As you’ve probably guessed in my past reviews or know my tastes, I greatly dislike Hollywood’s current trend of playing fast and loose with historical events. Since 300 is based upon Frank Miller’s comic book, which is derived from The 300 Spartans, there are no claims to debunk thanks to the usual BS phrase “based upon actual events” being absent from the marketing campaign. I doubt we’ll ever find any accurate accounts on the Battle of Thermopylae since people were pretty guilty of hyperbole more often in the past. As the Roman saying goes (improperly credited t0 Alex Haley), history is written by the winners.
Poetic license aside, the acting is a translation of the comic book: Leonidas, Xerxes, Theron and Gorgo give long, well-thought-out scripted speeches, responses and conversations. Nothing is spontaneous. Most of the jokes about the movie highlight Leonidas shouting yet there are a couple reasons for this. In comics characters often speak with exclamation points to emphasize their actions, emotions and intentions. The second is more logical; he’s the king of the Spartans. One of his duties is keeping his men motivated, enthused and focused. Who wants to follow a leader into battle, especially one with horrible odds, if his oratory is milquetoast?
Verbally, the movie captures the cadence of comics. Visually, 300 shines with all the comupter-rendered landscapes, costumes and battles. It’s not as gore-ridden as some feared. You’ll see some blood splatter, limbs and heads cut off and occasionally bones showing but it doesn’t linger on as a horror movie does. The R rating comes from the female nudity, lack of underwear and heterosexual acts, definitely fiction if the stories of institutionalized Spartan homosexuality are true. The uniforms of the Persians’ multinational army were the best. The last time I saw such an impressive mix of military-ethnic designs was the mini-series version of Dune.
I hadn’t watched Sin City so my only skepticism of the movie came from the film’s director, Zack Snyder. His last famous feature was the weak remake of Dawn of the Dead. Thankfully Miller’s vision was strong enough to overpower Snyder’s past reliance on gross, slow-motion violence and general freakiness. Okay, Xerxes still looks like a Goth nightclub reject from all his piercings but I think that’s more of a Miller depiction, not the director’s.
300 is another perfect candidate for History versus Hollywood, it is a terrific movie for action junkies, sword & sorcery fans and maybe even Shakespeare addicts due to the heavily scripted speeches. The funny side effect involving the Iranian government being offended is pretty hilarious too. My friend Doc pointed out that most Americans don’t mentally equate Persia, let alone Ancient Persia, with Iran. Besides, what do they care about Xerxes? He was a pagan king from a “decadent” culture that didn’t accept their one true god. Just a lot of bluster coming from a nation which publicly sells images of Mohammed with visible, distinctive facial features.
Back to the real subject, if you can’t see 300 in a great theater (has to have a nice wide screen, decent sound system for the rumble of the Persian army), put this on the top of your Netflix list or a Blockbuster run when it’s released. Probably the coolest fictional movie I’ve seen about Ancient Greece since Clash of the Titans which looks pretty crummy 26 years later but Ray Harryhausen did pretty well with what existed. I doubt Zack Snyder could in 1981.