Frank Miller Time

Rating: 2/10 (26 March 2007)

Frank Miller is two for two in successfully adapting his graphic novels to the big screen. Although Sin City still sets the standard, 300 exceeded my personal expectations and undoubtedly works; it pumps adrenaline through spectacular visuals, a plot that gets the job done and breathtaking battle scenes. Based on visuals alone, 300 is and will be the best movie of the year (watch for the scene with the Oracle (Kelly Craig), which I found to be particularly stimulating.) Unfortunately, how good a films looks does not necessarily correlate to how good it actually is. 300 is not without its shortcomings, but I found myself trying hard to forgive the few missteps combined with middle-of-the-road acting and a lot of dumb-downed dialogue simply because I was constantly entertained by the beauty of the picture itself.
300 asks us to sympathize with a barbaric society, the Spartans, where babies born with deficiencies are "discarded". Children lucky enough to make it past inspection are raised with one objective: to become killing machines (oh, also something about honor, heart and pride). The result is a magnificently strong, bare-chested Spartan army that we have no problems routing for. When self proclaimed king-god Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), a wigless drag-queen on a power trip, decides to extend the boarders of his land into Spartan territory, he leaves protagonist King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) with the option of surrendering and becoming a slave alongside his wife and child or fighting for their land and glory against a Persian army of 200,000+ men. Fundamentally, Spartans do not surrender and thus, the Battle of Thermopylae ensues. The battle is of epic proportions, as legendary as it is gory, though not as gruesome as Apocolypto (2006), and strays away from crafting a historical account, but rather successfully attempts to recreate the graphic novel.
The Persians attack in three waves, each sublimely entertaining. I found myself worried that the countless number of fatalities by spear would become tiresome, but director Zack Snyder finds fresh ways of illustrating what become routine deaths. 300 is a bloodbath, but at no point does it become exploitive or tasteless (barring the machete-armed jabba the hut creature). The dialogue, like the acting, is straightforward and simple but is by no means poor and the music effectively works to motivate and inspire. 300 come across as though its appeal is limited to testosterone-filled young men, and I cannot disagree. While this won't hurt it box office numbers, it will affect its longevity. For my money, Sin City is Frank Miller's film to beat, but 300 is definitely worth watching.