The 300

There have been several reviews of the 300 already.

* * * SPOILERS * * *

There's a pretty great one here.

Favorite quote: "Hyper-epic" may accurately characterize the style in which this already exhilarating Frank Miller story was realized on film. From the studio logos to the end credits, every frame of "300" pulsates and flexes as if it were heaving an enormous weight from one shot to the next. The music and sound effects are pushed completely to the forefront, making every pluck of a string, every beat of a drum, every footstep and even every breath carry the dramatic impact of most other films' entire audio tracks. Every shot is picturesque. Every close-up is extreme. Every man is muscle-bound and sculpted. Every woman is elegant and beautiful (even the terribly scarred ones). Every monster is hideous and sickening. Every blow is fatal. Every moment is a moment. Not one second is wasted.

The online muse gushes about it here.

Diana Hsieh discusses its shortcomings here.

Cox & Forkum utilizes it in a wonderful cartoon here. They also link to a nice true history of the battle of Thermpylae, as well as to a History Channel documentary on the subject.

Trey Givens gives his thoughts here.

My take? Basically I agree with everyone here. I think the movie was masterfully executed, wonderfully exciting and dramatic, and not-quite up to par intellectually. I liked the intellectual values that the film tried to uphold, but I don't think those elements were integrated into the rest of the film very well.

My only disagreement is with Diana. She writes: "Leonidas was supposed to be uncompromising. He wasn't swayed by the appeals of Xerxes (and the deformed Ephialtes) to be reasonable by submitting to Persian rule. Yet he compromised from the very start, not just by submitting to the mystical demands of the Ephors, but then by circumventing their demands without directly challenging them. The fact that he did so begrudgingly, as a necessity of Spartan political life, shows him to be open to compromise in the name of necessity. So why not compromise with the Persians too? Just because, I guess."

The way I read it, Leonidas did not think that he could fight Xerxes to defend Sparta (and its way of life) and destroy that way of life at the same time. I didn't read his action as being a compromise, but rather as finding a way to uphold the principles for which he is fighting. Now, one may legitimately criticize the principle's for which he fought (duty, militarism), but in his own context, I think Leonidas stayed true to his ideals.

I wanna' see it again!