Review of 300

Frank Millar's Vision come to life...

'' Madness? THIS IS SPARTA!''

King Leonidas and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C..

Gerard Butler: King Leonidas

Violent, action-packed, maybe repetitive but visually stunning and imaginative like frank Millar's Novel. loosely based on real events. Truly immense and the scale is gigantic, so much violence it oozes with it.

Did get annoyed with David Wenham's narration a tad, loved the pure macho-ism in this.
Gerard Butler as King Leonidas was absolutely one with the part he plays. He's such a remarkable versatile actor who plays such a strong lead.
Lena Headley as Queen Gorgo also such a strong leading woman among such a male dominated cast yet shes formidable and a good enough actress to remain stand out.
Michael Fassbender and Tom wisdom as Stelios and Astinos had good jokey lines and chemistry in the film.
Andrew Tiernan as the hunchback Ephialties also has depth and meaning. The betrayer, the judas of the story who betrays because he's not accepted, because of his deformed weakness. Abandoned for this, cast away as is the Spartan way. Traitorous but still i can't help but feel sorry for him.
Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes is so moulded into his character i didn't recognize it was him when i first saw this. He's so small in real life and on this he's like a 7ft god-like figure. Really looks woman-esque with all that shrapnel in his face and make up.

''This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this. I am not your Queen!''

Fans of ancient history and classical studies will find a lot to criticize because it's not an accurate depiction of ancient Greece but you should always make the legend according to John Ford . Unfortunately by concentrating on the visuals there's other aspects lacking . The Spartans don't really come across as real characters from ancient times , more of a crowd of wise cracking macho cyphers.

But despite these flaws this is a truly memorable movie down to the jaw dropping visuals and it's the visuals and music the film will be rightly remembered for. It's a pity that the Oscar voters ignored 300 because certainly make up , cinematography , editing and possibly best supporting actor for Andrew Tiernan as Ephialtes should have been nominated at least and this film will be highly regarded in years to come.

''You have many slaves, Xerxes, but few warriors. It won't be long before they fear my spears more than your whips.''

Parts I absolutely loved on 300 are numerous, including a love scene with Butler and Headley, utterly blossoming with passion, their last night of intimacy, for love, a bond persevered.
This movie is more than an action movie for me. It's about love, camaraderie, the defending of what they love, of what they believe in. It's about the power not to give up but follow their destiny and to do what they think is the right thing to do. And it's also about the soul-mates, the King and the Queen.

Loved all the battle scenes and great lines:

''Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty... For tonight, we dine in hell!''
or '' Give them NOTHING! Take from them EVERYTHING!''. ''They look thirsty, let's give them a drink!'', ''Feast hearty men for tonight we dine in HELL!'', I love the reversal here Queen Gorgo says to that black-hearted traitor Theron while skewering him,''This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this. I am not your Queen.'' The line I love the most and thats so lovely and makes me think of love eternal, ''My Queen! My wife. My love...'' It's so heart-felt and so loving and touches my soul, I cannot help but get emotional from that everytime.

The story was great and the part as you get to the ending credits and the sound is still roaring and pounding it gives you real surge.
For me personally this movie is unique. It's a masterpiece of visual effects, colour, sounds, soundtrack and the absolutely stunning performance of the actors.

A graphic novel-to film masterpiece. Quality filming, take a bow everyone who made this possible.

''The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed.''

10/10

Comments

MovieMan

Posted : 1 year, 1 month ago at Nov 6 19:31

Nice review man!

Added by AgentLexi 1 year ago on 6 November 2008 07:18