300 - movie review

Prologue: It is fair to say that I have not written a movie review in a while. I apologize. As life has been busier I have found less time to fulfill my cinematic responsibilities - don't hate me. But this week I saw a film that has jolted me out of celluloid silence. It is THAT good. It is everything for which I go to the movies. It is the first film since Casino Royale (and that was November!) that has met & exceeded my expectations. It is the first great film of 2007. And, muc like the March release of V for Vendetta last year, it is a film that deserves - no! demands! - a big screen viewing (IMAX if you can). The movie is 300.



OK ... so I am gushing. What can I say, I apparantly like the new crop of films based on graphic novels. 2006 was Vendetta. 2005 was Sin City. And 2007 is 300. The last two are brought to us by the genius of Frank Miller who manages to create great emotion with few words and fantastic images. Go to Chapters and find the new hardcover re-release of the "300" novel If you enjoy the images within at all you will love the film. It is an experience in visual verbatim. Scenes are shot exactly as illustrated - the writhing oracle, the Spartan king enjoying a post-battle apple, the ripped cheek of Xerxes, and the arrow-filled dead. Further, the film realizes the tones and hues - the red flashes in the nude sand, the blue beneath the blackest nights, and the garish gold on mystical display. Usually when I speak of eye-candy it is the quick & empty kind but 300 offers a complete feast for craving eyes.

That is not to say that the traditional eye-candy is not there as well. In fact, it is marching all over the screen in toned, bronzed, rippled waves led by the under-appreciated hotness of Gerard Butler (think Angelina"s man-candy in the second Tomb Raider film), David Wenham (remember Faramir from LotR) and Rodrigo Santoro (that hunky foreign guy in Love Actually. The men wear capes, sandals and leather briefs. The gals are wrapped in gauzy muslin and leather straps. And that is it! This film is what everyone hoped Troy would be.

To a degree, 300 fails in the story department. It is a simple legend and some of the emotion has been seen before. The swaying grain fields of Gladiator are here as well. The man vs. beast narrative bookends (ie: Legends of the Fall) tether this tale too. Still, 300 manages to feel fresh out of sheer willpower to take the viewer somewhere new. To put you in the battle. Like Sin City before it, this film limits the viseral impact through heightened graphics. Blood sprays in inky red dots across the screen and then fades with the next image. Each battle sequence takes a new angle and reinforces the energy of the Spartans stand against an immense enemy.

Perhaps the glorified militarization will bother some. In these days, the film can be read as stylized propoganda for a warrior culture that quotes freedom, honour and duty. Unlike Vendetta, that clearly riled against the establishment, 300 may be supporting it with staunch allegiance. Take a stand. Sacrifice all. Glory in death for FREE men. And yet, it is not so simple. For the film may also be read as an indictment of power gluttony. It showcases the strength of a nation on the brink of oppression by a steamroller of greed and hubris. It demonizes desire satisfied on the backs of others. It pits the Spartan (ascetic, frugal, plain) agains the Persian (opulent, decadent, lavish) and that is a very political thing in our times. And so the tale of the 300 can be both inspiring and confounding depending on your view of the world - and that makes good cinema.

Epilogue: The ending is easy on this one. See the movie and decide for yourself. I am positive that the film will be remembered next year come awards time for its outstanding technical achievements. But I wonder, can a movie that is essentially a two-hour battle win Best Picture? hmmmmm.