One of the Year's Best!

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2007)

300 is one of those movies that's everything you've seen before mixed with everything you haven't. Yes, it's a swords and sandals film. But this is no ordinary swords and sandals film. We're not talking about Brad Pitt looking for excuses to take his clothes off, here that's almost apart of the narrative. Yes, there are larger than life battles, but the unique visual approach to this film makes it so much more than Gladiator. Inspired by Frank Miller's coffee table graphic novel of the same name, 300 is a unique blend of fact and fiction, of terrific acting and top notch action, and don't forget the look of the film, which makes you feel like you're inside the comic book.
Faced with slavery and the destruction of his country, Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) takes 300 of his best to fight against a million soldiers of the Persian Empire. The story was simple enough, and if you saw The Last Samurai then you know how the movie ends. As it turns out, Leonidas has to fight the battle on two fronts. He's facing off with the forces of Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and at home, his Queen (Lena Heady) is fighting to send Sparta's army to help Leonidas. The queen has an up hill batter in getting the council (a room full of old fat men) to send the troops to aid the king. There's a nice balance of Leonidas' fight against the Persians and everything the queen does to help him.
What made this film unique was the look and feel of it. Every frame is touched up and colored in some way. The Persians wear clothes and armor that belong in a costume drama meant for the stage. And the prosthetics mixed with CGI gives us some of the most hideous monsters ever to grace the silver screen. And let's not forget, the sword fight scenes between Leonidas' 300 and the forces of Xerxes. Some of them seem to be uncut for extended periods of time but I'm sure there are probably a few well hidden cuts in those battle sequences.
Some of the films controversy is not without reason and it becomes quite obvious how the narrative could be read through a modern lens and pinned on the socio political context of the world today. The Spartans represent the United States and the Persians represent, well, Persians. Leonidas has a considerable amount of dialogue where he tells the Spartans they are fighting for freedom; fighting against tyranny. The actual portrayal of the Persians is anything but accurate. The only "Persian looking" actor in the entire film is in fact, Arab. The Persians and Xerxes forces seem to be a combination of African, Asian, and Middle Eastern stereotypes all put together for the sake of the film. I know that no one goes to movies like 300 for the educational value, but the point is, this is one of the year's most watched films. Sadly though, media stereotypes are what people use to educate themselves these days. I've been saying lately that many people's source of education about the world outside America is mass media and Wikipedia, neither of which paints a very accurate picture.
Nonetheless, this is a great movie. Gerard Butler's portrayal of King Leonidas is incredibly idealistic while Leonidas is borderline insane. The pacing of the film was great, and the ominous intro about Spartan warrior culture leads us into a spectacular movie. This is one of the year's best films!