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intereact!Director: Zack Snyder
Actors: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, and Vincent Regan
Rated: R (Restricted)
Retail Price (not our price): $19.98
Release Date: 2007-07-31
Theatrical Release Date: 2007-03-09
Studio: Warner Home Video
Run Time: 116 minutes
Format: Array
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Discs: 1
Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
1) Amazon.com
Like Sin City before it, 300 brings Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's graphic novel vividly to life. Gerard Butler (Beowulf and Grendel, The Phantom of the Opera) radiates pure power and charisma as Leonidas, the Grecian king who leads 300 of his fellow Spartans (including David Wenham of The Lord of the Rings, Michael Fassbender, and Andrew Pleavin) into a battle against the overwhelming force of Persian invaders. Their only hope is to neutralize the numerical advantage by confronting the Persians, led by King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), at the narrow strait of Thermopylae. More engaging than Troy, the tepid and somewhat similar epic of ancient Greece, 300 is also comparable to Sin City in that the actors were shot on green screen, then added to digitally created backgrounds. The effort pays off in a strikingly stylized look and huge, sweeping battle scenes. However, it's not as to-the-letter faithful to Miller's source material as Sin City was. The plot is the same, and many of the book's images are represented just about perfectly. But some extra material has been added, including new villains (who would be considered "bosses" if this were a video game, and it often feels like one) and a political subplot involving new characters and a significantly expanded role for the Queen of Sparta (Lena Headey). While this subplot by director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) and his fellow co-writers does break up the violence, most fans would probably dismiss it as filler if it didn't involve the sexy Headey. Other viewers, of course, will be turned off by the waves of spurting blood, flying body parts, and surging testosterone. (The six-pack abs are also relentless, and the movie has more and less nudity--more female, less male--than the graphic novel.) Still, as a representation of Miller's work and as an ancient-themed action flick with a modern edge, 300 delivers. --David Horiuchi2) Description
The epic graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City) assaults the screen with the blood, thunder and awe of its ferocious visual style faithfully recreated in an intense blend of live-action and CGI animation. Retelling the ancient Battle of Thermopylae, it depicts the titanic clash in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his massive Persian army. Experience history at swordpoint. And moviemaking with a cutting edge.
Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5
1) Supermen and Mutants [Rating: 1 out of 5]
I must say that, in spite of the setting, I hated this movie. That is saying a lot, as Gladiator and Troy are among my all time favorites and ancient history in general really turns me on. I suppose it was all carryovers from the comic book turned me off. The narrator is laughable with his inane captions-turned-voiceover ("he strikes; his form is perfect"). The look of the design is a direct copy from the world of the comic book, with the Persian nobility draped in chains, The Immortals armed like Samurai, and wolves with honest to goodness glowing red eyes. Also it seemed that a strange malady was prevalent among all enemies of Sparta that left them diseased and misshapen; or possibly the land of Persia was high in radioactive waste, causing mutation in all of Xerxes minions. At any rate the exaggerated and stylized look, intended no doubt to underscore the difference between good and evil, left me instead disgusted. I must say that I was neither awed nor impressed when I saw all the victims of the Persians pinned high up on the trunk of a tree, instead I laughed. The plot was decent, I suppose, but it is very difficult to get into any storyline when you are hating half a dozen other elements in the film. There were, however, a couple of scenes that left me quite sick. At one point, during a parley between the opposing Kings, Xerxes (who did not, by the way, think himself divine) and Leonidas, Xerxes came down from his throne to Leonidas, who turned his back to Xerxes and allowed him to put his hands on his shoulders: this may sound like a trifle, but the very idea that the fiercely proud and independent Spartan would allow the alien Persian to touch him is laughable. Worse than that, however, came at the end when Leonidas actually kneels before Xerxes. Granted it was a trick on Leonidas's part, but it was far beneath the dignity of the Spartans and I couldn't have been more disgusted. Between the surreal look of the design, the CGI landscape, and the relentless slow motion action (quite impressive at first but overdone and thereby ruined), 300 feels more like a computer generated conflict in some alternate reality than real life warfare in heroic ancient Greece. That said, I must also say that Gerard Butler did a fine job and the music was also rather good, but overall I found it a horrible adaptation of one of the proudest moments of Western Civilization.2) True to its Comic Book Beginnings [Rating: 3 out of 5]
Visually impressive, this film captures the comic book elements of its source brilliantly. But as a tale of the Spartan stand against the Persians it is woefully unhistoric and overwrought. The Spartans are nearly all ferocious superheroes, not men at all in the ordinary sense, and they are all lovers of "freedom." They are "drawn" (perhaps visually enhanced is a better way of putting it) with muscles on top of muscles and they are courageous and dauntless to a man. Against them are ranged the inhuman monsters of the evil Persian king Xerxes, a man who stands twice the height of an ordinary man, is shaved from head to toe, prances about nearly naked, is covered with facial and body rings in the most decadent fashion imaginable and speaks with a deep, echoing resonance suggesting he is the devil himself.He appears on a giant throne, drawn by slaves who are, themselves, little more than inhuman monsters, and approaches the front line to parley with good King Leonidas, the noble Spartan. Never mind that there would have been little likelihood the Persian King of Kings would have driven to the battle's front lines on a giant mobile throne, or any other contraption, to face the Spartan king and thereby risk being killed by a Spartan surprise. Xerxes was, famously, the less than successful son of his predecessor, Darius, and typically traveled surrounded by his army. There is certainly no record that he was the sort to get out in front and, centuries later, when Alexander crushed the Persians, their king stayed well back from the front and only fled when Alexander broke through. The whole picture here of Xerxes is fantasy. No less unrealistic than Xerxes himself, his army, seems to have been imported from another planet. At one point a soldier atop a charging rhinoceros (what human has ever been able to harness and ride a rhino?) comes plowing into the Spartan phalanxe but not to worry, for the huge beast is downed by a single well thrown Spartan spear. Ah, those Spartans!Xerxes' Immortals (his personal guard) and his other minions are portrayed throughout as distorted, corrupted beings, disfigured creatures we can easily imagine slaughtering in battle without pity since they aren't really human like our heroic Spartans, who live and die and eat and breathe and laugh and grieve -- just like us (or as we imagine ourselves doing). Indeed, we are given little of the Spartans' own cruel culture here or, in their constant talk of "freedom," any revelation concerning the Helots -- Greek slaves who lived under their cruel thumb, did their bidding and were routinely sacrificed on the altar of Spartan brutality (a highly practiced strategy intended to strike fear into the Helots and make them permanently submissive to their Spartan masters).This film is all "glory" and bloody battle, killing and getting killed. And, while the Spartans are noble and heroic, the villains are utterly bad, including the Spartan elders or ephors, portrayed here as vile, barely human monsters living apart from other Spartans in a mystical sanctuary atop a mountain where they sexually enslave beautiful young Spartan females! Or King Leonidas' rival who rapes the good king's wife while Leonidas is off at war saving Greece from the monstrous Persians. No mention here, either, of the Spartan practice of dual kingship. Leonidas, of course, is only one of two Spartan kings but you don't get any sense of that from this film, either.I suppose "300" accurately portrays the comic book or "graphic novel" it was based on (at least it seems to do this visually) and that is an accomplishment of sorts. But I'd rather have seen Pressfield's Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae, itself a somewhat unseemly glorification of the Spartans, in film form than this cartoon-like rendering of these famous events. And for a more realistic view of the Spartans, themselves, one would be even better off going to Nicholas Nicastro's The Isle of Stone: A Novel of Ancient Sparta, about the Spartan defeat by the Athenians in the famous battle of Sphacteria in the Pelopennesian War which followed the Greek defeat of Xerxes at Plataea, after the Hot Gates. (The Spartans actually ended up winning the Pelopennesian War, of course, and imposed a brief tyranny on the Athenians who ultimately managed to break free and, in alliance with other Greek City states, finally defeated the Spartans and broke their grip on the land mass of Greece. Sparta's great weakness was its elitism which kept the conquered Helots down as slaves rather than absorbing them into the nation and growing stronger from the addition of other peoples.) Xerxes, himself, by the way, was only a man and not an especially terrifying one at that, if the historical record is to be believed. He certainly wasn't the dread, devil incarnate this film hands us. For another view of the mighty Xerxes, you can read L. Sprague de Camp's The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate, a really enjoyable adventure tale set in Xerxes' time which is probably truer to its era and characters -- though it is somewhat tongue-in-cheek (but more fun, for that).Now that would make a hell of a movie.SWMauthor of The King of Vinland's Saga3) 300 Stars!!!!!! [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Great image!!! I started to watch the movie just to see the difference in Blu Ray, but stayed through the complete movie....again!!!!!4) All Abs, No Muscle. [Rating: 3 out of 5]
"300" is a movie based on the legendary exploits of Spartan King Leonidas and Persian King Xerxes.Xerxes organized a Million Man March and then threatened the Greek states with plunder and subjugation; only Leonidas and his 300 guards stood inthe way of Spartan annihilation.This is not the first adaptation of this tale to the screen. Forty five years ago, David Egan and Ralph Richardson acted in the forgettable "300 Spartans.""300" is a new adaptation directed by Zack Snyder and based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller.There are multiple ways to view 300. It could be taken a promotional video for the US Army or as an ad campaign for Bowflex. The reviewer prefers to see it as a plain action flick.Without doubt, this is one of the more beautiful films that have graced the screen.The subdued hues, the period costumes (or the lack of it) and ragged terrain are lovely to behold. When the Spartans observe the Persians fleet swallowed in the tumult, as the rain glides on Leonidas's shield, the shot resembles a painting worthy of the Louvre.The battle scenes and phalanx were choreographed with attention to detail. And then there was the gore. What wondrous fountains of gushing red fluid, what perverse amputations and beheadings. Despite the critical consensus, 300 is terribly flawed.Snyder has gotten a pass for reworking Miller's novel onscreen. However, 10 minutes into the movie, the question has to be asked: Why did Leonidas need to go to war? And if he did, why take only 300 men? Some excuses were alluded to, but these were rendered in lackluster fashion as to be made inconsequential to the plot.Moreover, the pacing was off. Initially, the back story was rushed to make way for the blood-soaked spectacle. Then we were assaulted with barrage upon barrage of Persian suicide fighters.Following the first contact between the armies, each battle scene became a more brazen attempt to intoxicate the audience with slow motion and quick editing.By the end, the experience was underwhelming. There was no climax.300 is visually appealing, but not much more. Without a coherent plot or the tiniest bit of social commentary, it is an imperfect, albeit enjoyable film by a talented director whose best days are ahead of him.5) OK BUT HARDLY GREAT [Rating: 3 out of 5]
Only bought this because of Amazon's incredible low price during the black friday sale of 2007 and it didn't dissappoint me, the battle scenes are pretty good and the look of the film is obviously one of a kind. Still, no point comparing it to a truly great film of similar theme such as GLADIATOR which is another class entirely.I doubt I'll be giving 300 repeated viewings but I'm glad I saw it.