A "Love Letter" To The Graphic Novel

Rating: 7/10 (17 February 2007)

I had the opportunity to screen '300' last night, one night after it debuted at the Berlin Film Festival at a screening with the director; Zack Snyder. Fanboys rejoice - this is likely to be the most faithful adaptation of a graphic novel you will ever see. Each panel became a shot in the movie, and almost all of the dialogue remained the same, with the exception of some added scenes set in Sparta - scenes added, according to Snyder, to keep Sparta from being 'an abstraction' by the end of the movie.
For those who have not read the graphic novel; this is not an accurate retelling of the battle of Thermopylae. This is a campy action movie based on a campy graphic novel that uses a discredited version of the events surrounding the battle to tell a mythic story that will be very entertaining if you don't go in looking for a serious historical film.
Amusing touches added by Snyder include all of the Persians having American accents and remaining faithful to the (not really accurate) Herodotus' view of Sparta, which is true to Miller's novel, complete with gratuitous mentions of "freedom" as the thing they are fighting for.