'300' - A Legendary Movie For The Ages
By: Tim - aurora - Dunn

‘A new age has begun; an age of freedom and all will know that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it!’ Thus were the words declared by the Spartan warrior, father, husband and King, Leonidas(played magnificently by Gerard Butler) as they stood, a small band against impossible odds. These same words rise from the screen with the same passion and power declaring that '300' has opened a new age in movie making, a new age in movie going experiences. Its a movie that shatters the bounds that literally thousands of films have died by, lack of commitment to do something so mind shattering, heart lifting, and soul enrapturing that that its initial vision is not just meet but extended light years beyond all hopes and dreams.

'300' directed by Zack Snyder is based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller which is loosely based on the true story of how 300 Spartan warriors stood alone at the gates of Thermopylae defending freedom and all of Greece from the army of the Persian king Xerxes. From the very beginning we hear the voice of the Spartan warrior and narrator Dilios(David Wenham) as he recites the story of King Leonidas and his small army to the Spartan council of elders. He begins with the traditional Spartan boy's upbringing forging his destiny to become a warrior. Within minutes we watch as the teenage Leonidas faces off against an other worldly wolf in the middle of winter. This is our first introduction to the mystical and magical world of '300' and I'm not just speaking of the CG wolf either! Leonidas lures the wolf into a narrow rock passageway causing it to become trapped and allowing the young warrior to easily slay it. This scene sets the entire rest of the story up as we jump to the now grown and King Leonidas confronting a messenger of King Xerxes. This emissary demands the submission of the King and all of Sparta to the subjugation of King Xerxes. Turning to his heavenly wife Queen Gorgo(Lena Headey) she acknowledges and confirms Leonidas thoughts, that Sparta is a free nation and worthy of fighting to maintain it. The answer is clear as the slaughter of the Persians begins before the armies are drawn.

One last thing is needed before Leonidas can march off to battle and that is the blessing of the Ephor's, a group of grotesquely ancient self proclaimed seers. The one and only weakness in the film is seen here as Leonidas climbs up way to smooth and just not in tune with the rest of the move, rock towards the temple of the Ephor's. Happily the scene is only a few seconds long and you plunge immediately back into the perfectly built graphic world. Sadly though Leonidas not only does not get the blessing of the Ephor's but his doom is also proclaimed by the Oracle girl. If the rock climbing scene was a weak link in the vision of this movie it is instantly lost with the ethereally flowing and mesmerizing gown and smoke of the dancing and contorting Oracle. This same misty ethereal flow is seen throughout this movie even in the clouds. Truly magnificent and ground breaking work was done in this ethereal flow in fabric, clouds and even blood.

Again the commitment of both Leonidas and the movie itself is forced onwards with ease as Leonidas gathers only 300 of their best warriors. While it may be illegal for Leonidas to assemble an army and march to war without the blessing of the Council, Leonidas solves this problem by going for a nice little walk with friends. Leonidas's plan is the same as that of his encounter with the wolf, to trap the army of the Persians in a very narrow passage through mountain high among the sea cliffs.

The rest of the story continues to move on with all the force of a star going nova shedding its might and glory for all the universe to see. Leonidas’s small band stands valiantly against the continuous onslaught of men, beasts, non-worldly creatures and an army of immortals. Battle after battle grabs you stronger and more engrossed then the previous. Strangely though engrossed, with an emphasis on gross, is interesting in this movie and there is more blood flying in it then probably every movie for the past two years put together. But man the manner in which the blood spurts out and flies is by itself a reason for all CG lovers to see this movie. The gore is immense and oh so much better then you would imagine from just reading my words. Be warned there’s also more then a couple beheadings and beheaded bodies but again the skill and artistry of the beheadings are staggering in scope and majesty.

True I would not recommend taking small kids to this movie because of the intensity of the battle scenes and at times profound nudity. But for those old enough to enjoy this movie you will not be let down, not form the very first second all the way through the credits. And oh yes you must stay to watch the credits because even they are a scrumptious visual delight. This is a movie were Spartan men are gods among normal men, were a single individual can kill immortals with ease and even shed the blood of deity. Where the combine force of a few working together can stand against impossibly huge numbers, from hundreds of thousands of raining arrows to hundreds of thousands of blood hungry soldiers and mythical creatures.

The true glories of these creatures are that they are not completely real looking but yet somehow more so. Nothing is left for you to fill in loose blanks in the script, nor the visual effects. The creatures include the opening wolf, to a rhino, elephants, grotesquely deformed and perhaps unearthly human like creatures all the way to the huge and truly god like King Xerxes. The strange creatures not only do not distract from the story and flow but actually adds to it in perfect harmony with the realism that the rest of the movie tries to hold true too. An interesting thing to watch, err, listen for is during the few short breaks from battle in order for you to start breathing again, you will continuously hear the howls of wolves off in the distance.

The constant howling of the wolves help to build the story of the Queen and her fight against the Council to send help to her husband. This is a desperate time and the Queen will condescend to any depth in order to help her husband and her country. As early in the film when a Persian angrily demands to know how a mere woman is allowed to address men, she proudly states that Spartan women are not the norm as they are the ones that give birth to true men. That concept is a perfect description of the Queen as she fights as strongly and powerfully as the Spartan warriors. She never gives in to sentiment nor emotions for she knows that true glory is in their freedom and that freedom has the most expensive price of all, Blood! Never is this seen better then when she calls the mere 'Spartan' though King he be, back to her and tells him to 'Return with your shield or on it'.

But what of the warriors themselves? Are they themselves immune to the ravages of war. No, not by any means. We see them fight long and hard. Work them selves to exhaustion. We see them fall to swords, spears, arrows, thousands and thousands of arrows. We see them celebrate and triumph. We see them get beheaded (and man what a wonderful work of art that scene is!) We see them collapse from emotion as they watch family and friends fall only to turn it all to hate and thus to energy to carry on. No more perfect analogy can be given of the Spartans that that by Dilios when Leonidas asks him if the loose of an eye will hold him back, where in Dilios replies it’s only an eye and he’s fortunate that the good Lord saw fit to give him a spare. In the end the story holds true to history but happily that’s not the end of the movie it’s just the beginning. The real end makes the Peter Jackson’s 'The Return of the King' seem lame in comparison.

The main power in this movie is the over all look and feel it strives for by presenting a graphic novel on film. The film grading is the main stay of the look of this movie as it gives a nice golden/bronze hue to the whole film. This golden feel is perfect since this movie is pure gold to watch. The color grading is accented by perfectly added amounts of film graining which does not distract but as other things actually enhances. The lighting is very important to the entire look and feel of this movie and again is head and shoulders above other films. But the particle effects, man now there is pure innovative magic. We start with snow, move to rain in near hurricane proportions followed quickly by blood, lots and lots of flying blood. But this is not your normal blood spurting there’s a masterful blend of real blood spurting mixed with a graphic novel come to live. But hey that’s what '300' does so damn well it brings the story to life. Every part of this movie is tied to the whole. A Spartans life in battle depends on the Spartan next to him so too every particle of this film relies on every thing else to make this work and work it does. When you leave this movie you’re not depressed by the slaughter of the 300 Spartans instead you feel alive, excited and strong.

There’s little time for the characters to develop and only a little of that time is wasted on dialog yet it’s enough to make you feel like these men were real warrior’s even friends. The building of these characters is done my action and emotion and when both King Leonidas and King Xerxes speak you stop to listen to every consonant, vowel and little hiss of breath. You believe these people and grow to understand them so perfectly that when King Leonidas tells, and I'll not spoil this part, another character that he wishes that he will live for ever, that it’s the most vilest of curses he could utter.

Conclusion:
In the end the worst part of this movie is that its only 117 minutes short. There’s no place for a sequel or prequel. Yet that’s part of the magic of this movie. It’s so complete and perfectly executed that you feel no need for anything more. Well maybe one thing more, to turn around and go back in to watch it again! There's a strong chance that the magic of the movie will live as long as the true legend of the 300 Spartan soldiers.

Ratings:

IMDB Film Rating: 8.5/10 (7,880 votes)

- For a movie going experience I give it: 5 out of 5 stars.
This movie is ground breaking and breath taking its an absolute must see.

- For a technical piece of CG and VFX work I give it: 5 out of 5 stars.
This movie started off with lofty goals to perfectly bring to a graphic novel in such a way that you live the experience as watch it and in this and so many other ways its a winner!

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