From legend to myth

Rating: 6/10 (19 March 2007)

Fact: At one point, Spartans faced an army of Persians during the Battle of Thermopylae. History: A dispute exists over whether it was 300 or 30000, whether they were aided by other Greek city-states or not, or even if the intentions were to hold off the Persians or merely partake in glory. Legend: Sparta, a warrior state, was full of amazingly tough and blood-thirsty men who could hold off hordes of people despite their small numbers because they are so awesome like that.
And then we arrive to this movie, Myth: 300 chiseled men go head-to-head with billions of Persians, Lord-of-the-Rings-style orcs, giants, beasts, monsters, and about anything the imagination can hold (including men with swords for arms and enormous rhinoceri). It's awesome, it's entertaining, and it's absolutely wonderfully gratuitous! Of course the thing about myth is that it's also a mediated value system. Whereas I can be assured that neither Frank Miller nor Zack Snyder intended any direct theme beyond the glory of being warrior men dying in battle, some of the more Western hegemonic characteristics of this movie go from absurd to downright disturbing.
I have talked to a lot of people about this movie since I saw it and have learned that no matter which way I present this idea, it's an unpopular one, but I'm sorry: whether the filmmakers intended it, or not, this movie is jingoistic patriotism wrapped in testosterone-addled bigotry. The dialog is right out of contemporary fallacy and there's only a few uncanny parallels that keep returning a sense of contemporary urgency to the mix... Those "Athenian" (read, French) "boy lovers and philosophers", the corrupt oracles (the UN), fighting "as free men for freedom" (even within the historically inaccurate--and let me stress that it's not supposed to be historically accurate--but even within the historically inaccurate imagery the Spartans still show no sign in their culture of being "a free state"), the "surge" at the end, and even the general focus on war as glory do nothing but bog down the action with strikingly propagandistic appeal. I mean, it certainly wasn't character development! The thing is, though, the movie is still fun, still worth it, despite that daunting theme. The imagery is, in fact, beautiful, the action is tight and interesting, and the long battles maintain their interest despite the fact that it would seem they would become repetitive. Indeed, I think this movie's only problem was adding to, rather than subtracting from, the dialog from the graphic novel. The entire side story of the Queen? Unnecessary. The longer dialog between the Persian messenger and the King? Unnecessary. Funnily enough, this movie could have used LESS plot than it already had! The sex scene? Worst sex scene in the history of cinema.
Something that's interesting about this film though is how well it succeeds in being Greek. Instead of carving men out of marble, it carves marble out of men, but the actual imagery of them (in profile, in close-up like a bust, etc.) really does match with Greek Classic and Hellenistic sculpture. Everybody who comments on this movie has something to say about the visuals in terms of how the action and the atmosphere play out, but I would imagine the Ancient Greeks themselves would be very proud of the imagery described.
This is an event film... it should and shall be watched in the theatre. Seeing it on any smaller screen will vastly reduce it's imagery and unfortunately will also make the yelling-command-pseudo-dialog seem even MORE absurd. I'm also pretty sure as time goes on this movie will lose its novelty and people will begin to hear what it's actually saying.
--PolarisDiB