300 is all guts, all glory, and mercilessly violent. Yea, that sounds exactly like the battle it was portraying

Rating: 8/10 (9 March 2007)

Shooting an entire movie using a green screen had been done before, but was perfected by Robert Rodriguez and his crew with Sin City, one of the most stylish films in cinema history. Same strategy for bringing a Frank Miller comic into the big screen was brought into shooting 300. Shooting virtually the entire film using the latest in green screen technology, audiences around the world are able to see yet another one of Miller's highly acclaimed works on the big screen. But, unlike Sin City, 300 seems to be inconsistent in its slick, raw style. Yet underneath the few moments of questionable imagery lie plenty of substance, great acting, fantastic directing, and a really powerful and nicely woven story. Boldly being able to go where previous epic movies just weren't able to go, 300 is another successful Frank Miller comic book adaptation that is sure to please fans and bring in some new ones as well.
We have a very straightforward story here: in 480 B.C. Sparta is in grave danger, and their king, King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), isn't about to give up the kingdom without a fight. Defying all odds, he and his really small army of just 300 men take on the most vicious army human history at the time had ever witnessed. To be even more specific, 300 is basically a glorified look at the Battle of Thermopylae. While they all knew how it was going to end, their impact on the impending conflict amassed into a level that not even they could predict. Written by Frank Miller (and painted by his ex-wife Lynn Varley, who also provides the colors in this movie), 300 is not an adaptation but more like a translation (Something Rodruiguez claimed he was doing with Sin City), since it pretty much takes everything from the comic book and transforms it to film.
Frank Miller time and time again has proved that he can make a good story, but it is up to others to be able to display this quality storytelling to others in another format. For the most part it succeeds, but then at other times, it doesn't. Zack Snyder deserves the most credit in making this an entertaining film. He plays with the speed of the story and hands it to us in a very stylish manner. The movie goes slow-motion, Matrix-slow even, and then on another instance goes insanely fast. Even better is that he does not hide the fights by zooming in on everyone, there is plenty of room on the screen to see all the carnage, and the well-choreographed fights. There were some epic battles in the graphic novel, and Snyder perfectly transcends it to the screen.
The acting is superb as well. Gerard Butler, the main actor, resembles a scarier, more fearful-looking Russel Crowe from Gladiator. The standout star in 300 though is not him but instead his wife, played magnificently by Lena Headey. She proves to be more than just a pretty face involved in a sex scene as her acting stands out amongst the men, just like the queen's personality standing out amongst a nation of males. There is no instance of overacting or under acting, everyone else did a respectable job.
300 is gritty, raw, and isn't afraid to throw body parts and limbs at you. It is not as violent or sadistic as Sin City, but it still can make you look away from the screen in disgust. The blood and guts however is not Sin City-style, but resembling more like Kill Bill Vol. 1's final epic showdown. Most of 300's humor comes from the mere disposing and treatment of bodies that lie all over the place, while the rest of the little bit of comic relief in 300 derives from quick and witty one-liners that occur from time to time. It is indeed action-packed, but does have its hint of sentimentality, especially involving the relationship between the king and queen.
Where 300 fails is not the writing, the pacing, the acting, or the content. Instead, it's the green screen usage. It is extremely hard to live up to what Sin City pulled off, but 300 still could have been better visually. The fights were great, but when the action slows down it then becomes rather obvious that a green screen was involved. With Sin City, it was like looking into a living, breathing comic book, and you were totally swept in it. 300 on the other hand has its moments in which the green screen usage overwhelms the scene, best examples includes the characters looking into the background, the scenery. With a green screen, you can only use so much of it before it starts looking a bit fake and/or out of place. Snyder's one flaw comes here, when the viewer is forced to look into the surroundings. Rodriguez had a perfect balance between the subjects and the scenery; Snyder did not. The only other flaw, and it's a minor one, is the treatment of Xerxes; supposed to be menacing, instead comes off as laughable with the make-up and the voice that obviously does not match the actor.
Bottom Line: 300 is a good film, and is indeed epic, but do not expect it to sweep you away and change cinema for years to come. Sin City set the bar much too high with green screen usage, and even though 300 is action-packed and is heavy with content; its visual imagery just wasn't consistent enough to really awe anyone. Instead, the awes come from the queen, the fights, and well, the fights. While it is nowhere near as bloody and mind-numbingly violent as Sin City, it still is a film that will attract more men than women, even if there are hundreds of buff men revealing almost all their assets. Flawed, but violently fun.