Not Coming to a Theater Near You

300 / Frank Miller’s 300 / USA / 2006

Attempting to circumvent a pesky oracle proclamation prohibiting him from going to war, King Leonidas of Sparta gathers 300 of his best warriors and marches north, osetensibly on a non-military stroll. In truth, his destination is a narrow defile along the Grecian coast, a spot where he plans to pit his meager forces against the entire Persian army—numbering in the hundreds of thousands—in hopes of stymying the planned destruction of his beloved Sparta. Aside from some predictable political posturing, a few touches of treachery, and a ludicrous love scene, this desperate battle is the entire picture—300 men hacking their collective way through endless waves of enemy forces.

Although plot-hungry viewers might grow restless with the copious carnage and general lack of character complexity, or find themselves snickering at the excessive use of slow motion (the crowd in my theater laughed more than once during a particularly long spear-thrusting sequence), the bulk of the balletic bloodletting is so beautifully staged, the ethereal sets so meticiulously crafted in highly contasted grays and tans, and the collective physical magnificence of the actors melded so seemlessly with the hyperrealistic environment, that any narrative shortcomings are overwhelmed by the film’s stunning visual accomplishments.

by Thomas Scalzo | Source: Warner Bros. 35mm Print
11 Mar 2007 4:18 PM | Comments (2)

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1. rob / 12 March 2007 / 4:31 AM / URL

   Wish I could have shared in your enthusiasm. It’s technical accomplishments are certainly something to behold, but the slow-mo battling lost its luster fairly quickly in my viewing experience, and the entire thing struck me as silly and empty.

   http://strangersong.com/?p=109

2. Jon / 13 March 2007 / 11:50 AM

   The speeches and Laconic dialect was common for Spartans…if you study the battle closely 300 isnt too different than Braveheart or any other “historical documentary”