- Directed by Zack Snyder
- December 9, 2006 (Butt-Numb-A-Thon) / March 9, 2007 (US)
- Based on the 1998 Dark Horse Comics limited series 300 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley
King Leonidas leads 300 Spartans into battle against the Persian King Xerxes and his invading army of more than 300,000 soldiers.
Coming out before Zach Snyder was a touch high on his own farts, 300 is a movie unlike any other. It is as much a historical epic as it is a fantasy film by blending fact and fiction into a highly stylized presentation. What makes this stand out the most though from other contemporary films (and even from Zach Snyder’s general filmography) is that it can border on impressionistic by using constructed sets in a way film once did for feeling before films pushed for authenticity. The visuals and the sets are all designed to accentuate the situation.
Yet despite all that clear effort it can feel emotionless. A scene or action should get the audience to feel something but instead it can sometimes be just a pretty picture. For every “This is SPARTA!” there is a gorgeous yet cold shot of something like horses or loving shots of minor actions. Slow moments of walking amongst tall grass that look nice but feel empty.
Present in the film is a recurring voice-over narrative by the Spartan soldier Dilios played by David Wenham. It lays the groundwork for the fantastical elements and any historical inaccuracies. It also serves to keep things moving by eliminating scenes needed for setup with straight dialogue.
The tone is bleak and downbeat. 300 is not war as an adventure, but war with serious consequences. Early on you get the feeling that everything rides on this. It’s the fate of their world which is being decided. These are clearly individuals fighting for an idea and not fighting for a king.
Even Stevie Wonder could not miss the homoerotic nature of this film. You have a bunch of shirtless, near oiled buff men fighting and flexing muscles. Visually it is very heavy in that, but the dialogue and actor portrayals do not lean in that direction. It is weirdly focused more on strong platonic relationships and male experiences.
Leonidas (Gerard Butler) is a weary king whose concern for his people is obvious. He is a man of high ideals with a clear code who sees the danger approaching. Butler portrays him with swagger and an attitude problem. He is a non-nonsense yet fair man. He is what ne might view as a classic type of soldier.
His wife Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) is his equal. She’s not there to shore up the character of Leonidas by just being support. She fights an equally important battle at home between the weak government headed by or controlled by corrupt officials and influential members to protect her people and her way of life. Her battle is with a dishonest Spartan politician named Theron played by a truly despicable Dominic West. West is a slimy yet charming enough politician that is perhaps the most evil person in the film.
Generally this isn’t too subtle about portraying the most corrupt of the corrupt as grotesque looking people. The exception is Theron but the Ephors are deformed with their inner evil manifesting physically. A religious comment? Zach Snyder is certainly a director that’s better at style than he is at substance. I’m not going to deny that, but he can still derive substance in a movie when there are enough people to tell him “No.” I think this is a case where he had enough people to say such that cool did not overwhelm story.
A different presentation style than what was or is dominant in comic movies was needed for this. Otherwise it would’ve just been a generic historical epic. It needed to be different. The sets and the techniques to make it feel unreal accentuate the fantasy elements as well as the drama. Visually it is larger than life or even dreamlike when necessary. The superimposition chroma key technique used to recreate the appearance of the comics series was absolutely the right call.
The story needed to feel like a story of great men facing impossible odds and it did. As the story goes on it slowly creeps in, even if you don’t know the history, that they are all doomed. Nobody is coming out of this alive and even they realize it. The best they can hope for is a good death that accomplishes their goal which is to slow up the advancing army.
Presented are genuine characters and you want them to succeed even though history says they don’t. They are brutal products of their age. One thing people forget is just how horrific war could be before we had guns and missiles. There was a lot of fear and intimidation used to unnerve the enemy. I’m not sure about the whole use of the bodies as a wall, but it wouldn’t have necessarily been out of the realm of possibility. A horrific scene but one that drives home the point of what was done.
Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) is a fantastic and creepy villain. He’s egotistical, maniacal, and genuinely believes in his presumed godhood. This isn’t just something for him to keep power. It’s something that he thinks is real. His costume helps communicate that as does his larger than life size. Santoro acts as though he owns everything denoting authority and ego with every look and line.
There’s even a little bit of tragedy in the deformed character of Ephialtes (Andrew Tiernan). He wants to be a soldier but cannot and Leonidas, not to be unkind tells him that he cannot be used because of his physical infirmities. On the one hand I do feel sympathy for him in that moment but then he just goes to a Plan B demonstrating he was seeking glory rather than defending others.
The politics of the situation are portrayed well. The Persians have managed to bribe the right people to use social mechanisms to slow things up to advance their purpose. Political commentary? Possibly. Money in politics is nothing new. With additional themes of duty and conviction it’s far more substantive than people give it credit for I think. It’s more than just an entertaining and engaging movie. It has something to say even if it doesn’t say it strongly.
300 is an excellent film. It’s a fine work of fantasy and one of the strongest comic adaptions out there. It feels unlike anything else done today or then.
