In cinemas between 23 Feb to March 30 2007 in the UK.
Director: Zack Snyder. Cast: Gerard Butler, David Wenham, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro.
300 Film Review Synopsis:
The film 300 is an adaptation of Frank Miller's Graphic Novel 300. It is based on the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae. The battle was held between the King of Sparta, and his small army of 300 men against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. The ancient battle is believed to have inspired the creation of the world's first democracy.
Expect some serious live action with virtual backgrounds!
300 Film Review
This is a story about war, glory, power & Victory by exploring a number of themes surrounding religion, civilization, politics and Power in ancient Greece.
The film explores the lives of Spartans at a time where the power struggles between the Greeks and Persians were at a critical point in history.
Zack Snyder, the director of this movie, does a brilliant job of bringing this story to life on the large screen.
He achieves this by selecting a brilliant story line, producing a well thought out script, selecting a highly suitable cast and crew, and for hiring a large number of experts to make this movie truly entertaining and memorable.
Each and every component of this movie, including the fighting methodology and choreography has been well thought out, planned and executed with smooth military precision.
Frank Miller, the creator of the whole 300 graphic novel franchise deserves a lot credit for the the success of this movie. Zack Snyder has chosen a great source of inspiration for this movie.
Whats interesting about 300, is that Frank Miller intentionally created 300 to be historically inaccurate to mythologize the events that occurred in past, giving the moral of the story, power to live from one generation to the next. Conversely the ingenuity of 300 is very different to the story of Troy. 300 has its roots embedded in true life events. Troy has its roots embedded in Myth. 300 attempts mythologize truth, whereas Troy attempts to give the illusion of truth within myth.
It could be argued, the components that make movies based on mythology a success, can be successfully reverse engineered to make movies based on truth, popular.
The director of this movie is a great story teller, engaging the audience into a battle between 'Good' against 'Evil'.
In an interview, Zack Snyder acknowledges that he can quite easily direct the story from a different perspective. However, audiences generally prefer happy endings over movies that end on a low depressing note.
This is indeed a great movie. Gerard Butler does a fine job of living the character of King Leonidas on screen, making the unthinkable prospect of conquering such a large army of Persians, a reality for the audience. Gerard's on screen presence, charisma and conviction cannot be faulted. You can almost feel the testosterone oozing out of the big screen, with the help of enhanced sound and visual effects. However, there are certain points in this movie where the sound effects may have been applied to indulgently.
In addition, the movie failed to delve sufficiently deep into the character's backgrounds and motivations, making it difficult for the audience to connect with the characters sense of being. However, it is understandable why the director has chosen to focus more on the intense deliverance of this action packed movie, given the limited time in which the story must be told.
In summary, this movie is definately worth watching, regardless of whether you're a Gerard Butler fan or not.
Trivia: Gerard Butler was physically bruised and battered from the production of this movie. Its all part of the character building process! Some of the shields and armer were props from the movie Alexander. The six packs featured in all the print releases have been digitally enhanced for extra definition.
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