300

Vibrant, blood-spurting anarchy all the way, “300” takes film-making to a highly-stylized and brutal plateau.

The king of Sparta, Leonidas (Butler) decides to defend his (and in his mind, Greece’s) freedom against the oncoming armies of Persia, and taking 300 of his best warriors, he ventures toward certain death with only carnage on his mind.

Gerard Butler should really be able to pick and choose leading roles with this performance; his Leonidas is cocky, laconic (ironic considering the origins of the word in the region of Greece in which he lived) and uncompromising in his decisions and actions against the invaders. Lena Headey (Sarah Connor Chronicles) plays Gorgo, Leonida’s queen, and in taking the one speaking role for women in the film, Headey needs and manages to convey a strong-willed woman who takes what she wants in a time when women were suitably exploited. The British actress manages to present herself as someone not to be messed with: a dominant woman in a time of dominant men!
David Wenham (LOTR’s Faramir) is the film’s narrator and Spartan warrior, and he adds gravitas and humour to the proceedings. Rodrigo Santoro plays the Persian ruler Xerxes, and has to put up with the unlucky situation of being covered in jewellery as well as having his voice ridiculously dubbed, but the actor manages to convey evil sufficiently well here. Dominic West plays the councillor Theron, whose own aims are strangely in line with those of the Persian invaders, and the actor plays the pantomime villain role quite convincingly.

Zack Snyder, with only “Dawn of the Dead” to his name, fashioned himself a place within the higher echelons of today’s directors with his work on “300”. Stylishly and convincingly conveying the real and the cartoony, the film is evidence as to how Snyder has managed to get the “Watchmen” gig from his success here, and the director’s hold on both action and drama exceeds many at this point in time. His adequate balance of violence with stunning visuals holds him above many of his contemporaries, and I’m excited to see him tackle “Watchmen”.

Taking the laconic idiom at its origins, the film presents real-life quotes spoken by Leonidas and incorporates them in. These famous sayings, alongside the expository and inspirational dialogue on display, combine well to give the film a sense of both history and humour. In the vein of films such as “Troy”, "300"’s soundtrack is a mixture of wailing and orchestral magic, but Tyler Bates incorporates the bad-assery of the electric guitar into the soundtrack to give it that extra weight, and the already uncompromising masculinity of the movie is emboldened by the (in places) almost heavy metal backing!

The film is, for want of a better word, visually stunning. With green-screen technology, and a film based upon a highly-stylized graphic novel, Snyder gives the events of the movie a golden, tarnished sheen, CGI visuals and actors alike bathed in glorious, burnt colours. With this alongside the fantastic fight scenes, the film has changed the way that action (and indeed, vistas and landscapes) can be visualised on film.

The film is brash, totally ridiculous at points and squeamish at others. But visually, tonally and in a narrative sense, it’s excellent; imperious and bone-crunching.
9/10