Spoiler Filled Review of 300.
My manager took everyone on our team to see 300 today. My short version:
[1] Good but not phenomenal visual effects that recreated the look and feel of the comic extraordinarily well.
[2] Lackluster performances by most of the actors.
[3] Really heavy political subtext. I have no idea if it was intended or not, but it was definitely there.
The movie was ok, but definitely is not a must-see. See it you are a special effects junkie, if you like quasi-historical battle epics, or if you have an aesthetic admiration for really buff men walking around without their shirts while wearing tight shorts. If you really like Frank Miller, go rent Sin City instead, which captures the look and feel of his work equally well but has much better acting.
Before I continue, I should note that I have not actually read the comic version of 300, so I can't say for certain how well the movie matches the book. I know that Frank Miller was pleased with it, and I've read most of his other collaborations with Lynn Varley and can say that it certainly feels like their work, but I have no idea if the political subtext or level of historical accuracy matches that book or is strictly from the movie. Obviously, any comments I have relating to the movie to the comic are guesswork only.
The movie is loosely historically based on The Battle of Thermoylae, in which 300 Spartan soldiers and a few allies held a narrow pass against Xerxes' Persian army with anywhere from 200,000 to 2,000,000 soldiers, depending on which ancient Greek historian you prefer. It focuses on King Leonidas of Sparta's to fight rather than surrender. Unfortunately for Leonidas, he can't get permission to take the entire army to battle because an Oracle has said it shouldn't be done, so he decides to take his 'personal bodyguard' of 300 men. While Queen Gorgo tries to convice the council to send reinforcements, the Spartans hold the pass for several days against overwhelming odds. Finally, a bitter outcast Spartan shows Xerxes a path around the pass, which leads to the Spartans being completely surrounded and slain to the last man. Their sacrifice inspires the combined Greek forces to defeat Xerxes later on. Think of it as the Alamo for ancient Greece and you won't go far wrong.
Let's start with the effects. This movie has CGI up the wazoo. Most of it is fairly well hidden, but there are a few sequences where it is so obviously that CGI that it distracts from the film. It nevers get as bad as it did in say, Matrix Revolutions or the Star Wars prequels, but there are still places in the film that are 'shiny' that it's obvious, especially, since most of the 300 Spartans are covered in artfully placed dirt and gore. Most of the battle effects, such as one warrior spinning in slow motion and destroying a squad all by himself, or short cuts of various wounds being inflicted, are stolen directly from Gladiator. They are done better here, but they certainly aren't original. Similarly, the charging war-rhino and the war elephants are merely pale copies of the elephants in the The Return of the King, and the giant Immortal looks and moves a hell of a lot like the Orc who offs Boromir in Fellowship.
The major upside to the effects is that the colors are muted and feel exactly the way Lynn Varley's work does on Ronin, which I'm guessing is similar to her work on 300. Also, instead of the slavish shot-by-shot copying done in Sin City, here director Zack Snyder uses sequences to lead up to a particular shot from the comics, such as the Spartans forcing some hapless Persian auxiliaries off of a cliff. The shot is held for a beat or two, and then we plunge back into the action. This looks great and really helps hold the tone of the comic.
So as far as effects go, they get full marks for emulating the feel of Miller & Varley's work. I'm not going to ding them for copying the combat angles, but they really should have made their war animals look different, and some of the CGI was subpar.
On the bright side, even the subpar CGI is much better than most of the acting in this film. I realize that it's a war movie, and pretty much every war movie at this point is cliche, but this was the best they could do? Sheesh. David Wenham is pretty good as Dilios, who narrates our story in flashback, but after that the cast goes downhill in a hurry. Gerard Butler is a big cliche as a King Leonidas with two emotions. Lena Headey isn't that much better as Queen Gorgo, although she does have an excellent rack. The rest of the Spartans are all interchangeable. You've got the rookie, his best friend, the loyal captain, etc. Rordigo Santoro as the decadent Xerxes is suitably evil looking and has an amazing tonal quality to his voice. I'd like to know if they used an effects processor to get the Xerxes sound. If not, Santoro has the greatest voice since James Earl Jones.
The most annoying thing about this movie was the political subtext. Let's start with the numerous references to "fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here" and how "freedom isn't free, it requires men to fight for it." King Leonidas defies the Spartan legislative body and takes his army into battle without permission in defiance of all common sense and with very few allies to a fight he can't possibly win. Sound familiar?
And let's not forget that the Spartans are all tough looking white guys while the Persians are all minorities. Many of them are black, Xerxes himself looks Hispanic, and almost all of them are wearing clothing that looks vaguely Arabic. The Persians' elite Immortals all wear masks that completely cover their faces, which of course completely dehumanizes them. Those few Immortals whose faces can be seen are a collection of grotesquely mutated freaks, as is the Greek betrayer. Xerxes and his most powerful subordinates all have a ridiculous number of piercings and jewelery. In short, the villains in this film look like 'foreigners' and 'freaks', while the heroes are all clean cut American boys. Well, Greek boys, but you know what I mean.
When I walked out of the film I thought I was being overly sensitive about the subtext, but several of my coworkers cracked jokes about the movie being 'Republican' in nature so it wasn't just me. I somehow doubt that the comic was like that, but it is definitely in the movie, and annoyingly so.
Addendum: we saw a preview for a really hilariously bad looking movie called Pathfinder. The preview had very muted 'dramatic' colors, lots of blanks, greens and blues, nothing bright at all. It also included the opening line "600 Years Before Columbus." My coworker Rob immediately said "yeah, that was back before they invented the color red."
[1] Good but not phenomenal visual effects that recreated the look and feel of the comic extraordinarily well.
[2] Lackluster performances by most of the actors.
[3] Really heavy political subtext. I have no idea if it was intended or not, but it was definitely there.
The movie was ok, but definitely is not a must-see. See it you are a special effects junkie, if you like quasi-historical battle epics, or if you have an aesthetic admiration for really buff men walking around without their shirts while wearing tight shorts. If you really like Frank Miller, go rent Sin City instead, which captures the look and feel of his work equally well but has much better acting.
Before I continue, I should note that I have not actually read the comic version of 300, so I can't say for certain how well the movie matches the book. I know that Frank Miller was pleased with it, and I've read most of his other collaborations with Lynn Varley and can say that it certainly feels like their work, but I have no idea if the political subtext or level of historical accuracy matches that book or is strictly from the movie. Obviously, any comments I have relating to the movie to the comic are guesswork only.
The movie is loosely historically based on The Battle of Thermoylae, in which 300 Spartan soldiers and a few allies held a narrow pass against Xerxes' Persian army with anywhere from 200,000 to 2,000,000 soldiers, depending on which ancient Greek historian you prefer. It focuses on King Leonidas of Sparta's to fight rather than surrender. Unfortunately for Leonidas, he can't get permission to take the entire army to battle because an Oracle has said it shouldn't be done, so he decides to take his 'personal bodyguard' of 300 men. While Queen Gorgo tries to convice the council to send reinforcements, the Spartans hold the pass for several days against overwhelming odds. Finally, a bitter outcast Spartan shows Xerxes a path around the pass, which leads to the Spartans being completely surrounded and slain to the last man. Their sacrifice inspires the combined Greek forces to defeat Xerxes later on. Think of it as the Alamo for ancient Greece and you won't go far wrong.
Let's start with the effects. This movie has CGI up the wazoo. Most of it is fairly well hidden, but there are a few sequences where it is so obviously that CGI that it distracts from the film. It nevers get as bad as it did in say, Matrix Revolutions or the Star Wars prequels, but there are still places in the film that are 'shiny' that it's obvious, especially, since most of the 300 Spartans are covered in artfully placed dirt and gore. Most of the battle effects, such as one warrior spinning in slow motion and destroying a squad all by himself, or short cuts of various wounds being inflicted, are stolen directly from Gladiator. They are done better here, but they certainly aren't original. Similarly, the charging war-rhino and the war elephants are merely pale copies of the elephants in the The Return of the King, and the giant Immortal looks and moves a hell of a lot like the Orc who offs Boromir in Fellowship.
The major upside to the effects is that the colors are muted and feel exactly the way Lynn Varley's work does on Ronin, which I'm guessing is similar to her work on 300. Also, instead of the slavish shot-by-shot copying done in Sin City, here director Zack Snyder uses sequences to lead up to a particular shot from the comics, such as the Spartans forcing some hapless Persian auxiliaries off of a cliff. The shot is held for a beat or two, and then we plunge back into the action. This looks great and really helps hold the tone of the comic.
So as far as effects go, they get full marks for emulating the feel of Miller & Varley's work. I'm not going to ding them for copying the combat angles, but they really should have made their war animals look different, and some of the CGI was subpar.
On the bright side, even the subpar CGI is much better than most of the acting in this film. I realize that it's a war movie, and pretty much every war movie at this point is cliche, but this was the best they could do? Sheesh. David Wenham is pretty good as Dilios, who narrates our story in flashback, but after that the cast goes downhill in a hurry. Gerard Butler is a big cliche as a King Leonidas with two emotions. Lena Headey isn't that much better as Queen Gorgo, although she does have an excellent rack. The rest of the Spartans are all interchangeable. You've got the rookie, his best friend, the loyal captain, etc. Rordigo Santoro as the decadent Xerxes is suitably evil looking and has an amazing tonal quality to his voice. I'd like to know if they used an effects processor to get the Xerxes sound. If not, Santoro has the greatest voice since James Earl Jones.
The most annoying thing about this movie was the political subtext. Let's start with the numerous references to "fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here" and how "freedom isn't free, it requires men to fight for it." King Leonidas defies the Spartan legislative body and takes his army into battle without permission in defiance of all common sense and with very few allies to a fight he can't possibly win. Sound familiar?
And let's not forget that the Spartans are all tough looking white guys while the Persians are all minorities. Many of them are black, Xerxes himself looks Hispanic, and almost all of them are wearing clothing that looks vaguely Arabic. The Persians' elite Immortals all wear masks that completely cover their faces, which of course completely dehumanizes them. Those few Immortals whose faces can be seen are a collection of grotesquely mutated freaks, as is the Greek betrayer. Xerxes and his most powerful subordinates all have a ridiculous number of piercings and jewelery. In short, the villains in this film look like 'foreigners' and 'freaks', while the heroes are all clean cut American boys. Well, Greek boys, but you know what I mean.
When I walked out of the film I thought I was being overly sensitive about the subtext, but several of my coworkers cracked jokes about the movie being 'Republican' in nature so it wasn't just me. I somehow doubt that the comic was like that, but it is definitely in the movie, and annoyingly so.
Addendum: we saw a preview for a really hilariously bad looking movie called Pathfinder. The preview had very muted 'dramatic' colors, lots of blanks, greens and blues, nothing bright at all. It also included the opening line "600 Years Before Columbus." My coworker Rob immediately said "yeah, that was back before they invented the color red."