300: An IMAX Experience (2007)

We Spartans have descended from Hercules himself. Taught never to retreat, never to surrender. Taught that death in the battlefield is the greatest glory he could achieve in his life. Spartans: the finest soldiers the world has ever known. In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army in the mountain pass of Thermopylae. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history. Persian God-King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) lead a Army of well over 100,000 men to Greece and was confronted by 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians and other Slave soldiers. Xerxes waited for 10 days for King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) to surrender or withdraw and let hilarity ensue and then when left with no options he moved. Would 100,000 Persians be able to defeat 300 Spartans? The Persians never had a chance.

Trivia: The film was shot on blue and green screen in Montreal. The filmmakers used bluescreen 90% of the time, and greenscreen for 10%. They chose blue because it better matched the lighting paradigm (green would have been too bright) and because red garments (a la spartan capes) look better when shot over blue. The script demanded that most of the male cast spend the majority of their screen time bare-chested, as per Frank Miller's original graphic novel. Therefore, in order to adequately present themselves as the most well-trained and marshalled fighting force of the time, the entire principal cast underwent a rigorous and varied training regime for 6 weeks prior to shooting. The movie never claims to be historically correct. It is based almost entirely on Frank Miller's 1998 comic book mini-series. Changes from history were made by Miller and Snyder so as to appeal to a wider audience and create a more exciting and visually stunning action movie, rather than a typical historical epic. According to an interview with IGN.com, Director Zack Snyder says that fighting styles and formations (particularly the Spartan's phalanx) were purposefully changed - making them historically inaccurate - so they'd "look cool" and work better for movie purposes. The line "Come back with your shield, or on it" was a common phrase said by Spartan women to their sons and husbands. The monologue said by the narrator when it shows Leonidas and his men dead is actually found on the tomb of the real King Leonidas.

Wow, this movie was visually stunning, especially considering that I saw it in an IMAX theater. Frank Miller's Visual style really seems to be easily translatable to the big screen. It worked wonderfully for Sin City and it works for 300. Now there is some plot holes and bits of the fighting were disappointing (the armored rhino that goes rampaging toward the Spartan gets shot and killed by a single arrow, the elephants don't even get into the fight, they fall of the side of the cliff) but they were far outweighed by the shear spectacle that is the Spartans. Just imagine if the whole Spartan army would have been there.