300

Reviewed by Alicia Glass
April 22, 2007

Director: Zack Snyder Studio: Warner Brothers MPAA: PG-13 Website: Click Here Review Rating: 9 out of 10

Courtesy of Warner Brothers.

Graphic novelist and comic genius Frank Miller’s vision of the Battle of Thermopylae is brought to life, as 300 Spartans make a stand against the encroaching army of Xerxes and the Persian empire.

This is not a historically accurate retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, let go of that thought right now. Rather, this movie (and the graphic novel) of Frank Miller is an homage to the great courage, stamina, and pride of the few who stood against the many. Miller apparently saw “The 300 Spartans” as a child and wished to glorify the legend in his own way.

King Leonidas is in a bind---the unstoppable army of Xerxes’ slaves and assassins is headed right for Sparta, intent on taking the whole of Greece for Xerxes’ empire, and people from within the city are already conspiring against it. Theron, already bought by Xerxes’ gold, holds the city council in his hands and plots against Leonidas. The temple of oracles has been bought as well, and even after delivering prophecy that Sparta will fall, Leonidas takes matters into his own hands, raising a small volunteer army to defend his homeland while leaving the regular army to defend the city. Thus we have the 300, a tiny group of men who used sheer discipline, knowledge of terrain, brute-force pride and iron will to hold off the entirety of Xerxes’ army for some time.

Sure, there’s a lot of CGI and graphics and such. Sure, all the bad guys are larger than life and overdone to the extreme---that’s the point, I think. Imagine how the Spartans must have felt, trying to face down a rhinoceros, potentially immortal Asian assassins, or sorcerers who threw explosives. Every single man seems to be sporting at the very least a six pack abdomen, it’s rather amazing. And the sheer size and voice of Xerxes himself was enough to be overwhelming. And there’s lots and lots of blood, gore and violence. It’s a movie about a war, we knew it wouldn’t be pretty. Still, 300 comes together in Miller’s unique storytelling and movie-making style that brought him such a huge fanbase with Sin City.

It’s worth the high theatre prices just to see the enemy emissary say, “This is madness!” and hear King Leonidas scream, “This is SPARTA!”

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