I far, far preferred the comic. It has a simple, noble beauty to it that the film version utterly lost. That said, the film version is really cool for different reasons. I mean, it's just fun to watch. I also really liked the way the relationship between Leonidas and his wife was handled. I think in part it was because I just liked both actors, but it was surprising to me how tastefully it was done. There was a fairly hot and heavy sex scene in there, but it didn't strike me as cheap the way 99% of those do. I couldn't tell you why... I'd need to see it again.
Lena and Gerard did a greatjob of making their relationship look good -- in their acting. Their relationship was very convincing. Their chemistry on screen was great. If any of those two actors blew any of that, the sex scene would be way out of place -- and pointless.
I also think the hot and heavy sex scene also didn't feel cheap b/c right along w/ most of the movie itself, it was majorly heightened, in some way. It stays w/ the rest of the flick's tone and timing -- especially w/ the use of slow-motion and the way it is aiming at being artsy. I say it's artsy b/c of the different shades of blue the scene uses. It's namely the only colin in that scene, BTW
Most movies, the sex scenes are heightened in some form like it's euphoric or dreamlike -- whether it's in the scene's lighting, the usage of slow motion, the music, the sound, etc etc. This just often don't work, when the rest of the film often has a heavy base of "Reality" thrown.
Anyway, it was good, but not great. On the whole I think Sin City was a much better adaptation. Still, it was far from bad, and there are a lot of things to like about it. I wasn't really disappointed. It turned out about like I thought it would. I think it was just slightly overdone in certain ways... had they cut back on that, it would have been pretty damned close to the comic.
I did not read either graphic comic....
...but I can say that I preferred The Sin City movie over the 300 Movie.
Also, I think the guy who plays Leonidas (his name escapes me) was absolutely fucking perfect. Whoever got him into that role deserves an award. I think that was my favorite element of the whole film... he just seemed born to play the role in terms of attitude, acting, physique, actual facial features... it was really cool.
Gerard Butler is his name.
I thought he was awesome in this movie, as well.
Lastly (I just keep making points when I think I'm done, heh), I didn't really find the film overly violent. I mean, obviously it *was*, but I think it was so over-the-top and a lot of it obviously CG and such that it didn't affect me all that much. I would say Braveheart seems far more violent to me because it depicts it much more realistically (even if it isn't entirely realistic).
Even though Braveheart was more realistically grounded in its violence, something struck me about the combo of the over-the-top violence with the beat-to-death slow-motion 300 had going on. The film basically made you keep up w/ the war-like action here, actually -- unlike most war flicks. To me, you got, for the most part, to see and feel just about every blow -- every single vicious decapitation, body part chopped off, etc etc etc. For the most part, it was a slow-motion dance; a waltz of violence and death.
