The University News

Issue date: 3/12/07 Section: Culture

Media Credit: Warner Brothers Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) vents his rage at the losses sustained by his army while facing 300 Spartans.

In Theaters

'300'

At the beginning of "300," we hear the background story of King Leonidas of Sparta narrated by one of his men. We hear of his upbringing in the traditional Spartan way: he learns to fight from the time he can walk and is entrenched in violence throughout childhood to train him to be a fierce warrior. This has the added effect of introducing the audience to the culture of violence at work in the film.

Throughout the movie, combat is glorified. Because of the historical background of ancient Greece, this is not out of place. The battles are brutal. Decapitations and spurts of blood abound, magnified in great detail by the grainy, colorful cinematography.

But while the action fits the ancient feeling of the film, the approach is decidedly new, in ways that both strengthen and weaken the film.

It's directed by Zack Snyder, whose only major previous credit is the remake of George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead." Perhaps just as important to the film's concept is the source material: a graphic novel by Frank Miller, whose work was also the basis of 2005's "Sin City." From what little I've seen of the novel, it seems Snyder stayed as true as he could to the source.

Visually, this is a good thing. It's not an ancient Greece we've seen before. Much of the frame takes on a dusty golden-brown hue, where striking colors like the red of the capes and blood and the blackness of the hair stand out. Objects are arranged in the frame in a decidedly bold way, giving the film a dynamic and mythic tone.

The element that ultimately weakens this visual concept is the movement of those objects. Snyder employs a very "Matrix"-influenced approach to his camerawork. Many of the action scenes feature numerous slow-motion shots. At times it got so repetitive I felt I was watching a skipping DVD.

What originality the imagery has on first glance becomes pedantic soon after.

The story is based on history and is fairly compelling. Sparta is being overrun by the massive armies of the Persian King Xerxes. Leonidas (Gerard Butler), being the warrior that he is, is predisposed to fight back rather than submit. But because the city council has not approved open war, he can only take a small number of soldiers - you guessed it, 300 - to fight back the invaders in a narrow canyon.

Continued...

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