Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City), 300 loosely depicts the Battle of Thermopylae where Leonidas I (Gerard Butler) and three hundred Spartans took on Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his massive army of one million soldiers. Zack Snyder, the director of the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, creates visually orgasmic landscapes out of Frank Miller’s two page spreads. Every shot is not only perfectly framed, but the definition of cinematic elegance.
However, the lifeless dialogue and two dimensional characters borders on the edge of boring and annoying. It takes about 45 minutes before the first epic battle sequence breaks out, and the build to this sequence is exhausting.
Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Michael Fassbender, Tom Wisdom, and Andrew PleavinDirected by: Zack Snyder
Release Date: March 9th, 2007
Genres: Action
Running Time: 116 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for graphic battle sequences throughout, some sexuality and nudity.
Distributors: Warner Bros
Snyder’s action sequences are shot like a Michael Bay film on acid. But instead of overusing MTV style fast cuts, Snyder makes use of long steadicam and dolly shots which allow you to see the choreographed action unfold like never before. Over-saturated imagery mixed with innovative slow motion effects, make for an incredibly innovative experience. Blood splatters across the screen like a Jackson Pollock painting.
300 plays like a cinematic video game. Some sequences use a side-scrolling technique borrowed from Old Boy. The action breaks too frequently, and for long lengths of time. To see the Spartan’s fight is badass, to see Spartan’s talk is boring.
One can also see comparisons to modern day politics. The king goes to war without legal approval, leading to the loss of many lives. He believes it is okay to break laws in the course of freedom. There is talk about how Freedom comes at the cost of blood. Of Course, much of the film was directly adapted from the graphic novel which was released in 1998, years before the Bush administration entered office. A subplot added to the film involves a sequence which reveals on of the characters who is verbally against the war to be an outright traitor. It’s obviously hard not to draw comparisons, intended or not.
300 also might be the most sexist and testosterone filled piece of America cinema in the last few years. One sequence involves a full on lesbian orgy. At one point the lead character (the protagonist) passive aggressively bashes a gay culture. Leonidas has little to no qualities for children to look up to. The main villain is a drag queen. The movie is stuffed full of two dimensional values that will no doubt appeal to the lowest common denominator.
The characters, with exception of the minor relationship subplot between the Captain and his son, are unsympathetic and uninteresting. When the Spartans die in battle, you just don’t care. The film instead celebrates the bloodshed but not meaning. There is a little to love, but much to hate.
/Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10
March 11th, 2007 at 7:18 am
I agree entirely … beautiful but empty. Sad, really . The final shots are so powerful that, had I cared at all, would have moved me tremendously. A real missed shot.
March 11th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
why did ya produce this antipersia film?why?why?for what?
do ya know CYRUS THE GREAT?who that refers exiledpeoples to their territories.
do ya know The Cyrus Cylinder?
do ya know that the persians in the past were theist and anti satan.
i know:because the bush is antipersia(anti iran)
why and by
March 14th, 2007 at 6:30 am
Cyrus, I’ve actually lost iq points after reading your comment.
March 16th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
please people find something else to bitch about. if you want to make a statement regarding your feelings about the government, Bush or how much history you don’t remember but had to google then make your own damn film. if you want to criticize the cinematography or poor acting or shitty cg then do it. otherwise go back to democratic Iran and join the freethinkers over there who support human rights
March 19th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Long live Iran.From Azerbaijan to Bluchestan Long
live Iranian. Please, teach your kids what it
means to be proud Irani. Be patient, think good ,
be good & do good, Be a model for others to
follow. That is how the proud Iranian nation
have survived for more than 3 millennium. Movies
come & go. Dominant powers come & go. As an
historian, history changes by victors.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:09 am
I TOTALLY AGREE. This movie was a HUGE missed shot. C’mon now. Compared to all the other great war movies this is the worst. At no time did you EVER see 300 Spartans in battle, they could have CGI’d them or something. It felt like the focus of the battles were on about 3 or 4 guys in a side scrolling mannor who slaghtered more and more enimies. I felt like I was watching somebody play Streets of Rage II
March 21st, 2007 at 12:39 pm
You guys are fucking idots. fuck you. My movie was great. Come fuck me now, i want to have more epik sex scenes.
March 21st, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I suck big dicks. lol
March 24th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
You proved how jealous americans are of the great civilization we have. Of course a person who was born a country with 400 years of history whose incestors were wild indians is not qualified to make a film. Unfortunately USA is a country in which the more stupid you are , the more films you can make !!
March 24th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
as a iranian person i am proud of my ancient history and this film is not indicate real ancient Iranian people -Please first read our history ,then produce a film aboout us - Thank You
March 24th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
hei “King Leonidas” ,The Sea will never get nasty by the mouth of a fuckyDOG. ( A Persian Proverb )
August 26th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Awsome movie, just got my Spartan Bust Roman Statue from www.neo-mfg.com hope they do more movies of this style in the future.
December 12th, 2007 at 11:53 am
300 mexicans is more like it and thene 400 and thene 14858359739574 n tell theres like a shit lode of theme
April 11th, 2008 at 12:04 am
hm….i won’t talk about the history……..but this movie is the best movie i have ever seen in my life……..hands up to GREAT LEONIDAS…….what a movie..? i cant find words ……awesomeST ……
April 29th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I don’t know Peter, I agree with what you are saying about the character development, could have been much better, and some of the dialogue and speeches are so cliche, copied, and forced they are embarassing, but I disagree with your points about gay-bashing.
One thing I liked about the film in our soft, comfortable, effeminate culture was that it wasn’t afraid to be macho, heroic, or politically incorrect. That is amazing, coming from any source these days.
It is ok to disagree with the gay lifestyle and not swallow it whole - your review is an example of how even the slightest hint of not fully accepting homosexuality as totally normal seems to give the average person these days rights to insult the intelligence of the person who is objecting on a moral basis - or maybe just on the basis of some teary-eyed sentimental missing of true, testosterone based male identity. I find it quite revealing that you knee-jerk to the thought police and call the sentiments in the film ones that only appeal to “the lowest common denominator.” In pagan times they did not question homosexuality - but they didn’t pretend like it was normal and anyone who noticed it wasn’t.