Review

Review Date: 11-March-07
Spoiler Rating: High
Juju Judgment: Just OK

300 (2007)

In 480 B.C., the Persian king Xerxes led a vast host into Greece seeking a conquest which had eluded his father ten years before. The usually contentious Greek city-states sent a combined force to meet this invasion under the Spartan king Leonidas. At that time Sparta was a recognized powerhouse in the Hellenic world, known for a social system based on military strength. Its reputation was greatly enhanced after Leonidas and his band of 300 comrades were destroyed holding back the entire Persian army in a narrow pass called Thermopylae (the "Hot Gates"). Their efforts may have helped inspire the Greeks to repel Xerxes with an Athenian commander one year later.

Maybe it's because I once studied this stuff in a dry, scholarly way that I can't groove with the flick 300 as it idolizes Leonidas and the boys as mythic heroes of a lost warrior culture. Relative newcomer Zack Snyder directs Frank Miller's graphic novel with an over-reliance on visual effects and a surprising lack of inspiration; he focuses on what the fantasy Spartans were like without any thought to why. Sure, star Gerard Butler and his "look-at-my-six-pack" pack in short skirts and red capes are worthy of a certain kind of adoration, but the movie's posters flaunt their better points for free. After paying admission I was not led to swoon over their obsession with honor, but rather to wonder at the Persians' costumes and the script's egregious pilfering from The Lord of the Rings (a bad idea which will rarely invite positive comparison). In addition to cast member David Wenham, who played Faramir in the Middle Earth epic, 300 features a deformed, lonely, angry little troll who betrays Leonidas when he ought to appreciate his noble sacrifice. That's not so precious, nor is the sidebar about the scantily clad Spartan queen (Lena Headey) who advocates for her husband with politicians and a slimy traitor (Dominic West) back home. Peter Jackson made us believe that Tolkien's warriors were fighting for something above and beyond their own honor. Snyder simply makes us wonder why guys who spent so much time on their bodies would relish throwing them away.

Copyright © 2007 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.