I wrote this back on 03/09/07 for another forum I am a member of after I went to the opening show of 300. It's a little late but good for those who have not seen it yet.
~Adam
300 is a story based on the Frank Miller graphic novel of the same name. It revolves around King Leonidas (played by Gerald Butler in the film) and his desire to protect Sparta and its people from the ensuing invasion of Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Even though Leonidas is king, the Spartan senate forbids him to take the full army into battle so instead he takes 300 of his most trusted and trainer warriors to do the impossible.
The film begins with Leonidas as a child and shows us the path that all male Spartans take to become warriors. At the age of 7, all males are thrown out of the city, forced to survive on their own, overcome countless trials, and face numerous whippings. All of this to forge their unstoppable will, never-ending courage, and pledge to never surrender. Death in combat is the most glorious reward any Spartan can achieve.
Story – 3/5
It is a very cut and dry story with an obvious outcome. Zach Snyder’s rendition of Frank Miller’s story has no real plot surprises. The story does include a small plot line of King Leonidas’ wife at home trying to build support for an unavoidable war that the Senate believes they can avoid with political means.
Action – 6/5
That is right; I gave it a 6 out of 5 because the fight sequences are amazing. The director, Zach Snyder, is an acclaimed TV commercial direct and he takes his ability to get right to the point and deliver a gut buster blow very quickly. Each fight is different in the film. The Spartans face regular Persian foot soldiers, calvary, charging rhinos, archers, and Zerxes personal guards. Each of which, Leonidas and his men were fully prepared for and exhibited numerous fighting tactics to repel such attacks.
Spartans believed in a technique called Phalanx which stressed that no soldier was better then another and to protect the man on their right and left as they would do the same for them. The film does a fantastic job showing how superior the Spartans were as soldiers then any other soldier of their time. Granted, there is no documentation discussing their tactics so the film’s stunt coordinators went out on a limb and created their own. I am not complaining as all. It worked very well for the film.
Believability Factor – 1/5
Yes, everyone has seen the weird monsters in the preview and thought “Well that is just retarded. They didn’t have those creatures back then.” Trust me, what you saw in the preview is pretty much the extent you see them in the film. They do not play a big role at all.
Gold’s Gym must have had a gym in Sparta because all of the Hoplites (or Spartan citizen soldiers) were and unbelievably cut and have nice tans. All of the women in Sparta are drop-dead gorgeous and left no reason for doubt they were a women….hint hint.
Enjoyment factor – 5/5
The film caused some sensory over load in my brain because of the shooting style, insane special effects, and overall imagery. The film has everything I want to see (in general in a film) and is deserving of viewing it on the big screen. The crowd clapped at parts, I heard audible responses like “whoa” and “hell yah.” I especially cannot wait to see the transfer to DVD. All of the CGI will look amazing on a HDTV.
Violence – 5/5
But that is a good thing right?? 300 is no more violent then Braveheart or Gladiator. It is true that many, many people are stabbed, impaled, beheaded, and countless other things but it is done tastefully. Many of the fight scenes have slow motion and fast motion seamlessly melded together. 99% of all the blood is CGI. I really liked this part because the primary object of the scene was focused while splattering blood or miscellaneous body parts were blurry. There was quite a bit of macro photography used. And if you are familiar with that, you can kind of get a feel for what I am trying to describe.
King Leonidias (Gerald Butler) – 5/5
You could not ask for a better performance for the role. He was gruff, tough, believable, and commands attention while in shot. I would put him up against Russell Crowe as Maximus any day of the week. I expect he will get many roles from 300. For a virtual no name actor, he puts on an A-list caliber performance.
Overall – 4.5/5
It is the most fun I have had in a theater in quite some time. If you lived Sin City you will like 300. Imagine if Sin City and Gladiator had a baby…you would have 300. I will see it again, in IMAX if possible. I will also buy the DVD on the day it’s released. For those of you that enjoy going to the movies and hearing the crowd cheer, being amazed at what Hollywood can do, and take you away from reality for 2 hours then 300 is for you.
