300 Kills

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2007)

300 is a visceral adaptation of legendary comic book writer Frank Miller's graphic novel loosely based on The Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. when Sparta King Leonidas led 300 Spartans against insurmountable numbers in a fight to the last man. The film was produced over 60 days and shot almost entirely on a blue screen with 11 effects houses adding the visual movie magic culminating in what some are calling "the future of film-making".
When I watch a movie there's nothing that takes me out of the experience more than some really poor Computer Generated Imaging (think Gollum) and as the technology has advanced it's become more and more tolerable. 300 relies heavily on the tool as it creates floored battle sequences and astonishing visuals. But when that blood splatters a little too cartoony, don't forget; you've walked into a comic book come to life much like Robert Rodriguez' collaboration with Miller on Sin City... only there's more violence.
Ahead of it's time, 300 employs editing techniques that shouldn't work but are nothing short of masterful. Jarring the audience with long shots that don't cut but jump from fast forward to slow motion and back again. Somehow this results in pure poetry more than once in the film.
On the creative side of the film there's a solid ensemble cast led by a very strong Gerard Butler. The weak link is probably the campy narrator saved only by the fact that the voice belongs to a character classified as "the storyteller" brought to the screen with sincerity by David Wenham. Smartly, the filmmakers didn't waste time creating tightly woven character relationships. This movie is about a 3 day long kick-ass fight and Zach Snyder's direction doesn't let you forget it.
Honestly, if you don't see this movie you suck.
A+ Matt Watterworth http://www.theweal.com