A Tale of Two Movies

Rating: 8/10 (30 March 2008)

This is a tremendous film that truly captures the spirit of deadly vengeance and defiance. It is filmed in stark, shadowy shades that gives it a gritty, realistic feel. The concepts of honor and obedience, whether to a person or an ideal, dominate the action and the dialog, and are shown in vivid contrast to the degradation that results or could result from their abandonment.
As such, it is a terrific film for getting out your aggression and focusing your inner energy on achieving a goal. I imagine that watching this film the night before participating in an important sporting event would not be a bad thing. You would be primed to go out and knock some heads together. "No prisoners!", as the man yells during a key fight scene. After the initial set-up, there is one fight after another, macho men showing how tough and cruel they can be in a decidedly un-ironic way - well, aside from corny, manly-type jokes such as "We fight in the shade!" when the 300 are forced to cover themselves with their shields to avoid incoming arrows. There is lots and lots of blood and gore, the sort of realism you would expect in a film like this. In that sense, it is similar to films like "The Dirty Dozen" and "Cross of Iron" - not bad company to be in at all. Those happen to be among my favorite films.
So, I really like this film. It shows primal motivations of the character (the wolf in the winter) in a way few films ever achieve. If you are in the mood to see "300" in a straightforward, heroic fashion as I've described, I can't really think of a better way to spend an evening than watching it.
But there is another film here. And I say that without taking away from the first film - it all depends on how you approach the film and what you bring to it. So, if the film I just described appeals to you, you definitely will enjoy it for what it purports to be.
The second film is a camp-fest that is ripe for parody. The manly breast-beating can go a little too far, the characters (especially the hero's wife, who wears way too much makeup for 400 B.C.) a little too earnest and stoic, the villains just a tad too campy. The heroes may not wear white hats and the villains black, but the fact that the pretty boys and girls are the good guys and the deformed, ugly creatures are the bad will help you keep track of what is going on. If you want, you could make endless fun of the soldiers walking through the damp while still strategically exposing their manly chests. Leonidas suddenly exclaiming, "We go to the hot spot!" when discussing strategy, well, that almost made my draw drop. There already is at least one parody film out there mocking this one, which I haven't seen, but it really wasn't necessary - the second film I'm describing here essentially serves as its own parody of the first.
I think Gerard Butler does an amazing job portraying a legendary leader with more than a touch of humanity. Hands down, the best acting job I saw in 2006. Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes, though, steals the movie every chance he gets, serving as the main bridge between the first film - the manly, heroic tale of savage defiance - and the second - the campy take on ancient history. The soundtrack could have included some Queen songs to underscore his character's ambiguity and play up his husky voice, though that would have tipped the balance too far towards the campy side. The other characters are notable mainly for short scenes that will stick in your head, such as the Persian whose face fades out while his eyes linger on screen, conveying that almost campy evil that again bridges films 1 and 2. The screenplay could have explained the circumstances of the Persians invading Greece a little bit - the news of the invasion just suddenly comes one day like the latest weather report - but it is still a fine tale, well told.
So, decide what kind of mood you are in and how jaded you are, and watch. Either way, you should enjoy it. I did. Tremendously.