300
Reviewer: Tim Isaac
Issue 96 – November 2007
(1 votes, average: 6 out of 10)
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Tonight they dine in Hell!
The Lowdown: King Xerxes of Persia has invaded Greece, so in order to slow their attempt to take over the Hellenic realms, Spartan king Leonidas takes 300 of his renowned warriors (along with a few other who join him) to Thermopylae to defend the pass the Persians must go through. Despite being vastly outnumbered, the Spartans attempt to defend their homeland, even though back in Sparta some are plotting with the Persiansd.
Review: It’s amazing how many things happened in slow motion in the ancient past. In 300 any time someone fights, falls off something, has sex or occasionally just because they can, everything suddenly heads into slow-mo land. In most films this would be a problem, but in the hyper-real world of 300 it works extremely well.
In fact 300 is a confluence of elements that should make the movie fail, but somehow they don’t. There’s a heavy reliance on narration, which normally gets annoying, but it works to turn the film into a mythic fairy tale of derring-do. Likewise the heavily stylised look and ever present CG should be distracting and make it seem too cartoon-ish, but instead it fills the screen with some beautiful images and makes it look like Frank Miller’s graphic novel has sprung to life. To do this it uses a lot of the same bag of tricks as Sin City, which was also adapted from Miller’s work, to create something that is utterly fake and yet easy to be entertained by.
Less successful is the fact that too little goes on story-wise. It’s a very simple tale, and at nearly two hours feels drawn out. While the action is never anything but great to look at (and unceasingly bloody), the quieter moments don’t work quite as well, largely because while they should help increase the feel of intrigue, honour and sacrifice, they feel like an afterthought. It wouldn’t hurt either if Gerard Butler’s Leonidas learned that he didn’t have to shout absolutely everything.
A lot of the cinema reviews for 300 complained that the film is rather stupid. Well, yeah, it is, but that’s largely because this isn’t supposed to be high art. It’s an ancient Greek fairy tale told in bold, primary colours. That said, many of the arguments about whether the film is pro or anti the ‘war on terror’ are interesting. The filmmakers have insisted the film wasn’t supposed to be commenting on this, but as it’s constantly driven home that the manly (white) free men of Sparta fight more bravely than the legions of Middle Eastern attackers, you can see the parallels. The Iranian government certainly didn’t like it and said the whole movie was designed to denigrate them. As it’s possible to see the Spartans as either the Americans or the ‘insurgents’, it probably is coincidence, but as the values the film prizes are basically the same one the ancients lauded the 300 Spartans for, it proves that the rhetoric of war hasn’t changed much in the past 2,500 years.
The two-disc set includes a bevy of interesting features, including a great commentary from the genial director Zack Snyder, who’s joined by screenwriter Kurt Johnstad and Director Of Photography Larry Fong. The bonus disc focuses on both the making of the movie and the legend behind it. First up is a couple of featurettes looking at whether there’s any fact behind the ancient tale. As even the earliest accounts can’t quite decide how many people were present at the Battle Of Thermopylae (other than that there were 300 heroic Spartans), there’s been a lot of debate about what really happened, so it’s well worth watching these two documentaries. The rest of the disc looks at the movie itself, with featurettes focusing on the filming, Frank Miller’s source material, and Webisodes on various aspects of the film. There are also a couple of deleted scenes, including one featuring a giant with a midget on his back!
It’s a pretty good set, and while a meatier ‘making of…’ documentary would have been welcome, the bonus features still do a good job of providing you with interesting info. Likewise the film may not be a masterpiece, but for slow-mo action, beautiful imagery, excessive violence and rippling muscles (Sparta must have one hell of a gym) 300 is a worthwhile trip.
FILM: 7 EXTRAS: 8
DVD Info:
Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham
Certificate: 18
Director: Zack Snyder
Distributor: Warner
Original Release: 2007
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Visuals: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Running Time: 117 mins
Price: £23.99
Special Features:
Audio Commentary With Director Zack Snyder, Writer Kurt Johnstad and Director Of Photography Larry Fong
‘The 300 – Fact Or Fiction?’ Documentary
‘Who Were The Spartans? – The Warriors Of 300’ Featurette
‘Frank Miller Tapes’ Featurette
‘The Making Of 300’ Featurette
‘Making Of In Images’ Featurette
Deleted Scenes
12 ‘Making Of…’ Webisodes
Easter Eggs
