300 (2007) Review

 300 (2007) 7.5/10

“Madness? THIS IS SPARTA!”

Hello everybody. And welcome back to another movie review. Today I’ll be going over the hit movie 300. Based on the 1998 Dark Horse comic by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley (and also based on the real life Battle of Thermopylae), the movie premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 14, 2007. The movie was a major box office hit, with many people praising its production and story, but historians criticised the film’s historical inaccuracies.

Believe it or not, I had never seen this movie in its entirety prior to this viewing. I’ve seen clips and all of the memes on it, but I never sat down and watched it. 300 is a good movie that quickly became a personal favorite, despite how cheesy it got at times. It’s not perfect, but it knows what it is and rolled with the insanity of 300 Spartans standing their ground against a horde of Persians. Let’s begin.

This is the story of the 300 Spartans that held off the advancing Persian army from conquering Greece. At the head of this tale is King Leonidas, King of Sparta and leader of the 300 men. While he’s surviving the Persian onslaught, his wife Queen Gorgo tries to convince the Spartan government to send him the reinforcements he needs. If you know your Greek history then you’ll know that Leonidas and the 300 Spartans do not survive the battle, but instead bide time for Sparta to prepare their defenses against the impending horde.

This is a very simple story, but one that’s filled with honor and pride in one’s nation. A tale of a few standing against the many in an attempt to save their country. I like the characters, but there isn’t much character depth to these characters. They’re here to serve their country and perform their duty as soldiers and that’s all there is to it. Back on the homefront with the Queen, she has to deal with shitty politicians and deceit to help save her husband. I do like how the movie tries to build up a father and son as they fight side by side against their enemies. Very touching.

Because this is based off of a graphic novel, the film loves to use a lot of artistic liberties to help exaggerate its scenery and because of this the film has a VERY unique look. There’s film grain in the film itself and it seems to use a kind of sepia tone for certain shots. The reds for the Spartan capes are exaggerated, the bronze for the shields and helmets are shinier than ever and the entire movie is stylized with these exaggerations. The movie looks like it was ripped straight out of the graphic novel. The visuals for the movie is easily one of the best parts.

The movie loves to make use of its camera. Exaggerated shots and scenes that are just pure badass. Some of my favorite scenes are: Leonidas kicking the messenger down the well, Spartans pushing the Persians down the cliff, the arrows blocking the sun and the Spartans laughing about it, young Leonidas killing the wolf, and Leonidas’ last stand against Xerxes. There are many more wonderful shots and scenes, but these are my favorites.

The action scenes are, of course, the main selling point for the film. The battles are brutal. Blood everywhere, limbs being chopped off, bodies decomposing on the battle ground, and you get to see it all happen. This movie does not pull its punches with brutality. Now there’s no disembowelment or blood eagles or shit like that, but you do get to see lots of fake blood and heads being chopped off. I think the most brutal moment of the movie is Leonidas fighting against the giant Immortal.

I love the music for the movie. Tyler Bates killed the soundtrack, utilizing Spartan chants and drum beats for both sides of the conflict. Easily one of the best movie soundtracks I’ve heard in a while. 

The acting is pretty great too. Gerard Butler was AMAZING as King Leonidas. He truly brought him to life. Rodrigo Santoro was great as Xerxes. David Wenham was surprisingly good in this as Dilios. Nothing against the actor, but for such a small role in the film, he pulled it off perfectly.

So my main, number one issue is that I feel like the movie could’ve fleshed out a couple more of the Spartans instead of just Leonidas, the father and son, and the guy missing an eye. I feel like it would’ve helped make their sacrifice much more memorable if more of the soldiers were fleshed out. I know the movie isn’t supposed to be deep or anything, but I think it would’ve helped the movie. There’s also pacing issues and the blood just looks bad at times. Other than this, the movie is fine.

Anyway, 300 is a must-watch. This movie has a decent cult following and I can see why. It’s not the greatest thing ever, but I feel like everyone should watch it as it’s actually an important movie for the 2000’s era of film and it’s just a great way to know the tale of King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.

This is Zorgak, signing off.