Film Review: 300

By: DThompson | in: Comics, Movies |

Wasn’t it just a little while ago that so-called “green screen” movies, movies shot entirely on green sound stages so as to add completely computer generated everything later on, were regarded as unusual?

300

I remember when Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow’s very existence was owed to the fact that it looked like nothing you’d ever seen. Ah, but then came Star Wars II and Star Wars III and most importantly Sin City and it was no longer enough to look like a barrel of gold monkeys, now you had to tell a good story to boot. Because, all complaints about the Star Wars films aside, they were exciting action films and Sin City, that’s some kind of freakin’ masterpiece that is. Finally, the actual look of a comic book had been translated perfectly to screen, not just some goofy over-colored, camp nonsense they called “comic book” but the REAL look and feel of a graphically original set of stories.

300

So, you’d hope, even though Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller had not zip to do with it, that 300 would have learned a lesson or two. The good news is piled as high as the Persian dead my friend because this movie again perfectly recreates the look and feel of the original insanely over-priced graphic novel right down to the insanely over-priced ticket they sell you on entry. The book is mostly told in hues of brown and highlights of red perfectly matched in the film’s pallate. The story, poorly told in 1962’s The 300 Spartans is full of excitement and energy and feeling. Modernistic dialogue touches like “Freedom isn’t free”, “A helluva good start” and the overused “Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!” chant do little to distract from the overal good time.

300

A hyper macho male voice-over suffuses the story and grounds it in its basic theme of freedom versus slavery. The Spartans, with their insanely militaristic, kill the baby if it isn’t strong enough culture represent “freedom”; in this case, the freedom to be so manly you don’t dare tell your wife you love her. More generally, I suppose, the Spartan’s freedom is the freedom to live life the way you choose to and who cares what the neighbors think. The Persians under King Xerxes, who calls himself a god and is always asking people to kneel before him, represent “slavery”. It’s important to remember that the Western tradition Europe and America spring from is based on the Helenistic or Greek tradition and that includes Sparta; whereas the Persians are still about only now they call themselves Iran. Coincidence? I think not.

Xerxes, who, in my opinion, has the coolest name in all of ancient history, is presented as a really tall, really large bald guy with about a thousand pounds of bling on. The pictures I saw in my text books showed a dumpy guy with a curly beard but this is all part of 300’s mis-en-scene which attempts to inject elements of a Greek mythological tale into its story. There’s another ogreish being later on as well as numerous humans that are really just this side of monsters.

Throw in a few giant battle rhinos and three or four nasty gore smeared elephants and it’s almost like a segment from the Hercules legend. You might expect this to detract from the story but these fastastical additions come far enough into the film that you’re more than ready for them. Face it, if you can’t handle one little battle rhino how in the ever loving history of the aincient world are you going to deal with three hundred guys holding off an army of thousands? Unlike Zodiac which gets its power from realistically following true events, 300 only gains strength from its excesses.
There was a time just a few years ago when I was certain that The 13th Warrior was the best barbarians versus overwhelming odds film ever. How wrong I was. The heightened visual sense of 300, the constant breaking into slow motion to watch blood and body parts fly, the use of peudo-metal music on the soundtrack may mean that this is not your grandpa’s B.C. swordfight film. But you weren’t up to see a film your grandpa loved anyway.
VERDICT: Go. Go now.

Here’s the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDiUG52ZyHQ

[Subscribe to this feed]

Posted on March 10, 2007

Comments

11 Responses to “Film Review: 300”

NLAL on March 10th, 2007 12:42 pm

By far the best movie since Gladiator.
Encore, encore, encore.
I see oscar’s in the end…….

Linda Hyatt on March 10th, 2007 5:06 pm

So by your review , I can’t tell if you liked it or not ???????? But I can tell you I loved it , I loved the acting [ Gerard Butler ] #1…. and it has to be seen in IMAX , to get the full effect .. and yes a lot of the story is true , they did do that to babies… to this day their are still tribes that do the same thing !!! watch the discovery channel ! I had been wating for this film for 6 months , and it lived up to every minute I had waited for … I hope it kills at the box office !!! and I agree , I hope it gets some oscar’s in the end !!!!!!!!

JIM on March 10th, 2007 9:08 pm

First of all I have to say I loved every minute of it. I remember my father telling me that story as a kid but didnt really apriciate it till now.I think it will do great at the box office.

Franklin on March 10th, 2007 9:28 pm

Legand has it that they are the sons of Hercules. History has it that 300 stood against, some Historians say 2 million, others 2 hundred thousdand. Regardless, of the of which it is. When 300 defeat possibly 10 times their numbers, there is no disputing that they were indeed the true sons of Hercules.

D Thompson on March 11th, 2007 3:49 am

Linda Hyatt: So by your review , I can’t tell if you liked it or not ????????
I LOVED IT! That said, I noticed it’s flaws, but I’d hoped that while I mentioned the films few bad points that I was also making it clear that its many good points far outweighed them. My fault. I promise to do better next time and let me repeat GO. GO NOW!

erik on March 11th, 2007 6:36 am

Good movie, but not historically accurate. In the last battle the 300 spartans were not alone. There were about 1000 other soldiers from other city states that stayed with the spartans. Also the movie completly leaves out all of the naval battles that were going on at the same time.

ron on March 12th, 2007 9:58 am

this movie was ok and kinda dumb. conveniently left out is that half of spartas population were slaves of some sort.

also, persia didnt have battle rhinos or elephants either. athens won the important naval battle of salamis a year later to really send the persians packing for home. thermopylae was actually a disaster for greece.

I Harper on March 20th, 2007 3:58 am

The Battle of Thermoplylae was not a disaster by any means it was excepted it could never be won and was about delaying the Persians long enough for Greece to unify its forces, plus it demonstrated that the unstoppable force that was the Persian Empire could be stopped. Although Xerxes eventually managed to over power the Spartans (by treachery) it was a Pyrrhic victoryas his loses were so heavy that it took away any sense of success. Plus the propaganda coo it created for the Mediterranean forces at the time was immense. Paradoxically it was one of the emptiest victories in military history, a disaster for the Persians certainly not the Greeks. The film appears to be steeped in metaphor e.g. the elephants and Rhinos it does not pertain to be an exact historical account, I doubt even the film makers are making this claim.
Proff I Harper PhD (Ancient History)

Jim Dunn on March 21st, 2007 6:48 pm

the movie was so dumb! not historical nor drama. It was like a computer game and the director was not sure what to bring on!!!!! He had few elephants from India, some black from Africa, Samurai front Japan, Arabs from Egypt and even some body builders as Greeks! If anybody read the history then you will seat there and have a good laugh! I can just say: It was a trouble movie!!!!

300-DVD.com on June 26th, 2007 2:20 pm

I totally enjoyed your review, in fact I just quoted you on our homepage at 300-DVD.com (link and all).

You’re the second of what will be a dozen quotes from good blog reviews we’re adding in prep for the DVD launch. Nice work.

The Plugg: Best Moments in Film 2007 : Maor Ezer on December 8th, 2007 6:13 am

[…] • The giant armored battle rhino. There’s something you don’t see every day. 300. […]