300
Published by Kaonashi March 2nd, 2007 in Action, Film Adaptation, Drama, Period Piece, Historical, Comic Book, Reviews, Genres.
Title: 300
Year: 2007
Director: Zach Snyder
Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Rodrigo Santoro
Rated: R
NoFace for Film rating: 6 out of 7
Yes, my friends. I have seen an early screening of 300, which doesn’t come out until next Friday. You cannot imagine the glee I felt when I came upon this opportunity. I actually got to go to Warner Bros. Studios (which is like, 20 minutes away from me) and watch it there. And now, I get to tell you all about the awesomeness that is this film.
But first, a disclaimer. I haven’t read the graphic novel. Believe me, I sure as hell plan to, but I didn’t want to spoil the film for myself. Anyway, because of that when I wrote the review, I couldn’t compare the film with the original source material.
300 is based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name. In turn, the graphic novel is a loose retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, as seen from the perspective of King Leonidas of the military city-state of Sparta. When the mighty Persian army arrives in Greece, intending to conquer Sparta and the other loosely knit Greek city-states, King Leonidas (Butler) makes a stand. Against the wishes of the holy men and politicians, Leonidas takes 300 of his finest warriors to face an army numbering reportedly in the millions. Controlling the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae, the Spartans send a clear message to the self-proclaimed, Persian God-King Xerxes (Santoro) that they aren’t going down without a fight. And fight they do.
If you’ve seen either of the trailers, you get just a taste of how beautiful and stylish this film looks. Nearly every frame of film looks like a piece of art- or rather, a panel from a comic book. Indeed, like Sin City, many scenes from 300 are straight out of the graphic novel, which Snyder referred to as “Frank frames”. The film in 300 is a muted and grainy sepia color. According to producer Jeffrey Silver, Snyder created a photographic process called “the crush”, which consisted of crushing the black content of the image and enhancing the color saturation to change contrast ratio of the film.
The battle sequences are absolutely amazing. You can’t help but gasp when you see a long shot of an army that would put Sauron’s forces at Minas Tirith from The Return of the King to shame. However, I enjoyed the close-up fight scenes the most. Often times the fighting seemed like a brutal ballet. Born and bred to fight, the Spartan warriors effortlessly slash, spear, and hack their enemies. And yes, the scenes are quite bloody. Limbs and heads are separated from torsos, and digital blood sprays everywhere. Survivors are not spared.
The actors overall did a fine job in their respective roles. Butler exudes leadership, strength, and plain old badassness as King Leonidas. West is in fine Judas form as the oily politician Theron. Santoro makes a terrifically comical Xerxes, portrayed in the film as being about 8 feet tall and effeminate. There’s no depth to him but he is after all, a comic book villain. I especially enjoyed Headey as Queen Gorgo. I love seeing strong female characters in films with a male-centered cast because it’s difficult to accomplish. She reminded me a lot of Connie Nielsen’s Queen Lucilla in Gladiator.
As great as I thought this film was, there are some weaknesses, notably the overuse of the voiceover, provided by Wenham, who plays Dilios, a Spartan soldier. Dilios was used by Snyder as a means of bringing to the film Miller’s signature, over-the-top style. Like any good storyteller, Dilios has a flair for the dramatic, so when he recounts the Battle of Thermopylae to the other Spartans (and the viewing audience), he exaggerates. Xerxes is 8 feet tall; rhinos are as big as a bus; a man has giant lobster claws- outlandish things that make sense in a graphic novel. Dilios’s voiceover also describes during the first ten minutes of the film the harsh trials male Spartan children endure, which is necessary for audiences to understand them as adults. However, while the voiceovers are overall helpful, 300 went a little overboard with it. There were times I wished that Dilios would just stop talking so I could enjoy the film.
Other minor weaknesses I found were the silly oracle dancing scene, and Butler’s overscreaming. I felt that a near-naked, writhing redhead was out of place in 300 and felt that it was just an excuse to show a sensual dance. As for Butler, as much as I enjoyed him as Leonidas, the yelling was too much for me. We hear him yell twice in one of the trailers, and he does more yelling in the actual film.
Still, these little weaknesses did little to prevent me from thoroughly enjoying 300. It’s an action-packed, bloody, awe-inspring, fantastic work of art. Be sure to catch it when it opens in theaters on March 9.
Technorati Tags: Frank Miller, 300, Battle of Thermopylae, Gerard Butler, Leonidas, Lena Headey, David Wenham
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14 Responses to “300”
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I’m looking forward to this. My only complaint about Frank Millers’ comics being turned into movies is that I’m never motivated to read the comics after seeing the movies, since they’re such faithful adaptations!
I have watched an old movie from the late 1950’s called 300 Spartans so many times it is a family joke. The 300 Spartans obviously is my favorite movie. Part of the joke is I sob every single time at the end. My 56 year birthday is in March. My husband has agreed to take me to the 300 as my Birthday present. Usually my husband hates “sandel” movies and if I pressure him to go, he manages to sleep through movies like Troy and Gladiator so this is a nice Birthday Present.
I was happy to read this review on the new movie 300 which I assume is the same story as 300 Spartans. Not much was said about this movie in magazines such as Entertainment Weekly. I did not want to listen to my husband’s comments after the movie if the movie was not well made. I have been so excited to see a new version of the 300 Spartans, I can hardly wait until the 9th!
Ellen
Ellen- Happy birthday! According to the press notes I received, The 300 Spartans had inspired artist Frank Miller to create his graphic novel, which in turn inspired this film. I haven’t seen the 1952 film, but I hope you won’t be turned off by the violence in the 2007 version. If you were able to stomach Gladiator and Braveheart, then you can handle 300.
I have to disagree about Frank Miller’s movie adaptations being that faithful.
Elektra was completely spoiled for me with Jennifer Garner.
The character was written perfectly well the way she was!
I haven’t seen 300 yet, but I can’t wait, even if I will probably miss the opportunity to see it on iMax!
Possible Spoilers below!
I just saw the IMAX version of 300 at Navy Pier in Chicago. Just a few comments.
1. The voice over was really unnecessary. Show don’t tell. There is no need to beat the audience over the head with descriptions.
2. I had a hard time suspending my disbelief with the no armor, bare chested, electrolysis look. The original Spartans look so much cooler fully armored. I think Zack Snyder was too faithful to the comic book. A little more realism would have been appreciated.
3. There was too much speech making; fight for freedom, freedom is not free, blah blah blah. That’s ironic coming from the Spartans who subjugated an entire country to slavery, the Helots. One of the reasons why the Spartans sent only 300 in the first place was because they were afraid their slaves would revolt.
The movie makers really screwed up the Spartan morality (or lack thereof) by trying to shoehorn it to fit the present day. They did get the Spartan attitude as professional soldiers correct. The line that goes “I lost an eye but no matter, I have a spare” is exactly what a Spartan would say. Having said all these negative things, it must be said that the battle of Thermopylae, 2500 years ago, really did save Western Civilization. We wouldn’t have democracy, Greek philosophy and thought, architecture… we owe everything to these guys. Any movie that can help raise the public consciousness about this pivotal battle in history is a good thing. After watching 300, I felt like I did when I first saw Rocky fight Apollo.
Here is a photo of what a real Spartan Hoplite warrior looked like…
http://www.4hoplites.com/Ancient Generals. Hoplites.3m. 10thOctober 2004.png
The link didn’t come out right. Here it is again…
http://www.4hoplites.com/
Cineaste,
Here’s my responses to your thoughts on the film.
1.) I definitely agree with you on the excessive voiceover.
2.) I think it was clear with a 10 foot tall Xerxes that Snyder wasn’t going for realism. What most critics fail to wrap their heads around is that it’s based on the graphic novel, not on history. Hence, the giant elephants and men with lobster claws for hands.
3.) Again, it was never mentioned that the Spartans had slaves, so for the purposes of the film and graphic novel, the Spartans were fighting for only their freedom. But I do agree that it was too preachy at times.
But did you like the film overall?
What most critics fail to wrap their heads around is that it’s based on the graphic novel, not on history.
I know this. I used to own the original 300 comics. It’s not originally a graphic novel, it’s actually a 5 part miniseries. All I am saying is that it would have been much cooler if they had been less faithful to the comic. The real Spartans looked much more intimidating when they were not in the heroic nude. I was thinking to myself, yup I can buy the 10 foot Xerxes, the freaks, etc. but bare chested Spartans in loin cloths was literally “comical” not cool. This is really just personal preference on my part Kaonashi. Point 2 below was my main gripe.
Again, it was never mentioned that the Spartans had slaves, so for the purposes of the film and graphic novel, the Spartans were fighting for only their freedom.
This is exactly what really hurt the movie. The movie makers made a political statement using the Spartans. The Spartans operated under a completely alien morality than what we have today. Slavery was the engine behind Sparta’s military machine. They didn’t mention it but they should have. A Spartan fighting for the freedom of others is an oxymoron. I didn’t like seeing the truth warped beyond artistic license into political manipulation. It felt more like a subliminal and extended Army recruiting commercial at times. Freedom Freedom Freedom Strong Strong Strong… enough already!
But did you like the film overall?
Yes, I mentioned above that it felt like Rocky beat Apollo again. I let myself get immersed in the special effects, style, mood and tried to ignore the ridiculous parts. I would give it a 4.5 out of 6 because…
It could have been done much better without the nationalism though. They portray Leonidas as the Mel Gibson “Braveheart” of the ancient world. That is quite a disservice to the real Leonidas and the Spartans.
All I am saying is that it would have been much cooler if they had been less faithful to the comic.
That’s the hard thing about doing a movie based on a comic book: they can’t please everyone. To you and some others, it would have been better had they exercised more artistic freedom. But had they done that, you know that a lot of the comic book fans would have been angry that it strayed too far from the source material. Meanwhile, history buffs are irritated that it’s not closer to the truth. I thought it was also kind of silly for them to fight with no armor, but I accepted it since it was from the original graphic novel.
The movie makers made a political statement using the Spartans.
But in several interviews, the director has stated that he wasn’t making any political statement. Leonidas or Xerxes isn’t supposed to represent George Bush and has nothing to do with today’s political and global situation.
Leonidas or Xerxes isn’t supposed to represent George Bush and has nothing to do with today’s political and global situation.
Though I never mentioned Bush, I agree with you that Leonidas and Xerxes aren’t supposed to represent him. If anything, Xerxes and his hordes represent Islam and Greece represents the West, though that to is inference. I’m not irritated that 300 strayed from historical truth. My gripe is that it bent the truth into propaganda; intentionally or not. If Zack Snyder didn’t get the nationalistic “freedom” themes from 20th century culture, I don’t know where he got them from because these were certainly NOT Spartan values.
Toni,
This might make you laugh…
http://community.livejournal.com/randompictures/2209617.html
Thanks Cineaste! That was hilarious! I had to stop drinking my tomato juice at times for fear of spewing it right onto my monitor!
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