300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
DVD9 + DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC, 16:9 (720x480) VBR | 01:56:24 | 10.78 Gb
Audio: AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps (each): English, French, Spanish | Subs: English, French, Spanish
Genre: Action, War, Fantasy
DVD9 + DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC, 16:9 (720x480) VBR | 01:56:24 | 10.78 Gb
Audio: AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps (each): English, French, Spanish | Subs: English, French, Spanish
Genre: Action, War, Fantasy
Sin City author Frank Miller's sweeping take on the historic Battle of Thermopylae comes to the screen courtesy of Dawn of the Dead director Zack Snyder. Gerard Butler stars as Spartan King Leonidas and Lena Headey plays Queen Gorgo. The massive army of the Persian Empire is sweeping across the globe, crushing every force that dares stand in its path. When a Persian envoy arrives in Sparta offering King Leonidas power over all of Greece if he will only bow to the will of the all powerful Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), the strong-willed leader assembles a small army comprised of his empire's best fighters and marches off to battle. Though they have virtually no hope of defeating Xerxes' intimidating battalion, Leonidas' men soldier on, intent on letting it be known they will bow to no man but their king. Meanwhile, back in Sparta, the loyal Queen Gorgo attempts to convince both the skeptical council and the devious Theron (Dominic West) to send more troops despite the fact that many view Leonidas' unsanctioned war march as a serious transgression. As Xerxes' fearsome "immortals" draw near, a few noble Greeks vow to assist the Spartans on the battlefield. When King Leonidas and his 300 Spartan warriors fell to the overwhelming Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, the fearless actions of the noble fighters inspired all of Greece to stand up against their Persian enemy and wage the battle that would ultimately give birth to the modern concept of democracy.Synopsis by Jason Buchanan, Allmovie.com
The Spartans' paltry number against the massive forces of King Xerxes' Persian army provides the eye-candy comicbook epic 300 with its title. But it's impossible to tote up the liters of blood that spill in luxurious slow motion, the plasma arcing through the air like tracer fire. Viewed against the copper-tinged landscape and spurting from the wounds of muscular men whose preferred fighting wardrobes are bronze helmets, crimson serapes, and leather BVDs, the gore is brilliant indeed — the ancient battle of Thermopylae, by way of 21st-century digital technology and ab-toning techniques. King Leonidas (Scottish actor Gerard Butler), the revered leader of ancient Greece's most fearless, born-to-raise-hell warrior city-state, is blessed with perfect teeth, great gams, and a thrusting dark beard. When he bellows ''Spahhhhrr-TANZ!'' in a ripe hybrid Greco-Anglo-Spago accent, attention must be paid. For his part, Xerxes (Brazilian star Rodrigo Santoro) takes himself deadly seriously as a god. He is a vision in ancient bling and eyeliner, with the plucked eyebrows of a nefarious club impresario.
I linger over the surfaces of 300, which is closely based on the vivid graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City) and Lynn Varley, because surfaces, most of them computer-generated, are all this newfangled sword-and-sandals epic is about. The experience is chilly in its blankness. Sin City, after all, is a comic book of the most extreme order, a futuristic reverie of ultra-noir lawlessness, and even a skeptic like myself can appreciate the artistry of experimentation in translating Miller's cultish on-the-page imagery to the screen. But 300 has a real historical basis. And the story of the outnumbered Spartans who fought to their deaths (thereby inspiring the rest of Greece to unite in defeating their invaders) is as awesome as any in the history of warfare and nation-building.
When watching Leonidas and his men outwit their ferocious adversaries, it's inevitable to think of Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, Letters From Iwo Jima, or, for that matter, The Lord of the Rings or Gladiator — any high-concept battle pic in which the charge is thrilling and the toll guaranteed to be terrible. It's also inevitable to wish there were some Mel Gibsonian madness in this gleaming techno-chess game of a production. Director and co-screenwriter Zack Snyder, who did such a snazzy job reconstituting George Romero's Dawn of the Dead three years ago, ramps up his snazz quotient here, excited by the challenge of adding a third dimension to Miller's strong 2-D style using little more than actors, a bluescreen, and a massive, computer-based post-production army. But in the controlled artfulness of every scene, no ragged breath of real, ugly, human consequence escapes. This is dazzle for the head, not the heart.
Which is not to say there aren't moments of beauty and sensuality pleasurable on their own pop-sexy graphic terms. When, at Leonidas' request, a porn-princess oracle is consulted by the ghoulish Ephors (like a senior center full of scabrous Voldemorts), she rouses from a kind of drug state in a sinuous orgasmic dance, essentially naked unless you call wet, transparent gossamer fabric a cover-up. She's a dirty delight — and a close approximation of Miller's original drawings. At home in bed before committing to battle, Leonidas and his powerhouse wife, Queen Gorgo (The Brothers Grimm's Lena Headey, a tough beauty), mix serious political pillow talk with serious sexy time — the other reason, aside from operatic violence, for the movie's R rating. What's not to like?
There will be those who enjoy the way a man's head is severed from his body in a neat, Boar's Head ham slice of a gesture. Others will dig the scene in which the Spartans create a tactical optical illusion out of a pile of enemy dead — that is, they pile 'em high, crouch behind the stack, and then topple the deceased on the heads of the advancing living. (Still more will appreciate the sight of The Wire's Dominic West in pageboy hair and leather girdle, playing a political weasel who advocates capitulation, and Lord of the Rings' David Wenham as Leonidas' most faithful soldier.)
Look, but don't be touched: There is much to see but little to remember in this telling of a battle we are meant never to forget. And in the emptiness that lurks at the edges of this spectacle, there is this movie lover's fear that impersonal computer elegance is the strategy of the future, both for studios and soldiers.Review by Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
IMDB 7,8/10 from 473 534 users
Wiki
Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, Michael B. Gordon, Frank Miller, Lynn Varley
Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, Rodrigo Santoro, Michael Fassbender
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
300 (2006) Special Edition
Special Features:
DISC ONE:
The Film
Audio Commentary by Co-Writer/Director Zack Snyder, Co-Writer Kurt Johnstad and Director of Photography Larry Fong
DISC TWO:
"The 300 - Fact or Fiction" Featurette (24:34)
"Who Were the Spartans?: The Warriors of 300" Featurette (4:24)
"Frank Miller Tapes" Featurette (14:34)
"Making of 300" Featurette (5:50)
"Making 300 in Images" Featurette (3:40)
Deleted Scenes with Introduction by Director Zack Snyder (3:22)
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