300

Despite the mixed reception he as well as his movies get, Zack Snyder has been connected to projects that have been met with very high success in the past. While his involvement in the DC Universe has been very uneven, his contribution to the comic book movie industry have resulted in movies that have not only been profitable, but unique in comparison to others at the time. He directed the 2009 film version of the DC comic book, Watchmen, he helped revitalize the DC universe by executive producing the 2017 Wonder Woman movie and was also responsible for directing the comic book movie that many people probably aren’t even aware is based on a comic book, 300. Set in a time of Athenians, Persians and Spartans, the Spartan warriors are threatened by the new self-proclaimed Persian ‘’God-King’’ Xerxes (played by Rodrigo Santoro) who wishes to overthrow all opposing lands and make them kneel to his will. Though the Spartans oppose this, especially their king Leonidas (played by Gerard Butler), their council refuses to let them take their armies to fight. Refusing to back down, Leonidas sets off to face Xerxes’ army with the finest 300 Spartan warriors he has, while his queen Gorgo (played by Lena Headey) stays behind and tries to convince the council to send help after them, while having to contend with corrupt politician Theron (played by Dominic West). Slowly closing in on an army a thousand times more massive than theirs, Leonidas believes in his highly skilled Spartans and thrusts himself and his fighters into the lion’s mouth as he advances towards combat. Being a fictionalized retelling of the real-life Battle of Thermopylae within the Persian Wars and basing itself off of its 1998 comic series written by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, 300 glorifies its gory, action-heavy basis to create a filming experience that is pretty entertaining despite its limited amount of character and plot.

It would almost be a joke to try and compare this to its real-life event as a majority of this is purely made-up Hollywood fluff, and thankfully the comic book and the movie itself seems to understand that. It benefits from being a fictionalized version of this event so that it can go over-the-top with something while also being gritty and gory. The movie is not reliant on its plot or even on any level of reality, but instead thrives on the Hollywood imagination and just has fun with itself and what it can get away with. One thing that Zack Snyder is really good at in his adaptations is constructing his movies to truly feel like the comic panels have come to life on screen, and since this movie seems like it is trying to recapture the same angles and even visuals of the comic, it allows him to use that strength to his advantage. Since the movie’s narrative is incredibly basic, not constructed to focus on development or any sense of arc, and is purely used as an excuse to show flashy fight scenes, the movie is thankfully very well paced with quick battles mixed in with engaging dialogue moments that despite its clear obsession with violence, are still well constructed and delivered by both the soldiers on the battlefield and even within the realms of Sparta as the Queen struggles to win her own political war. Because of this back-and-forth between the two stories, the movie doesn’t get as repetitive as it could and holds it audience’s attention throughout the almost 2-hour length very well through its script written by Snyder, Kurt Johnstad and Michael B. Gordon. It’s clearly a passion over substance piece of work, but in this situation, it actually works with that and gets away with by how hard everybody is working to make this movie enjoyable. Its strangely during the action’s scenes where the movie doesn’t quite get boring but can be easily phased out of. It’s not a movie that could be watched multiple times all the way through, but rather has specific moments that people will love watching over and over again. It’s a marvel it did as well as it did with what it has, but by removing that experience element, it may not have that much full replay-value.

Most of these characters don’t have memorable names or identities, despite taking inspiration from a real-life period of history that would’ve undoubtedly featured intriguing people. What saves this is along with the movie’s stance of ‘’experience over substance’’ is the incredibly passionate cast that accompanies the movie. These actors are aware of how overly insane, blood-hungry and energized the universe they occupy is and realize that to be memorable isn’t through complex character or writing, it’s through actions and charming delivery. Gerard Butler is fantastic in the role of Leonidas, as what could’ve easily been portrayed as a very one-note shouty performance is easily saved by Butler’s unbelievable charisma and leadership skills. He genuinely feels like a Spartan leader that you would follow to Hell and back, he has that much strength and power in his words. Lena Headey also works really well as the counter-act to the movie’s main plot, and while focusing on a simpler story about corruption within the council system of Sparta may seem less engaging, Headey’s effortless ability to show strength through her womanly demeanour is always enjoyable to watch. Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes is memorable to say the least, creating a nice blend of masculine and feminine attributes to come across as pretty creepy, and while he’s not that interesting and a bit bland in comparison to the rest of the actors, his booming voice and extravagant outfit mixed with his openly vengeful sexual lust leads to at least a memorable presence. Most of the Spartans warriors are pretty interchangeable, but the actors are good choices for these roles with even a few recognizable people like Michael Fassbender, David Wenham, Andrew Tiernan and Vincent Regan. They do a good job at enacting that aggressively hyped energy that this movie thrives on.

The movie’s visuals are impressive on a different level than other films because it operates differently from how other movies normally would. In terms of believability, they are incredibly fake looking, but with that comes an incredibly memorable and visually stylish presence that is completely within the movie’s realms of reality and feels perfect for this adaptation of the comic series that had a similar visual style. It allows the action to be overly dramatic and slowed-down for effect and it lets the CGI go all-out-crazy without having to worry about looking realistic. In terms of the negatives from this standpoint, the color saturation  can sometimes be a little too dull-looking and it leaves a lot of the environments looking pretty boring within this overly stylized environment. It feels like it’s trying to be like a metal album cover with how grand and bombastic it presents itself and it further distances itself from a normal reality in order for the audience to get into a new mindset. The visual style in general for this movie is really nice, featuring an almost glossy pristine quality that can make even graphic content look stylish. There are some nice shots on and off the battlefield handled by Larry Fong, the costume design by Michael Wilkinson wonderfully pops with color against the battlefield locations and the harsh red and simple attire of the Spartans provides for great contrast against the mute gold and extravagant decor of the Persian army, it’s a nice touch. The action in the movie isn’t the most unique or even that engaging, but it is well done in a fun way. There is quite a bit of slow motion that can seem a bit pointless and gimmicky, and when the only style of fighting they have an option for is beating people with spears, it can come across as a bit repetitive, but it’s not awfully done in any way, it’s just that when a majority of the movie is going to be action, it won’t have as big as an effect like it does with other movies that space it out better. For a movie that is all screams and blood, the engaging actors and the flashy visuals are what really stand out as memorable.

For all the problems that have stemmed from his involvement in other movies, Zack Snyder is capable of creating something unique, authentic to its source material and even kind of stylish when he attached to a project he connects with. 300 may not be his best achievement of this (it could be argued that Watchmen is a more complex, faithful, and even overall more competently put-together film) but for a flashy mindless action fluff movie, 300 is a solidly entertaining movie that has enough understanding when to pace out its action, but still not forgetting to give into its thirst for violence. Ironically, the action isn’t that engaging to watch and the lack of any narrative or character is going to affect the movie despite how well the movie works around them, but there’s still a ton of passionate performances and distinct visuals to make it worthy of checking out. This is truly Sparta at its most ‘’comic-booky’’, see for yourself if you want to see what the strength of 300 can do against all odds.