History, comic book style!

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2007)

It was obvious after the success of Sin City that we were going to see more of Frank Miller's graphic novels adapted for the screen, and someone was obviously impressed enough with Zack Snyder's visuals on the dire Dawn of the Dead remake to give him the directing reigns. I have to say, I'm not the biggest fan of period epics; but I knew that wouldn't be a problem going into this film as Frank Miller obviously has a very over the top style, and as soon as I heard that it's "very gory", I was sold. I have to say that this film is not as great as Sin City; the visuals aren't as good, the film isn't handled as well and the central plot thread isn't as interesting as Sin City's three narratives; but 300 is still a spectacular piece of cinema. The film focuses on the war between the Spartans and the Persians in 480 B.C. A group of 300 Spartans, lead by the fearless King Leonidas, moves in on the advancing Persian army. The warriors are massively outnumbered, but thanks to their impregnable strategy; the few manage to out fight the many for a short time.
I haven't read Frank Miller's graphic novel, but I'm guessing that certain sequences were based on it pretty much frame for frame. While this is good in some ways as it allows Snyder to capture the comic book style, in other ways it's very bad as some shots look completely out of place, and make it seem like Snyder doesn't really know what he's doing. There's no problem with post-production, however, as the cinematography is excellent and the way that the fight scenes are shot is good in that it allows them to be completely brutal, while never becoming completely exploitative. I read in British newspaper 'The Sun' that 300 is 'the bloodiest movie in history', which of course isn't the case. There is a lot bloodshed, but it never really FEELS like there's a lot of bloodshed as the atmosphere is completely other-worldly. The way that Snyder uses his actors is good as the impressive Spartans add to the overall look of the film. The two central performances - those coming from Gerard Butler and the beautiful Lena Headey are both impressive, while the largely British support cast impress in their roles. Overall, this isn't a brilliant film as there are a lot of niggles; but it has it's moments, and during the fight scenes (which, thankfully, take up a large proportion of the film), you won't care about 300's shortfalls.