writhaus

Frank Miller liked the movie The 300 Spartans. He liked it so much he wrote his own comic based on the Battle of Thermopolae titled 300 and published by Dark Horse Comics in the late ’90s. Miller is now something of a movie-industry darling, having had teenagers who read his cutting-edge comics work in the ’80s grow into filmmakers in the ’90s. With the success of Sin City, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood began hydromining his back catalogue of work for adaptable films. It’s our luck that 300 was chosen.

Zach Snyder directs this highly stylized adaptation of Miller’s comic. A lot of liberties are taken visually, but the core story is still as stirring as it was 2,500 years ago. Spartan king Leonidas knows the Persians are coming and that the Greeks are not yet prepared to stop them. He takes it upon himself to gather a 300-man group of his warriors and to lead them against Xerxes’ Persian forces. At the hot springs of Thermopolae, Leonidas has his men hunker down as the Persians approach. When the battle is over, Sparta and Greece will be changed forever.

Following in the footsteps of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Sin City, 300 is a mostly green screen affair. The material actually lends itself to this technique. To a very large extent, the film feels more like a stage play until the battles start. I was initially apprehensive about a two-hour movie basically being a three-day battle, but Snyder handles it nicely. The visual flair of the film is excellent, too. The Persian forces look exotic, mystical, and dangerous. The Spartans are appropriately buff, with the crimson of their cloaks one of the few colors standing out in the desaturated palette.

It is not a perfect film, though. Because this movie is about a battle, there isn’t much for the actors to do. Gerard Butler does an acceptable job as Leonidas. He has the proper gravitas for the role and a voice that lends itself to the passages he needs to speak. Lena Headey does a nice enough job as his queen, Gorgo. Dominic West is appropriately sleazy in the role of Theron. Outside these roles, there really isn’t much for the actors to do. There is little time given to what motivations the Persians had for their Greek invasion. As a matter of fact, other than fighting, the Persians have little to do at all.

Overall, though, the film is largely enjoyable. The design-work makes full use of its computers, and the battles feel real and epic. That’s likely the highest compliment the film can be granted.

300 was viewed at the Pacific Theater’s Paseo Stadium 14 on March 10, 2007.

For more on the realities of Spartan life in ancient Greece, browse this article from the Toronto Sun.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 11th, 2007 at 11:35 pm and is filed under Reviews - Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.