300

"Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Rodrigo Santoro
Director: Zack Snyder
Running Time: 117 mins
Age Restriction: 16 VS
Release Date: March30, 2007
We gave it:**

Based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, 300 comes across as a Playstation campaign, full of button-bashing CGI battles, and the odd bit of dialogue - just for a change.
What it’s about:

Based on Frank Miller’s comic about the famous battle of Thermopylae in ancient Greece, 300 tells the heroic tale of 300 Spartan warriors who held off an entire Persian invading force. The film picks up with King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and his men heading to the famous mountain pass, and then gets going with some serious cgi enhanced battle sequences.

What we thought of it:

With all the hype it is receiving, and its sell out US box office success, you might expect 300 to be the next Gladiator, or Braveheart (if you have lower standards), but it is neither, despite borrowing a lot from both of those films.

Combining the recent Hollywood trends of comic to movie conversions, and jazzing up historical tales, 300 takes both to new levels. It is visually stunning, being filmed entirely on green screen with all scenery added later. The heavy digital treatment gives the whole film a very comic-like look, and many of the shots would make fantastic illustrations. While this is the new yardstick for mixing animation and live action, there are some instances where the heavily stylised scenes recall slick adverts, which detracts from the epic feel.


300 takes fighting to a ludicrous Playstation-type levelAs beautiful as it is to look at, 300 is rather lacking in drama, and the script is downright pathetic. As King Leonidas, Gerard Butler cuts an imposing figure with his heroic beard and sculpted abs, but his constant lapses into a Scottish accent make all his half-baked speeches about Sparta and freedom come across like a soccer coach trying to motivate a losing team during halftime. An equally annoying narration spells out the obvious in an already oversimplified story, and simply serves to underline how insubstantial 300 actually is.

There is a slight political subplot with Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) and Theron (Dominic West), which feels like a needless add on, even though it is crucial to the story. This leads to perhaps the biggest flaw of 300 - the mindless repetitive violence.

It’s understandable that a film about a famous battle would contain fighting, but 300 takes this to a ludicrous Playstation-type level. The combat lasts for the majority of the film, packs in every modern action cliché (Matrix bullet time, Hong Kong style acrobatics, etc etc), and only lets up long enough for Leonidas to roar something inspirational before the next (and tougher) wave of attackers descend.

If script and acting don’t matter to you, and you love movies for their visual flare, then 300 will be right up your alley. If you expect more, then despite the work and talent that clearly went into it, it feels like nothing more than an overlong action sequence from a computer game, devoid of anything human whatsoever. "

- Ivan Sadler
from www.24.com