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Zack Snyder's second feature film after his 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake, 2007's 300 establishes the director's distinctive visual style, replicating a graphic novel aesthetic for the big screen with a heavy reliance on digital effects. Instead of a factual retelling of the historical Battle of Thermopylae in the same vein as 1962's The 300 Spartans, Snyder turns to the pages of Frank Miller's 300 comic book limited series, mounting a heavily stylised action blockbuster with visual shades of Robert Rodriguez's Sin City adaptation. With a screenplay by Snyder, Kurt Johnstad and Michael B. Gordon, 300 amounts to two hours of macho posturing, vicious blood-letting, badass dialogue, and a bit of nudity, with the production displaying no sign of nuance, subtlety, or anything intellectually stimulating. It is a delightfully entertaining romp for those in the right mindset, but it is not a film for history snobs or pretentious critics.
In 480 BC, the Persian army led by King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) invades Greece and demands submission from all Greek city-states, including Sparta. In response, the Spartan king, Leonidas (Gerard Butler), proposes a plan to push back the Persian armies at the narrow coastal passage of Thermopylae, where the Spartans have a strategic advantage over the more numerous Persian soldiers. Although the Spartan magistrates do not support Leonidas's plan, the king defies their orders, assembling a unit of 300 highly-trained Spartan warriors to fight against Xerxes's army at Thermopylae. Leonidas also joins forces with a few thousand Arcadian and Greek soldiers led by Daxos (Andrew Pleavin), who recognise the gravity of the Persian invasion. Three days of combat follow as Leonidas and his warriors boldly and confidently hold off the Persian assaults, though a hunchbacked Spartan outcast, Ephialtes (Andrew Tiernan), aligns with Xerxes and betrays the Spartans. Meanwhile, Leonidas's wife, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), advocates for her king in Sparta, dealing with a deceptive official in Theron (Dominic West) who wants Leonidas dead.
300's script sparkles with devilish wit, giving Leonidas an arsenal of memorable one-liners and humorous exchanges, from his iconic proclamation of "This is Sparta!" before kicking a Persian messenger into a bottomless pit, to telling his soldiers, "For tonight, we dine in hell!" before leading them to certain death. It is silly, but Snyder delivers this material with tongue firmly planted in cheek, again emphasising that 300 is a stylistic action film instead of a history lesson. Admittedly, the movie suffers from dull storytelling in its early stages, with Snyder struggling to energise the necessary exposition before Leonidas leads his men to battle against Xerxes. However, the film promptly picks up once the men depart Sparta, and Snyder maintains a solid pace as he works through dialogue and the spectacular battle sequences. However, since the film's first act is more about establishing the Spartan world and the political situation, it does not provide sufficient character development. Consequently, although the battle's foregone conclusion is a potent gut punch, the lack of meaty emotional investment in the characters reduces the ending's overall poignancy. In other words, what happens is a bummer, but it's not emotionally devastating.
The CGI throughout 300 is imperfect, particularly the over-the-top digital blood sprays (none of which ever seem to hit the ground or the warriors), but this is a deliberate part of Snyder's creative vision, with the director orchestrating a heavily stylised graphic novel recreation not meant to resemble reality. Snyder and cinematographer Larry Fong (who collaborated with Snyder on several more productions) use shadows and silhouettes in visually intriguing ways to cinematically replicate the style of Miller's artworks (which were coloured by Lynn Varley), while the distinctly desaturated colour grading ensures that not a single frame could be mistaken for another period movie like Troy or Gladiator. Unlike Rodriguez's Sin City, Fong shot 300 on grainy 35mm film, which contributes to the movie's distinct aesthetic. Although the crew built some partial sets, most of the film's backdrops are purely digital creations, with the actors performing on soundstages consisting only of green screens or blue screens, resulting in a cinematic ambience that is simultaneously surreal and hyperreal. The compositing remains impressive nearly two decades later, even if it is oh-so-slightly imperfect since fine edges around things like hairs occasionally struggle to blend in convincingly against the backgrounds. Just as Saving Private Ryan introduced a new aesthetic for cinematic depictions of modern warfare, 300 introduced a new aesthetic for swords-and-sandals combat that favours digital backdrops, CGI bloodshed and specific colour grading, with its style influencing films like Clash of the Titans, Immortals, Gods of Egypt, and the Spartacus television series.
The action sequences throughout 300 are spectacular, with impressive fight choreography and visceral bloodshed that puts old-fashioned swords-and-sandals epics to shame. Snyder puts genuine thought into the choreography: the Spartans fight as a single, coherent unit here, with Leonidas strategically opting to use fewer soldiers instead of a larger, potentially more disorganised army. Snyder also stays faithful to the source material by including oversized elephants that the Persians use for transportation, with the creature designs underscoring that this is a fictionalised fantasy instead of an account of reality. Meanwhile, Tyler Bates's accompanying music is heavy on metal guitar motifs, further distancing the production from more traditional swords-and-sandals films. Additionally, Snyder heavily leans on excess, sometimes approaching the material like a teenage boy and demonstrating minimal restraint. Indeed, there is plenty of excessive slow-motion bloodshed during the battle scenes, and there is also a hilariously overwrought slo-mo sex scene that comes across as juvenile and gratuitous. Although this approach is acceptable in the context of a big, dumb male action fantasy, it falls short of the more artful Sin City.
300 was a star-making turn for Gerard Butler, establishing the Scottish performer as a capable and reliable action hero. Butler authoritatively shouts much of his dialogue to memorable effect, and his incredible physique makes him a terrific fit for the role. The actor also remains believable during the quieter moments of introspection and intimacy. Snyder surrounds Butler with a remarkable ensemble of recognisable performers, from David Wenham and Dominic West to (pre-Game of Thrones) Lena Headey and (pre-stardom) Michael Fassbender. Meanwhile, Rodrigo Santoro (who played the soft-spoken Karl in Love Actually) is a memorable, throaty-voiced King Xerxes who sports numerous gold chains and rings. Indeed, the Persian designs are outlandishly embellished, particularly compared to the more modestly-dressed Spartans, ensuring that nobody will mistake a Persian soldier for a Spartan warrior. Although further reflective of the production's excess, the visual shorthand is handy for keeping tabs on who's who during the intense action scenes.
The Battle of Thermopylae was not the only battle to occur during the Greco-Persian Wars, and it feels somewhat anticlimactic that 300 concludes as the Spartan-led Greek army mobilises against the Persians. This material sets up the sequel, 2014's 300: Rise of an Empire, but the narrative here still feels somewhat incomplete, and one can only wonder what a spectacular third-act depiction of the Battle of Plataea could have added to the production. Nevertheless, 300 is a dazzling and entertaining big-screen rendering of Miller's graphic novel about what transpired at Thermopylae. 300 is not a meaningful history lesson by design, and Snyder's approach has drawn criticism from audiences unable to accept the feature as a fictionalised graphic novel adaptation, making it crucial to understand the director's intentions before viewing. Although dramatically inert, 300 is a whiz-bang, aesthetically memorable, adrenaline-pumping experience, and the visual feast remains something to behold, even in 2025.
7.6/10
