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 Rating: R
Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West
Directed by: Zack Snyder
300, the film of the comic book of the legendary battle, tells the story of how a small elite force of Spartan warriors took on a massive Persian invasion force against seemingly impossible odds. Shot in beautifully burnished sepia tones, the film's vivid depiction of brutal Ancient Greek warfare will have you wishing you'd brought your own sword and shield.
 "Brutal" is definitely the word we're looking for here. From the opening sequences, when we get the Cliff Notes version of Spartan warrior culture, it is impressed upon us that everything about Spartan life is hard. The training is hard. The feelings are hard. The bodies are hard. The result is a well-oiled fighting machine that never shies from the fight and believes in a glorious death in battle. Although the reality was a little more heavily armored, director Zack Snyder reinforces the notion of hardness by stripping down his Spartans to their well-oiled bare essentials - a helmet, a long scarlet cloak, shin guards and a brief pair of utility shorts. Hey, we're Spartans. Did we mention how HARD we are?
The story begins in 480 B.C., at a time when the self-proclaimed god-king Xerxes of Persia (Rodrigo Santoro, bedecked in gold jewelry and multiple body piercings) was busy rolling across Asia and Africa, crushing the locals in his own sadistic way and swelling his own already-vast empire. Xerxes is the kind of guy who requires a fleet of minions to bear him around on a elaborate golden litter at all times, then act as footstools when he wants to step off. In the film, he is shot in forced perspective and given an artificially deep voice, all to make him appear larger than life, or certainly the mere mortals around him. In typically modest fashion, he sends an emissary to the city-state of Sparta and demands that they kneel before him as their god-king.
This doesn't sit well with the locals, particularly Spartan king Leonidas (Gerard Butler), who won't kneel before anyone. Leonidas responds by literally killing the messengers, an act which sets the Persians on the warpath, directly for Sparta. What's a warrior king to do? According to Spartan law, he has to consult the Oracle and abide by her advice. Unfortunately, the Oracle forbids him to go to battle due to an approaching religious festival. Now what's a warrior king to do?
Leonidas decides to go his own course, rounds up 300 of his most loyal and able soldiers and heads for the Hot Gates of Thermopylae, a narrow pass through which the invading Persians must travel in order to reach their goal. If the Spartans can hold the pass, then Sparta, and all of Greece, may be saved.
The battles that ensue are nothing short of gorefests. The film takes its bloodshed very seriously, lingering lovingly in slow motion over each decapitation and amputation. Severed heads tumble gracefully from buckling hardbodies and blood sprays artistically, if not realistically - most of the blood seems to have been applied in postproduction in a style that evokes the film's comic book (oops, "graphic novel") source material. But this is not just any old hack-and-slay savagery, this is heavily choreographed, again with lingering slo-mos over the best thrusts, slashes, leaps and parries. It's a bizarre efffect, like watching the paintings on the side of a Greek urn come to life. In stark contrast to the physical perfection of the Spartans, the Persian army, and in particular their elite forces, seems to consist of a hideous bunch of mutants and weirdos. Perfection = good, deformity = evil - such are the stereotypes of legend.
The harsh setting and subject matter are complemented by the unusual cinematography, which washes out most of the color into the bronze or steel tones of the Spartans' weapons and shields and gives the film a hazy shimmer. (A notable exception is the blood-red color of the Spartan cloak.) Snyder mostly avoids the long shot in battle, preferring to focus on dizzying close-up fights, but his heavy use of slow motion and rotation effects during action sequences can be a little tedious after a while.
The cast rises eagerly to the challenges of the roles. The principal Spartans spent several weeks together undergoing a rigorous fitness program before filming and this is reflected in the well-bonded, cohesive, jovially trash-talking fighting unit they portray on screen. Gerard Butler's Leonidas is a fearsome figure - a rousing, bellowing leader and a man of honor, 100-percent committed to his country and his cause, as are his men (David Wenham as Dilios, Vincent Tegan as the Captain, Michael Fassbender as Stelios). Lena Headey gives a graceful and gritty performance as Leonidas' wife and wise confidante, Queen Gorgo, who has to remain home in Sparta to defend her husband's position against the wily politician Theron (Dominic West).
With a pounding score by Tyler Bates, the overall effect is like watching a feature-length heavy metal concept video. If you can get past the body count (and they pile 'em high and wide in this one, literally), 300 is a riveting and suspenseful saga of hope and courage versus futility and treachery that will leave you amazed as the Spartans shrug off wave after wave of increasingly aggressive (not to mention bizarre) Persian assault with nary a scratch. 300 is released simultaneously in conventional and IMAX formats, but even IMAX barely seems large enough to contain this stunning visual spectacle. It's mythology made eye candy. Somewhere up on Mt. Olympus, the gods are smiling and breaking out the popcorn.
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! elzreevuvexta Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! elzreevuvexta I saw this movie last night! It was beautiful to watch. I loved it. And yes, those Spartans are Hard.  sounds amazing! Dude! I can't believe you got to see 300! I am in love with Gerard Butler and was actually a fan girl of his before I switched over to Daniel. I've been following his career for four years. I can't wait to see this on IMAX this weekend! This movie sounds excellent! |
