A Failure On All Levels

Rating: 2/10 (23 March 2007)

"300"'s unforgivable central flaw is its stubborn protagonization of its battle scenes to the detriment of all the other elements of the film. Not even elements as essential as plot or acting are deemed important enough in a film too self-aware of its look, and too determined to impress visually.
A two-hour feature film cannot be sustained solely on the occasional handsome fighting sequence. Moreover, by the time the Spartans start battling with the Persian army, the spectator knows too little of any of the characters to really invest any emotional interest in the outcome of the war. None of the warriors' backgrounds are developed, or even mentioned. Leonidas doesn't appear to have a second dimension to his personality. And the combat skills of the "300" are so incredible and cartoonish that it is impossible to feel for them or even begin to empathize with their experience of the war. This, together with the video-game-like, fetishistic style of violence, produces an effect of detachment and uninvolvement in the spectator with respect to the battle scenes.
The visual production is another element that has been pushed heavily in the film, yet it is not a unique look. We have already seen scorched skies, golden cornfields, navy-blue spectral nightscapes and crimson bloodshed in "Troy" and "Gladiator". The use of music is too obvious and manipulative, marking far too clearly what emotion is expected of the viewer at each point in the film.
Not even CGI has been put to good use, since you can spot precisely when it has abundant presence, instead of being used sparingly and effectively in an integrated fashion. CGI worked much more convincingly and excitingly visually in "Sin City" because that film, from the outset, made clear to the viewer that its story was operating in a completely different, graphic-novel based world, whereas "300" is assumed to take place in a more or less realistic world.