Space Pirates Ltd.

I like films that make you think just as much as the next guy, but there is something refreshing about leaving the theater saying “the coolest part was when the guy’s head fell off.” 300 won’t win any awards for character development or plot nuances, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a fun flick to see with your buddies.

Based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel, 300 retells the story of the Battle of Thermopylae, in which King Leonidas led a small group of Spartan soldiers against the Persian army, consisting of over 100,000 men. Faced with cowardice and corruption in his own government and the monstrosity of foreign invaders, Leonidas (Gerard Butler) becomes a beacon of courage, and also shouts some really cool taglines. The nine foot tall God-King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), leader of the Persian Empire, is immensely creepy and underhanded – a bad guy who you spend the whole movie just itching to see skewered on a Spartan spear.
Visually, 300 is stunning, due largely in part to the visual effects added in post production. Almost all of the shooting was done with a blue screen – backgrounds and characters were added in digitally, including most of the Persian army (the monsters in particular). These effects may annoy you if you are looking for a more historically accurate epic, in that it gives the story an air of fantasy. Among the Persian ranks are colossal war elephants, obese giants with axes for arms, and other troops which Xerxes may have had trouble recruiting without the help of a good digital artist.
Director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) claimed that the movie was never supposed to be historically accurate – it is rather a combination of Frank Miller’s story and visual effects that would appeal to audiences. The Spartan battle tactics of 300 for instance, differ from actual history for the sake of action. However, I was too distracted by the rolling heads and speared chests to notice that the phalanx troop formation differed from history book diagrams.
Complaints have already started flying in about the possibility of 300 being commentary on current America. Some of them are understandable – the line “freedom isn’t free” certainly moved me from the Battle of Thermopylae to the battle of bumper stickers. Others have attacked the fact that the protagonists of the movie – a bunch of muscled white guys – are fighting an army of Asians and Middle Easterners, which apparently is kind of similar to the War in Iraq.
If you view 300 as if it were a political commentary, you won’t enjoy it. Partially because it is simply not (Frank Miller published his graphic novel in 1998, and the movie stays almost entirely true to that story) and partially because you would be taking the fun out of a movie that is made entirely to be just that. By constantly being suspicious of some hidden agenda, you would deprive yourself of the fun experienced by a less skeptical movie-goer who simply sees 300 as buff dudes with impressive beards cutting each other’s limbs off.
Not every movie is a ground breaking and genius Oscar-worthy film. And it would be exhausting to watch only high-brow pieces of cinematic art. There’s not a whole lot to analyze or think about in 300, and it’s not especially accurate or innovative, but it did what it set out to do – it is a lot of fun to watch.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Pirate Brew Ha-Ha. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.