A violent cartoon

Rating: 7/10 (11 March 2007)

"300" is a spectacularly violent, sexually graphic cartoon, featuring live actors against computer-generated backgrounds and special effects. Faithful to the Frank Miller comic series, it is based loosely on history and (like much of Miller's work) has more to do with style than substance.
It's been pointed out by everyone else that "300" is based not on history, but on Frank Miller's comic series, so it is somewhat unfair to judge the film based on its historical accuracy. Nonetheless, it's difficult to overlook the conspicuous absence of some historically important and interesting aspects of the Battle of Thermopylae: the antecedent Battle at Marathon and what Leonidas drew from it, the naval battle with the Persians during Thermopylae and its significance in protecting Leonidas from being flanked by the Persians (the outnumbered Greek navy of triremes taking on the vast Persian fleet at sundown), the Spartan armor (the laminated Cuirass in particular, the ancient world's version of Kevlar), and the function and significance of the phalanx (Hoplite attacks with spears from above and below a wall of shields, etc.). One would hope that director Zack Snyder's sensational presentation of the story of the 300 Spartans would stimulate young minds to delve into history and gather the significance of the Battle of Thermopylae -- i.e., that they saved Western civilization, and had they failed, there would never have been a higher Greek civilization based on democracy, or (later) Rome, or (much later) our culture and society -- but one fears that young viewers will more likely be on the look-out for the next sensationally violent and sexually graphic film than a history lesson.
The actors are deserving of a word or two. Gerard Butler's Leonidas was a bit over the top, intense every moment. Some acting dynamics (taking it down a notch occasionally) would have made his high-intensity scenes feel more intense. The same is true to some extent of the entire cast, so perhaps the fault here lies with the director, Snyder. Lena Headey was great as the unfortunately-named Queen Gorgo, and Dominic West was wonderfully malicious as the evil traitor Theron.
The effects were spectacular, and the fact that almost every aspect of the film (backgrounds, sets, bloodshed) was digitally rendered makes the effects even more impressive. It is likely that more films will follow suit in the future. One bone to pick: the wolf in early in the film. What was that thing? It looked, well, not REAL, and the glowing red eyes were just silly. It was distracting. The same is true of the gigantic elephants, the gigantic rhinoceros, and the gigantic Xerxes. None of these needed to be so BIG.
The scripting was bit slow and hokey; not much dialog for a two-hour film, and the voice-over narrative, intended to give the story a mythic, legendary feeling, was campy (reminiscent of the voice-over narratives in The Road Warrior and Conan the Barbarian). Again, this is probably unfair, knowing Miller's work and the effect that Snyder was going after (impact, not teaching history).
Suspending disbelief and hanging with the script for a moment, one has to wonder why Queen Gorgo accepted Theron's "deal." Her doing so violated Spartan ethics (honor and duty), and she must have known that Theron was not to be trusted.
I saw this film in a theater packed to capacity with teen aged boys (I was one of maybe half a dozen dads there; no women of any age were in evidence). The crowd cheered and winced at all the appropriate moments, and gave the film an ovation when it ended. This would be a great film to see with a group of guys -- certainly never with a date or spouse.
So, "300" is really a 21st century version of the films we loved in our youth -- like the original Clash of the Titans -- but with a lot more sex and violence. Cheesy, violent, and spectacular -- but not a lot of substance.