300 Full Review

From the second I heard about the Battle of Thermopylae about 8 years ago, I have always looked for different sorts of information on it. About a year ago my roommate was reading the novel "Hot Gates," which describes in great detail the battle of 300 vs over one million plus. Whether or not there was more that one million is up for speculation, still there was at least a force that had the overwhelming advantage against these 300. What a story I thought, but where were the movies. There is one that was made in the early 60s. It's more for Mystery Scienece Theater 3000 then for anything else. Back to about a year ago, that is when I first saw the online journals of 300 being posted. It had my attention ever since, I would watch the trailer over and over, slowing it down to try and figure some of the plot out. I couldn't wait for the day it came out. The last few weeks reviews were coming in, and I was excitied to hear all these good things up until about a week ago. That is when a bunch of bad reviews came in, yet they really had no explanation for their reviews. Here is mine:

The movie starts of with a little history, and although it is not completely accurate, it is still a story worth telling. The life of a Spartan is rather interesting to many people. First there are a few things to keep in mind when seeing this movie. One is wasn't made to be historically accurate, two it is going to have a lot of men with there shirts off to go with the comic by Frank Miller (at least there not naked like in his comic), three CGI is a big thing in this because almost all the scenes were shot inside, and four the blood is suppose to look more like a comic book style than reality.



With that in mind ENJOY. The battle scenes are superior in quality, moving in slow motion across the battle without switching camera angles, or showing close ups of unknown body parts. This is something to take note of, whenever you see a battle movie, or fight scene they always switch angles or show something move really fast at a weird close up view. They don't do this in 300, and that is one sign on how remarkable this movie is. There is one scene where Leonidas comes out and the camera follows him from the side just destroying Persians. From slow-motion, to fast-motion you become a part of the story.

The visuals must have taking some time to develop, the coffee stain clouds are one of the key elements that stand out in this masterpiece. Then there is the shadow effect of the story. It seems more like a dreamworld when you are watching it. You know the sight of someone with light shinning on just one side of their body. The way the head decapitations occur will make you cringe in horror, and jump for joy with the stunning clarity of bones and guts spewing everywhere.

Now there are a few flaws I did notice. One was the way the have the green-screen all the time. There is one scene with Leonidas chatting with the Oracales, and it looks as if they cut and paste him in there. Then if you notice in some scenes it is completely dark all around, and Leonidas has reflections in his eyes that make it look as if he is looking into a bunch of lights or even the sun itself.

Besides that the movie is a masterpiece. Take note of this as I describe what I mean by masterpiece. It is a work of art that transforms the industry, goes above and beyond expectations, breaks the accepted norm, does something so different that others will soon follow after they realize the greatness of it, captures the imagination of an everyday person, and is talk about for generations. That is what a masterpiece is. This movie does all that and more if you ask me. It was made to appease the comic of Frank Miller, throws in a little salt and spice with the CGI, and few additional characters, then gets a supreme performance from some of the best unknown actors around. These guys went all out, and they deserve some recoginiton. Let us applaud Gerard Butler, Zack Snyder, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Michael Fassbender, Tom Wisdom, and all the others. I could go on and on for days about this movie, but I want to watch it again so I gotta split.