I Smell a Blockbuster
By Steven Roberts Wow. It is the best word to describe the movie 300. The plot is simple. A group of 300 Spartans must stop the forces of the Persian Empire from invading Greece. Yet to see this played out on the screen is visually stunning. Wow is just right. The movie opened nationwide on Friday. It is based on a Frank Miller graphic novel of the same name. The story is about the Battle of Thermopylae, in which for nearly three days an army of 300 Spartans held off the invading Persian Empire. Similar to Sin City, the previous Miller adaptation, 300 translates beautifully from comic to the big screen. Where Sin City, the movie, grasped the comic’s gritty black and white portrayal of Las Vegas, 300 the movie captures the comic’s beautiful depiction of ancient Greece and violence of war, as vibrant colors flood the palette. The movie is directed by Zack Snyder, who previously directed 2004’s “Dawn of the Dead.” He does a wonderful job of making the violence of war alluring. The fight scenes are as brutal as they are brilliantly choreographed. The audience will find itself overwhelmed with bloodlust between fights. In fact, the little plot between fights isn’t much. Every now and then, the audience is reminded of the reason for all the decapitation and disembowelment. King Leonidas, portrayed by Gerald Bulter, is noticeably Scottish, but, then again, not really. The only memorable thing he screams is “For Sparta!” And at the end of the day, that’s what really counts. The acting takes a backseat to the action in 300. Characterization really isn’t necessary. Spartans probably weren’t the poets laureate books would have you believe. They were a phalanx of 300, so they were meant to be the same – precise, chiseled, grunting and screaming men of a war mongering pedigree. The only memorable portrayal is the Brazilian Rodrigo Santano as the eight-foot tall god-king Xerxes. Xerxes walks with lumbering elegance of any god-king, flamboyant and draped in gold. He doesn’t even seem all that evil, as he simply wants Leonidas – or anyone - to just “kneel” before him. The movie, however, does not rely on any actor, or acting for that matter. Anyone expecting something else is wasting their time. The meat lies in the action, as the Spartans marvelously massacre anyone in there path. Anyone expecting stylized slaughter is on the right track. |
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