Film Review: 300 (2007)

Finally, i could use the word 'style over substance' into a good use. The film, which features 300 or so six-packed bare-chested men wielding spears and shields, one uber hot Oracle with artsy dance, and your typical strong wife as a Queen would please it's original comic fan. The comic itself however was short, hardly ever thrust to a three-dimensional characterization, yet full of style, images, and most prominently, testosterones. Yes, surely, if one could love a comic with such approach, i couldn't think any sane reason for not loving this film.

Zack Snyder brought forth all the conception of the still images into a large screen with style and passions. He knew that his viewers would only expect more testosterones than characterization. And he doesn't disappoint. The necessary 'political' aspect was introduced as necessary but not overly lest it become the source of a boredom. The main course to this film was of course the three-days Battle of Thermopylae where the King of Spartan himself, along with his estimated three hundred soldiers held the Persian Army in size of hundreds of thousand. Heralded as one of history's best known last stand, the battle itself was a solid proof that the terrain knowledge, tactics, and valor were major facts to determine the outcome of a war. Any war.

Further, the film emphasizes the mythology of a battle, with heavily laden special effects, we see people slain, elephants fell, and a charging rhinoceros all for the purpose of this film which in result, felt like an overlong Battle of Helm Deep from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers which an overstatement really, because once you sit at the theater to watch this film you'll find yourself yawning whenever the scene shifted from the Hot Gates to Sparta. Well, at least, i was.

Anyway, the battle was well choreographed, some part i enjoy the most, the use of slow-motion and stop-motion allows more style as we see the Spartan hacking through throngs of Persians, sending limbs and bodies flailing about which further put the film in a context.

This was not a film meant to had a thought over, just sit there in the dark and enjoy the scenes. Be wary that this film came directly from a comic book, and there were nary a drama quality dialogs between the image frames. Hence, no point in expecting one from this film.

My Rating: *** / ****