300-The Movie

STARRING: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, Rodrigo Santoro, Vincent Regan
DIRECTOR: Zack Snyder
SCREENWRITER: Zack Snyder
STUDIO: Warner Bros.





Let me come straight out and say it, I love the movie. The movie followed closely the Frank Miller's comic even to the narrative. "SPARTAN...come back with your shield --or on it." Great send of if your husband is going to war. Its shades of gray lighting, with virtual background gives me the feeling that I am watching the comic.

The movie is faithful to the characters created by Frank Miller, the costumes, the deformed traitor, the uniforms, down to the nose rings and earrings of the Persian ambassadors. No, not that closely, because in the comic most of the Spartan are naked and have only a cloak, their helmet, shield, sword, and spear. In the movie, they are modestly wearing hot pants.

The battle sequence is exciting with slow motion frames, cutting, thrushing and lopping off of body parts. Gerard Butler looks like King Leonidas in the comic. He also looks like a younger Mel Gibson. 300 Spartans against a million Persians. When the Persian archers shot their arrows, the sky blacken. The Spartans with distain says, "Then we shall fight in the shade."

The only part I did not like is the part added into the movie but not in the comic. That's the part about the queen trying to get the Council to send the rest of the Spartan army to help their king.

There was an earlier movie, 300 Spartans which covered the same battle. The only memorable part of that movie is Richard Burton running around in a short skirt.

Steven Pressfield wrote a novel, Gates of Fire, which is worth reading.

The war scenes are quite graphic and may be scary for small children. Definitely worth watching...in a cinema. Do not miss the sound effects.