Dir.
Zack Snyder, 2007, USA
Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham,
Vincent Regan, Michael Fassbender, Rodrigo Santoro
Review by Kevin Holmes
The film depicts the
events leading up to the Battle of Thermopylae when 300
Spartans and 700 Thespian volunteers held back the invading
Persian army and with their bravery and courage united
Greece which lead to the alliance of the Greek city states
in the Persian War. It's based on the award winning graphic
novel 300 by Frank Miller, who is executive producer on
the film, and it blends animation
with live action to vivaciously replicate the eloquent yet
fierce novel in both style and content.
Snyder's film is bewitching to look
at and immerses the viewer in a beautiful twilight world
full of golden hues and pastel palettes which give the
film an ethereal and preternatural power – it's a place where lurid foreign foes and beasts
do battle with brave, respectful and honourable men. Although
the film is based on a true story the look, feel and tone
is one of mythical lore; Snyder creates a hyper-reality like
that seen in Miller's other adaptation Sin City with powerful
images that captivate the viewer and spellbind us with an
abstracted “pure cinema” experience. The highly
kinetic battle scenes shift and distort as the camera changes
speed drawing the viewer in, attacking us with a visual onslaught
and throwing us into the very heart of battle. We can see
the potent force of these almighty warrior-men. The clunking
and clashing of shields; spears and swords ripping through
soft impressionable flesh, the hulk of Spartans in glorious
tinted colours grouped in formation, their sharp crimson
cloaks complementing the red blood of war as we're voyeuristically
indulged in the ferocious aesthetics of violent combat.
The Spartan's leader, King Leonidas
is a man of ideals and like all the Spartans has an abdomen
you could smash atoms on. Butler plays him exceptionally,
with all the macho posturing, witty retorts and barely
concealed homoeroticism you would expect from a film featuring
toned men fighting in their underpants. He shouts his way
through battle so effectively you come out with his voice
reverberating around your skull, wanting to scream commands
at your friends and charge oncoming traffic bellowing, “THIS. IS. SPARTA!!!!!” He's
an aggressive character as you would expect but
he's also tender calling his 300 Spartans "my children" and
treating his wife (Headey) as an equal, consulting and confiding
in her over matters of state; a strong role for the only
major female character and one that is fleshed out from the
comic as she battles with a corrupt official to take Sparta
to war.
Miller's usual writing is visceral,
unrepentant, dark, humorous and succinct. His artwork is
brutal, rough and bruised to reflect his raw, poignant
and desperate stories; we can feel the character's pain,
see it reflected in the shades and contours of Miller's
skewed and bulbous art. But with this particular story
the characters aren't the usual flawed (anti-) heroes,
their bravery and strength demands something else and in
the writing and art you sense Miller's respect and awe
for his subject matter. Instead of the usual flaws Miller
highlights both their psychological and physical strengths
drawing them with grandeur and a childlike charm, sparse
yet resourceful whilst painting the enemy as barbarous, other
and indulgent. Thus the Persian's are resplendent in gold
chains and elaborate costumes, the Elite Guard wear immaculate
black robes and glistening metal masks underneath which lie
the distorted, grotesque faces of beasts from another world.
All this is captured completely in Snyder's adaptation – marking
this a triumph for the comic book on screen – and makes
for an angry, ravenous film, highly stylised and told
with vigour, boldness and passion.
Snyder directs this elementary tale
with utter assurance and a capability that will jolt
you in your seat - it's a story told brutally, beautifully
and perfectly Frank.
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