300

This is Sparta!

Zack Snyder began his filming career in 2004 with the Dawn of the Dead remake. Previously he had worked as a videoclip director taking his work back to the early 90's with one of the hottest number of the decade Soul Asylum. Today, he's part of the elite hatred online league lead by Nickelback & Michael Bay, but is it fair to consider every work he's done a piece of crap just because? Certainly not. Snyder brought Superman back from shame with Man of Steel in 2013 and to this day he's the head of the DC expanded universe (not cinematic in order to avoid more trolling from Marvel fanboys) The results are mixed and this is clearly not the place to tell you what you have to think. it's a free world and we all can be thinkers deciding by ourselves. 

300 is the second film Snyder directed and like Dawn of the Dead is based upon somebody else's work: Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name. Obviously, Miller has an extended resume of excellent stories, all of which could be transfered into the big screen by capable hands. Back in 2005 Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino produced and directed Sin City, the comic book blockbuster of the year, also based upon Frank Miller's work. Later in 2006 Snyder would try his rendition of 300 and Miller himself would direct The Spirit in 2008 while Rodriguez would direct Sin City 2 in 2014. Yes, Frank Miller has stories good enough for the big screen...

a mountain of corpses.

A now legendary kick.

Now, let's get down to business:

300 is the definition of what makes Zack Snyder, Zack Snyder: 116 minutes of pure styled action scene visuals. Back then in 2007, the movie spectacular visual effects were compared to The Matrix trilogy (not reviewed here for strange reasons) for its innovative and creative approach.  

Plotwise the story takes place In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army in the mountain pass of Thermopylae. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history. Persian King Xerxes lead a Army of well over 100,000 (Persian king Xerxes before war has about 170,000 army) men to Greece and was confronted by 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans. Xerxes waited for 10 days for King Leonidas to surrender or withdraw but left with no options he pushed forward. After 3 days of battle all the Greeks were killed. The Spartan defeat was not the one expected, as a local shepherd, named Ephialtes, defected to the Persians and informed Xerxes that the separate path through Thermopylae, which the Persians could use to outflank the Greeks, was not as heavily guarded as they thought.

Leonidas, the hero.

Xerxes, the bad motherfucker.

This film isn't for all people. That's to say about a lot of movies in general of course, but this one in particular brings up a big clashing point between critics; What do we want to see in our movies? What is more important, to portray a fictional setting for the sake of giving people a mind blowing visual experience or to amuse and amaze them with clever plot twists and intelligent dialogs?

First lets analyze what exactly this film is made of. Basically, the whole thing is just one epic fighting scene after another. Most noticeably is the camera work and the visual effects. Every shot seems like it was intended to be a work of art. The colors, the characters, the costumes, the backgrounds... every little detail has been given so much attention. During the big fights you'll also instantly notice the unique editing. There are a lot of "time slowdowns" throughout the battles which show what exactly is happening. Fatal wounds that slowly leak blood spatters in the air, decapitated heads traveling in slow-motion across the screen... it's all there. 

The story on the other hand isn't very complicated, in the sense that the whole movie could probably be described in a sentence or two. The dialogs are simple and most often talk about moral values like freedom and honor. If you would look at the script, it would probably look like another movie that has nothing more to offer then idealistic visions of how life should be.

a strong queen.

a future X-Men.

Reviewers of this title were mixed back then and maybe they're less mixed now that comic book films became a respectable genre in the industry of movies. However, I feel reluctant to take a position in this kind of argument. Normally it's tolerable to weigh out both sides of this matter to result in a fair judgment about a movie. Not in this one. On the one hand the visual are surely among the best to be witnessed in a movie. Every detail, every background, every special effect set to the scenes are so mindblowingly stunning. On the other hand the plot and dialogs are of the most simplistic and quite frankly dumb kind. "I fight for freedom! I'd rather die in honor then live in shame!" Sounds familiar? 

Of course it could be debated that this movie was never intended in the first place to have a unique plot that makes your head spin. But from an objective point of view it's still lacking in this department, so it should be noted.

Now that's fine and all, but does that all make of the film? Is it still worth watching (in case you haven't) or what? I think it is. For me the good outweighs the bad by miles. From the second the movie starts it grabs you by the balls (or pussy) and doesn't let go. Every battle, every scene of the movie and even every campy dialog compels you to watch it until the end without any distractions (you know, smartphones, food, etc) 

Evil Persians!

Fantastic action scenes.

I did not one single moment felt like the movie lacked anything. But I could imagine why other people did.

So here's the deal.

If you are easily impressed by beautiful landscapes, wonderful camera-work and editing and powerful acting then go see this. Right. Now. You'll be missing out if you don't. There is so much to see, so much power in the way this comic is translated to the big screen... It'll leave you in awe.

However, if you are looking for a good story, clever plot twists, some innovating to the world of the movies then skip this. 300 contains nothing of this, nor does it wants to give you this. In addition, this film is based upon a graphic novel, and a very graphic one I might add. Just like watching Sin City, 300 delivers a page by page live action version of Frank Miller's pen & ink.

Tits oracle.

Spartans do love.

I enjoyed this movie so much when it came out that I even bought the DVD (on clearance), but I know there will be people that will pass anything Snyder as rubbish, and that's understandable. Just be sure to make up your mind about what you want to see when you go to the theater yourself instead of being drawn into bias by the tons of reviews, bad publicity and Marvel fanboys out there. 

PS: This movie had its own prequel in 2014, 300 Rise of the Empire, based upon the unpublished works of Frank Miller. The film features hottie starlet Eva Green! Maybe well' review it sometime. Now, what's next? oh yeah! the film that turned Snyder into a full time superhero film director: Watchmen!

Here's the movie trailer: