Unimonster's Screening Room: 300-- Rise of an Empire

Title:  300: Rise of an Empire

Date of Theatrical Release:  7 March, 2014

MPAA Rating:  R

 

Reviewer:  Unimonster

Seven years ago, I proclaimed Zack Snyder’s epic vision of Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 the Movie of the Year for 2007.  It had everything that makes a movie great … well almost everything, unless you want to count Gerard Butler’s shaved pecs as breasts, which I don’t.  Rumors of a sequel began almost immediately, though I wasn't quite sure how such a feat would occur, with the Spartans lying slaughtered on the field of Thermopylae.  It took a while, but Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, and Frank Miller finally figured out a way to revisit the Greco-Persian wars—by putting them to sea.  300: Rise of an Empire focuses on the battle of Salamis, fought in September, 480 BCE, roughly concurrent with the battle of Thermopylae.  The Athenian fleet, commanded in part by a general named Themistocles, decisively defeated the Persian fleet commanded by the Persian emperor Xerxes I, and Queen Artemisia of Caria, located on what is now the southwest coast of Turkey.

With Snyder busy with the directing chores on last summer’s blockbuster Man of Steel, Noam Murro was chosen to helm the project.  Murro, whose only feature prior to this was the 2008 film Smart People, had originally been named to direct the Bruce Willis action sequel A Good Day to Die Hard, but dropped out to take this assignment instead.  While he seemed an odd choice when announced, it’s hard to find fault with the decision, as the finished project will attest.  Working with a script penned by Snyder and Johnstad, the same team that brought 300 to the screen, Murro keeps the action flowing at a reasonable pace, though it does come across as a bit more ‘talky’ than its predecessor.

Leading the cast is Sullivan Stapleton, an Australian actor with a great deal of experience in television in his home country, though he has made occasional appearances in American productions, most recently 2013’s Gangster Squad.  He plays Themistocles as a man devoted to the ideal of a united Greece, with all the separate city-states banding together to resist the Persian onslaught.  Stapleton is very good as the Athenian general, convincing the viewer of his faith in a pan-Hellenic alliance.  I doubt that this will prove to be the breakout role for him that Leonidas was for Butler, but time will tell.  Opposite Stapleton is Eva Green, as the commander of Xerxes’ navy, Artemisia.  This is really her movie, and she commands every scene she appears in, as well as helping to provide the one thing that the first movie lacked—a healthy dose of female nudity.  Some familiar faces from the first movie appear—Lena Headey as the Spartan queen, Gorgo, David Wenham as Dilios, Andrew Tiernan as Ephialtes, and of course Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes.  However, with the exception of Santoro’s Xerxes, this is not their movie, and they take up little screen time.

I took the Uni-Nephew with me to see this one on its opening weekend, and I must say both of us loved it.  We saw the 2D version, but I would say that had there been a 3D version starting at the same time, we would’ve opted for that; this is a movie that begs to be seen on the big screen, in three dimensions.  The effects were spectacular, the photography beautiful, and, just as the first did, it perfectly captures the mood and style of Miller’s graphic novels.  My recommendation is simple: if you loved the first film, you won’t be disappointed here.  But don’t wait for the home video release—get to the theater and see it, now … in 3D.

DVD Review: 300

Title: 300

Year of Release—Film: 2007

Year of Release—DVD: 2007

DVD Label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment





THE MOVIE

This might seem like an odd film for me to review, a historical epic about the Battle of Thermopylae 2,500 years ago. However, anyone familiar with Frank Miller’s work, especially the fantastic SIN CITY, would realize that he could make the dictionary fit into the genre category.

For those unfamiliar with this most pivotal battle in the history of western civilization, it occurred as a massive Persian army (best estimates place it at around 250-300,000 men, not the one million mentioned in the movie…) invaded Greece in the 5th Century B.C.
A force of 6-10,000 Greeks, led by 300 Spartans under the command of their King, Leonidas, met them at a narrow coastal pass that commanded the exit from the invasion beaches, a pass called by the Greeks “The Hot Gates”—Thermopylae. With the Thespian and Phoecian armies covering his back and flank, Leonidas positioned his personal bodyguard of 300 handpicked men—all the Spartan council would allow him to take—astride the pass.

Over the next three days, 300 Spartan soldiers held the pass against the combined might of what, at the time, was the largest empire on earth. On the third day, a local shepherd named Ephialtes led the Persians to a small path behind the Spartans. The Phoecians defending Leonidas’ flank scattered, and a contingent of Persian infantry encircled the doomed Spartans.
The Spartans, remaining true to their beliefs, refused to abandon their positions and retreat with the Thespian army. Earlier, when asked to lay down their weapons, the Spartans replied “Molón labe…” “Come and take them.” They honored that statement, dying to the last man. That simple phrase is still the motto of the Greek Army. At the site today lies a simple marker that reads, “Go tell the Spartans, passersby, that here in obedience to her laws we lie.”

That is the history. And as inspiring and heroic as it is, Frank Miller managed, in his graphic novel 300, to inject steroids straight into the bloodstream of the historical facts. Then Zack Snyder got a grip on it. He hit it with 1,000 volts of pure energy, and zapped it with a little gamma radiation for good measure. The result is history, mutated.

Snyder, whose last genre work was the 2004 remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD, does a spectacular job here of transferring Miller’s graphic novel directly to the screen. The look and texture of Miller’s artwork has been perfectly captured by Snyder’s camera, giving the film a look unlike any other.

The acting is superb, especially that of Gerard Butler as Leonidas, the Spartan king; Lena Headey, as his queen, Gorgo; and David Wenham, as Delios, the lone Spartan survivor, sent back to rally support for the king. Dominic West, as the traitorous Theron, also deserves special mention, as in Theron he creates one of the slimiest villains to slither across the screen in some time.

If this film has a flaw (and that’s a big IF…) it’s that the history of Thermopylae is often buried under layers of surrealism, from a 7½-foot tall Xerxes, to a Persian court that resembles a traveling circus side-show, to the use of elephants and a rhinoceros in the Persian order of battle. Scenes excised from the final cut of the film were even more bizarre, with dwarf Persian archers riding giant humans into battle.

But these excesses are faithful to the graphic novel, and do nothing to detract from one’s enjoyment of the movie. To be frank, only a serious student of history will care about such exaggerations; and in the core of the story, where it really matters, the filmmakers stay fairly close to Herodotus, the first chronicler of the story of the 300.

My DVD is the Widescreen 2-disc Collector’s Edition, and is absolutely perfect. Subtitles, menu design, graphics, video and audio quality… There’s nothing more I can say—everything is simply perfect.

As you might expect from a DVD labeled as “…Collector’s Edition” there’s no shortage of special features here, and contrary to the norm, none are ‘throw-away’ bits added just as filler. The best, at least to this history buff, is a detailed look at the history behind the fiction, the true story of Thermopylae. Hosted by historian and classicist Victor Davis Hanson (who was advisor to the production…) this nearly half-hour long documentary examines the film in relation to the factual accounts of the battle, most notably Herodotus'.

There are also multiple looks at the making of 300, including the short clips that were originally posted to the movie’s website during production. These detail some of the fascinating techniques used to bring Frank Miller’s vision to life, and such insights are always a favorite of mine.

There are more bonuses than the norm on this set, for which I’m extremely grateful. When I’m as big a fan of a film as I am of 300, then I want every special feature I can get in connection to the movie… with this set, I feel like that’s what I’ve gotten.

Let me end the suspense now: Barring something truly spectacular on the part of the genre films yet to be released this year, (and I think I’m safe on that score…) this movie will be my Movie of the Year for 2007. It has everything you could possibly want in a film of this type, from fantastic action to tremendous special effects, all captured in stunningly beautiful photography. Miller’s art is extraordinarily unique, and it seems to compel filmmakers to try to transfer it intact to the screen; as in SIN CITY. I for one am thankful for that.

I grabbed my DVD from BestBuy the day it was released, and paid about $25.00 for it. And it’s selling at Amazon.com right now for about $2 less. But whatever you pay for it, pick it up now… and thank me later.