'300': Bloody Eyecandy That's Sometimes Sweet

Film adaptations whether they're TV, musical, novel, or in the case of '300', graphic novel are always risky.  The director has to worry about what to keep from the original material, what to take out, & what to add in order to make the final product considered great.  All those things are equally important and if even one is flawed, the others could be comprised no matter how good they may be.  In second-time director Zack Snyder's big screen take on Frank Miller's 1998 graphic novel there are many visual effects, but really not much else.  The odd thing is, that's actually a good thing.  A very good thing.

'300' tells the not-so-accurate account of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.  Led by King Leonidas, here played by Gerard Butler, 300 Spartan warriors fought to death against King Xerxes' Persian army.  As a result, the rest of Greece was inspired to band together against Xerxes, creating the world's first democracy.  There you have it, pretty much the entire movie in a nutshell.  The simplicity of the film's outline for the most part helps everything move along smoothly.  Snyder added a few bits and pieces to Miller's original storyline in order help spice things up, but nothing too drastic.  Only a couple of times does it seem like things are going in slow motion, but that's mainly because of the intense battle sequences which make some instances feel dull in comparison. 

Where as the last adaptation of a graphic novel, 'Sin City' was filled with notable names portraying the characters, in '300' there are slim to none.  Mostly, none.  Although Butler has starred in almost twenty films he's yet to reach that point where he's a household name.  In '300' there is barely any room for acting between the arm slicing and head chopping scenes.  Only a handful of the actors get a chance to do much with their roles.  Lena Headley, who plays Queen Gorgo gets the most screen-time aside from Butler.  She does okay I suppose.  Nothing amazing, but not dreadful either.  Acting isn't what is important in this film though.  It's those fancy special effects. 

The ocean scene is magnificent, the scenery is amazing, but other things aren't always so impressive.  In the first encounter with the Persians, the stylized blood makes the graphic novel feel truly present, which is great.  After that scene though, the effect is no longer seen.  The blood is normal, I guess you could say.  The feel was present in quite a few other scenes, but since blood is a huge part of this film, I felt some of the quality was lost.  Also, the creatures such as the elephants and rhino were a bit shoddy.  They didn't appear life-like.  However, much like the other special effects extravaganza this year, 'Ghost Rider' everything looks cool so it's not that big of a deal.  For the record that's the only thing '300' and 'Ghost Rider' have in common.  I just want to make that clear.

Earlier this year I named '300' as one of the ten films to pay attention to.  At the time, I thought it was going to be excellent.  Now that I've seen it I can return to that presumption.  I'm not going to lie, it did disappoint me.  I expected something more.  Don't get me wrong it's really good, just not great.  I'm also not going to brush off the fact that that this film will still end up being a favorite of many.  It has tremendous appeal and will gross well over $100 million at the box office in no time.  Like I said, it's good that there are so many visuals effects and not much else.  Had there been a lot of big names and the storyline been changed it wouldn't have been the same.  The effects step up pleasing the audience and allow the actors (which most people won't even recognize) take the backseat for once.  For me though, it just didn't have that oomph I hoped for.

OVERALL RATING: 

Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Regan, & Dominic West Directed by: Zack Snyder Written by: Michael Gordon (II), Kurt Johnstad, Frank Miller, Zack Snyder, & Lynn Varley Produced by: William Fay, Craig J. Flores, Frank Miller, Deborah Snyder, Thomas Tull, & Benjamin Waisbren Rated: R for graphic battle sequences throughout, some sexuality & nudity.

(click the play button to watch the trailer)

Originally written on Mar. 10 2007.