"Meet the Spartans, a society built on reason, sit-ups, and child abuse."
The guys at Screen Junkies have done it again. With their running series of "Honest Trailers," they mock the flaws of some of Hollywood's biggest movies. And while the results might rattle the cages of fans, they are nonetheless hilarious. For their 50th entry in this web series, Screen Junkies have taken on Zack Snyder's 300, from its over-the-top machismo to its nonsensical blend of fact and fiction, and its male-to-female nipple ratio.
In many ways, 300 has aged into an easy target. The look that was so groundbreaking back in 2006 has since been endlessly copied in movies, commercials, and Instagram. The yelling--in a Scottish accent--seems downright silly out of context. Its growly and ardent masculinity becomes homoerotic. And I mean, "mutant Persian goat men?" That just never made sense.
But this vid has bigger fish to fry. Sure, there's a throwaway slam at the fast-approaching 300 sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire. But it seems this trailer's true target is Snyder's yet-to-be made Superman Vs. Batman project. Basically, they call him out as a director of style, not substance. He revels in moody filters and slo-mo action, but does that make Snyder a good fit for a Batman movie? Notably, Screen Junkies has also ripped into Snyder's Man of Steel.
Of course, Honest Trailers isn't the first movie-mocking web series to pierce the brawny exterior of 300. A couple of years back, the crew from How It Should Have Ended gave this garish epic a re-watch, and offered a few critiques of their own:
Give it a few weeks, and we'll likely have new vids from Honest Trailers and How It Should Have Ended about 300: Rise of an Empire. Can you spot anything worthy of barbs in the movie's trailer?
300: Rise of an Empire opens March 7th.
