300 Film Review

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:

300 is a story about war, glory & power by exploring a number of themes surrounding civilisation, politics and power in ancient Greece.

The film 300 explores the lives of Spartans at a time where 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.

Article continued below Gerard Butler film production photos…

Above: 300 Film production pictures using modern technology (See Film production notes at the bottom of this page)

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.

The story reflects the historical events quite well in some areas of the movie:

“There’s a scene where the Persian ambassador asks for a token gift of land and water, and a Spartan leads him to a well, and shoves him in, to his death. Like so much that is in this book, that actually came from reality…I mean, I moved it around. I take all the liberties any fiction maker does, but the Spartans actually did treat tyrants that way.” (Quote: Frank Miller interview)

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 acknowledged that he could have directed the story from the perspective of the Persians. However, audiences generally prefer happy endings over movies that end on a low depressing note.

This is an epic 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 potential 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 is one of the best Gerard Butler movies to date and is definitely worth watching, regardless of whether you’re a Gerard Butler fan or not. This is an epic film which was a huge box office success world wide.

300 Film Production:
The film is a shot for shot adaptation of the graphic novel, which involved using photocopied scenes from the comic and bringing it to life on the big screen. The shot for shot methodology is similar to the filming of Sin City.

The director’s goal is to capture the frame as effectively as possible using technologies and human actors. Digital backlot techniques and blue screens were used to capture some iconic moments from the graphic novel.

300 Film 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 were digitally enhanced for extra definition.
• Over 600 costumes where made for this movie with weapons recycled from Troy and Alexander the movie

Director: Zack Snyder. Actor Cast: Gerard Butler, David Wenham, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro.

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300 Film Trailer:

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