Seen in imax,
March 22nd, 2007
“In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers. The battle is a suicide mission, meant to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to prepare for the invasion. However, that doesn’t stop the Spartans from throwing their hearts into the fray, determined to take as many Persians as possible with them (source)
Much has been said about the adaptation of Frank Miller’s comic - if I take a look around, I am led to believe I am the only person who hasn’t read it - but personally, I don’t care much for that. Nor am I going to go into detail on the amazing stylistic victory of this film as it would be foolish to try and capture it in words.
In this review I am more concerned with the question of whether this is a good film as a whole. And it damned well is.
I’ll admit that I came to the theater expecting to see style valued over substance, action over plot, cheap thrills over heartfelt drama - not that there’s anything wrong with any of these things, but it is always disappointing if a film looks fantastic but lets itself down leaving you with unfulfilled feeling.
Yet! I was pleasantly surprised to find that 300 does not neglect to invest a little in setting up a backstory. A little pathos goes a long way, and it never looked this good!
Everything isn’t perfect and there are quite a few plot lines that are not convincing and are somewhat left hanging. Acting leaves a bit to be desired, and as Gerard Butler’s Leonidas lays down a powerful performance, the rest of the cast are visibly having a hard time keeping up. Also, I don’t care how hard he tries, but Faramir can’t hold a candle to King Theoden’s speech.
Shortcomings aside, in the end 300 combines a simple but very effective Greek drama with glorious visuals, and that is what gives the eyecandy so much more power.
Eat it, Sin City!
June 2nd, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Yeah, It’s a good film. Was surprised to see Paulo from ‘Lost’ cast as Xerxes but whatever :p