FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

Greece, 480 BC. Xerxes, King of Persia is on a quest for world domination. He’s already collected the skulls of several kings that resisted him and made slaves of their women and children. He comes to Sparta with plans to expand his empire and earn more trophies. His army numbers in the hundred thousands. Sparta has a good sized army full of men trained to be soldiers since birth. The problem is that the council will not allow the army to fight Xerxes, because the oracle foreshadows failure. Sparta’s King Leonidas is not one to back down. In fact, that goes against every fiber of his warrior being. He will fight to keep his country free, because cowardice is worse than death. Leonidas heads to the battlefield with 300 men poised to take down the Persian army one by one thousand.

If anything can be considered a modern epic, this is it. Here we have a grossly inaccurate (on purpose) historical battle beefed up with technology and gadgets. I’m not talking about on the field itself; they aren’t shooting laser beams and driving mech suits (although now that I’ve said that a script for a direct to video release is already in the works). No, I’m talking about how the film incorporates computers and digital editing software to achieve its effect.

Now, the real question becomes is this a good thing? Do these machines make a better film, or should they be relegated to simply spell-checking (they don’t like the word Leonidas)? The answer is yes…and no. On the plus side, the computers allow for enhanced color correction, making for the perfect amber shaded palette of the battlegrounds that provide the perfect backdrop for a massacre. Computers can give us blood like we’ve never seen before. Sure the CGI looks fake, but it still adds a great effect as the digital red goo spurts, shoots and splatters out of the mowed down Persian masses. By not relying on squibs and other traditional techniques for blood, the fight sequences can go longer, and this is the most important aspect in my mind.

The action, and there is plenty of it, generally is played out right in front of your eyes. There’s a little bit of that typical MTV seizure-fast editing. But for the most part, the fight sequences are crystal clear. One particular shot is nice and long as the digital editing zooms in on each of the slow-motion slices and stabs. It’s a nice shot, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of “Oldboy” which does a similar thing a whole lot better (in real time, longer, and without the zooming).

The downside of creating an epic featuring a cast of thousands in front of a bluescreen is that those thousands are all fake (as are the animals, which I’m half okay with). You never see all that many people on the screen at one time. It felt more like “30” than “300.” I would have preferred to see thousands of extras all lined up in costume a la “Spartacus” rather than a bunch of tiny colored blobs randomly swaying around in the distance. Fake people just aren’t impressive.

But nothing really wowed me about this picture. It was certainly fun despite the so-so acting and the better suited for comic book storyline (I can’t believe it took three people to basically transcribe Frank Miller’s graphic novel). The rock music could have been much more intrusive and cheesy than it ended up being, but I still didn’t really like it being in there at all. If you’re looking for a mindless action flick, this will certainly fit the bill, because the bountiful and visually appealing fight scenes are the only really worthwhile aspect of the film.

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