300 tells the story of Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and his 300 Spartan warriors as they attempt to save Sparta from being taken over by the thousand nations of the Persian Empire led by the God-King Xerxes. The story is told as a narrative by the only one of the 300 to survive, Dilios (David Wenham), to a new army of 30,000 about to take on the invading Persians. It begins by telling of Leonidas’s upbringing as a Spartan boy up until a Persian messenger brings him a message from Xerxes that he should surrender or see all Spartans turned to slaves. Leonidas refuses and goes to see the Ephors, corrupt old monks, whom he must convince to allow him to go to war. Bribed by Persians, the Ephors refuse Leonidas’s request. Sly Leonidas decides to “go for a walk” and take 300 Spartans with him as a personal guard. They march to the sea to confront the invading Persian armies and engage in a massive battle for Spartan freedom.
I must say, 300 is one of my 3 favorite films of all-time. Zack Snyder is a magician when it comes to making movies. The way he turned a graphic novel into an almost perfect big-screen representation is nothing short of incredible. Snyder successfully made an action-packed blockbuster that can appease the masses that also serves as a flawlessly beautiful piece of art. The art of 300 is mind-blowing. Every shot of the film sans one was filmed on a massive soundstage, yet the entire film is insanely beautiful. Most movies that are mostly CGI have a fake feel to them, but 300 manages to bypass this. The color scheme and overall stylization of the film is amazing.
One thing that Zack Snyder does better than anybody is fight scenes. Where most people do a ton of quick cuts to make the action look rapid and intense, Snyder does a lot of long, slow-motion shots to show the art of the fight. The most memorable fight scene in 300 is when Leonidas single handedly dismembers a dozen Persians in one single shot. They come one after another and he tears them apart without a single cut in the film being made.
Whenever a film is made that is an adaptation of something from another medium, a comparison has to be made. In most cases, adaptations are flawed in some way, but 300 is literally a shot-by-shot recreation of the graphic novel. Zack Snyder was able to remain perfectly faithful to the graphic novel while also creating his own world for it to take place in.
The acting in 300 isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough not to distract from the art of the film. Butler portrays Leonidas perfectly and Lena Headey is amazing as Queen Gorgo. Rodrigo Santoro plays a good but disturbing Xerxes. Vincent Regan and Michael Fassbender are also very good.
The story is great and the acting is good, but what makes 300 amazing in my eyes is is the art. 300 is like nothing I have ever seen at the movies. If the entire plot was removed and the characters were left undeveloped, it would still be beautiful. It wouldn’t be good, but it would be beautiful. The fact that Snyder was able to combine amazing CGI, beautiful stylization, a good story, and good characters makes 300 a near perfect film in my opinion. 300 gets a 10/10.
duuuddddeee, you left out one key component of the film that makes it great. the fight choreography! it’s a ballet that makes violence look beautiful lol. you don’t see movies like that anymore. it’s all about quick cuts and blurred flailing of limbs now with some explosions. with 99% of the film being in cgi, they could have definitely been lazy in that department, but they weren’t. that’s really something that kept me glued to the screen and my jaw in my lap.