “300” has got this sort of music, and that is why the battle scenes are so great. The connection between the audio and image is important, and I feel that Snyder has done a good job with that.

Looked at through the glasses of objectivism the movie was not amongst the best movies from 2007, but somehow it feels like the producer did not want to make the best movie in the world. He wanted to make an entertaining movie instead of a good but stripped one. I find this movie really entertaining and in that sort of way I like this movie better than many others. Because subjectivity beats objectivity when it comes to movies, and that’s just how it is. And this movie applied to me, because I’m the sort of viewer who likes epic battle scenes. The so-called happy violence, where innocents aren’t hurt, just the two/three/four/hundred parts who participate often spiced up with funny commentaries and cool tricks. 

300 is a film with a high entertainment value that gives us good action with interests, but another thing that makes it so interesting is the Persians with their mysterious magicians, Immortals and damn ugly creatures. Besides the whole setting in ancient Greece is interesting. And most importantly, the way the story is told is what makes it so extremely awesome. I recommend it for all of you out there, but keep in mind that the movie is pretty violent and bloody. And one more thing: this movie can be labeled “For men” (No offense, I’m no sexist), but anyone who like action movies will like this, I promise you. Entertainment at a high level.

   

Official trailer: 300

Example of the music: Spotify or Youtube

- LB

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project is an American low-budget horror movie produced by the Haxan Films production company, and reached the movie theatres in 1999. 

The movie is a horror movie presented as a documentary, where the three young student filmmakers Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams enter the Black Hills in Maryland to film their experiences in the woods that are, according to local myths, haunted by the Blair Witch. The myth says that the people who enter the woods never return, and they go there to document their hike in the large area.

Heather on a rather scary part of the movie.

Before they enter the woods, we see clips from interviews with the locals telling their versions of the myth, about young children gone missing, and stories such as. One of them even claims that she have seen the Witch herself, but everyone thinks she’s just crazy. After that, they enter the woods with no worries at all – this is just a myth, right? 

What’s really interesting in the movie is the camera setting: the entire movie is based on the clips the three students filmed with their two handheld cameras. We usually see all the scenes from both of the cameras, so you get to see the different happenings they experience and the weird things they see from different angles and perspectives. It also makes the horror scenes more intense. One thing is to see three kids run through a forest from above or behind by a still camera, but seeing it through a handheld camera in the hands of one of them makes it more intense and real.

One of the weird obejcts they find in the forest.

Another thing is how “real” the movie feels like. At the beginning we were told that all this was real and the cameras were found in the woods, and at a certain point in the movie I believed that for sure. The acting is really believable, and the camera setting makes it a lot more realistic and helps building up the whole ‘this is based on real footage’ setting. I could also really feel the frustration they shared, and all in all this is a good low-budget movie.

The movie is a horror movie and the excitement is rising all the time. After a while, when this hike in the forest turns out to be something else than what they were expecting, the excitement curve leaps. The age ratings I’ve found goes from 13-15 years (depending on the countries), but I personally don’t care what the age ratings are. I’ve always felt mentally mature enough to watch movies, and so I have. This is a creepy but good movie and a great option if you want to see an alternative movie (it’s not standard Hollywood with guns blazing and insane special effects) with an interesting story. Might not be as scary as you would want, but it’s really exciting. 

Trailer: The Blair Witch Project trailer 
The myth: The Blair Witch legend

- LB

The Troll Hunter (2010)

The Troll Hunter is a Norwegian thriller movie made as a mockumentary, containing many funny elements, directed by André Øvredal. The movie features actors like the Norwegian comedian Otto Jespersen and three relatively unknown actors like Glenn Erland Tosterud, Tomas Alf Larsen and Johanna Mørck.

The movie is about three film students making a documentary about a supposed bear poacher in the Western Norway. They stalk the poacher, Hans, to get an interview with him, but he always avoid them. One night, they follow him into the woods, where they hear weird noises followed by Hans running for his life screaming “TROLL!”, and after this he allows them to follow him on the journey called life, as a troll hunter. He works for a secret governmental department whose job is to seek down and kill trolls that break out of their territories. 

The troll hunter Hans, played by Otto Jespersen

The Troll Hunter is truly inspired by movies such as The Blair Witch Project, but one of the main differences between the two movies is how The Troll Hunter is so humorous compared with The Blair Witch Project. The Blair Witch Project is a movie with a serious story and no funny elements or anything, and all we see is the students being lost, frustrated and scared. The Troll Hunter, in the other hand, uses famous stand-ins in the movie, such as Knut Nærum and Robert Stoltenberg (both comedians), and the whole plot is so distant that it’s funny. Both of the movies are filmed by handheld cameras!

André Øvredal and the rest of the crew have picked great places to shoot the scenes, because the movie gives us Norwegian nature at its best. Western-Norway is known for its beautiful nature, and almost the entire movie is filmed there. The rest is filmed at Dovrefjell, a Norwegian mountain range. The movie does apply a lot to Norwegian culture (old Norwegian adventures, songs for children etc.), and this could be a little confusing for foreign viewers – I laughed while Otto Jespersen sung “Ay-ay-ay-ay-boff-boff” to a big, dumb troll, but I’m not so sure that foreign viewers will get why he sung exactly that song. 

Out in the woods looking for trolls

It’s a pity to say that the special effects were of such variable quality. Some animations looked pretty unfinished, while other scenes were simply amazing. The quality of acting, however, was good - surprisingly good, thinking of the three students. 

I would say that this is a movie worth watching, and many of the aspects are making this movie a good choice at a Friday night. With subtitles, foreigners can watch it and get almost as much out of it as a Norwegian (except from some of the references to Norwegian culture). Everything, from the secret governmental department to the trolls being able to smell sweat from Christian people is just hilarious, and makes this movie a funny mockumentary about a conspiracy. 

The movie is a funny anecdote with no specific age rating. This movie can be seen by everyone in their early teens to the late retirement age, and this is on my recommendation list, mainly because of two reasons: 1) it’s a good movie, and 2) it’s a foreign movie that fits people in Europe and the rest of the world as well as Norwegians. This should not be missed. 

Here's a link to the official trailer, w/ English subtitles: The Troll Hunter

- LB

Inception (2010)

Inception is a science-fiction movie directed, written and produced by Christopher Nolan and features actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

The movie is about a team of dream extractors leaded by Dominick Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who’s on a mission: to plant an idea in another man’s mind. Mr. Saito is the man with the money and wants his rival to split up his dying father’s large corporation. To do this, they need a serious plan, because inception is possible – but just barely! 

With this plot, Nolan created a universe that allowed him to create a sandbox to play with. The characters could do pretty much anything, as anything is possible in dreams. Nolan’s new universe does not let us down, and he shows us what he’s capable of once again. To finish of this paragraph I’ll mention some of his earlier films that has harvested good reviews: Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002) and The Dark Knight (2008).

Once again Leonardi DiCaprio appears in an amazing film, because that is what Inception is. It is a movie with a great plot set in wonderful surroundings, and even with its 2 and a half hour length it never gets boring or uninteresting. The movie is thrilling and filled with action, and the only snag could be that the story might be a little too complicated for some. It’s really complex, and you should be sure to pause the movie if something interrupts you.

Quite confusing, huh?

The movie consists of a nice amount of special effects. In several scenes the characters are testing the boundaries of the nature’s physics, creating things such as paradoxes with staircases etc. We also see a train driving through a trafficked block in a large city and a large avalanche. The movie is a bullseye for those who likes the type of action that is satisfying as well as it forces you to think a bit in order to catch the drift, because you really have to think while watching this one.

Nolan has a created a brand new universe that we haven’t seen the end of yet. Inception is a labyrinth of hot action sequences and romantic memories in a great film that portraits a picture of the human mind as a confusing, complex object that can be breeched at any time, awake or asleep. Nolan has already expressed an intention to develop a video game set to this dream universe, so the idea of dream infiltration is already moving over to different platforms.

Gunfire is one of the things you will see a lot of.

This is definitely a good choice for any viewers that like action movies and movies that are playing games with your mind. One of 2010’s best, and if you call yourself a film lover, this can’t be missed!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is a fantasy movie directed by David Yates, and is based on the novel by the same title by J.K Rowling. 

This is part one of the 7th movie about Harry Potter and his fight against Voldemort – the Dark Lord. In the previous movies we watched Harry working towards this, finding out things about his present and also things about Voldemort. And now he’s back, and he finally knows how to kill the dark Lord – by destroying the horcruxes. But there’s yet another problem: finding those damn items. Living in different places from night to night, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermoine fights to keep the morale and spirit up as everything they know and love seem to fall apart – every night they hear about families killed or disappeared on a radio and every day brings new sorrows. 

Hagrid and Harry on a flying motorcycle.

 One of the things that have bothered me with the earlier movies was that the films missed too many vital points and twisted my picture of the whole Harry-universe so badly that I in fact tried to avoid seeing this one. Reading the book before I saw the movie backfired at me. But this time it felt really right, things in the movie was similar to how I imagined them while reading the book. The movie is divided in two parts to paint a more detailed picture, and that was a smart move. On the other hand it pretty much sucks as the novel this film is based on is scattered – one part where there’s little action and much seeking and arguing, and one part with much action and thrilling scenes. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is about the seeking and arguing. 

What I really love about the Harry Potter movies is the special effects. Weird items and creatures looks brilliant and watching Hagrid and Harry driving a giant motorbike through a tunnel followed by two Death Eaters on flying broomsticks looks awesome. They also make the different places, such as The Burrow (where the Weasley’s live), the Lovegood’s resident etc look very adventure-ish. Special effects such as things exploding when a deadly spell is tossed at it makes the fights with the Death Eaters even more exciting, and one of the scenes where Harry and Hermoine tries to escape Death Eaters uses a very shaky camera and switches angles and perspectives so often that the entire scene feels so intense that it confused me more than it entertained. 

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint play the magical trio that wanders in the woods. They all fit their roles very good, even though the acting is a little shaky now and then. They’ve always fit the books description of them (except from Hermoine. She never had the hair or teeth the books talk about). Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) also looks as repugnant as the books describe him, and Yates manages to do his changes with the story so swift and elegant that it doesn’t matter that some parts of the movie don’t always reflect the book’s twists and turns, but rather change them to fit his cinematic interpretation. Great, Yates! 

Lord Voldemort and his henchmen.

This movie is probably the best Harry Potter film so far. As the 7th book is parted up into 2 pieces it is more detailed than the previous films. July 2011 will bring us the end of this story when Part 2 is ready to be shown. If you’ve read the books you already know what will happen, and those who have seen the previous movies also has a clue of how this one will be. I recommend it especially for those who liked the book series and also to the one who have seen the previous movies. But if you haven’t read the books nor seen the movies, then you won’t get what’s going on (but who haven’t seen or read about Harry Potter?). Good movie, and the next part is longed for!

- LB