If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you already know this, but I will re-confess anyway that I am a comic book geek. I’m not as rotund as The Simpson’s comic book guy, but I can be equally acerbic. I love all things comic books, be it the actual books, animated series (or cartoons as my wife calls them), and comic book movies both live action and animated.
Which brings me to 300, based on comic book creator Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name. Now Miller is one of my favorites, having been responsible for classic comic stories such as The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil, and Sin City. So far, Miller’s stories have also done fairly well in Hollywood; he wrote and directed the fabulous screen adaptation Sin City, developed the screenplays for Robocops 2 and 3, and will be writing/directing Will Eisner’s The Spirit.
The story takes place in 480 B.C. at the Battle of Thermopylae, where Leonidas (Gerard Butler), the king of Sparta, led his army against the advancing Persians, led by Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro). The battle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians and help usher in the world's first democracy. This tale is told by the only surviving Spartan (played by David Wenham) and has some historical basis.
What really stands out about this film is that director Zack Snyder, who will next tackle Alan Moore’s Watchmen, didn’t just write a film version of the 300 story, he essentially did a shot for shot adaptation of the comic—which is never done.
I loved the movie. The CGI was seamlessly integrated with live action, and it’s visually stunning. Even if I had never read the comic, I would have felt like I did since that’s how good the adaptation is. 300 is a labor of love for Snyder, and it shows.
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Article comments
1 - Ray Ellis
Comic book fan that you are, I'm amazed you don't understand why DVDs are released in different editions. The leatherbound edition of the Dark Knight didn't add anything to the story, but it looked a lot more impressive on the bookshelf.
Same with DVDs. The "special collesctor's editions are out there for the elitists of a particular film. The regular editions are released for the casual viewer.
2 - Chris Beaumont
If you are going to say pick a format, please do not include standard in your assertion, let it be BR or HD, plus a standard release. The last thing I want at this point, even though it will never happen, is an omission of the standard def release.
Also, you should clarify Miller's director status on Sin City, sure he was on set, but that was directed by Robert Rodriguez who quit the DGA to get Miller his credit, which was primarily for the graphic novel which essentially served as storyboards.
Also, did you check out the easter egg on the disk? It was brief, but still pretty cool.
3 - Robin Kavanagh
Yeah, it's true that the special editions are for the elitists (which I KNOW you are), but still the fact that the studios release multiple is really based on money. They don't do it because they like or respect the fans; they do it to sell more copies, which overall leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
As for the formatting, I agree with Chris about keeping the standard format and having them choose between BR and HD, which is what I think Blake really meant. For those of us who will not be buying HDTVs until programming for them gets a lot better or upgrading our DVD players until one format or another is chosen (if only out of principle), standard needs to stick around. Personally, I don't really care if my DVD or TV experience is in high def anyway.
4 - Robin Kavanagh
Just to clarify, I meant that Blake is an elitist, not you Ray.
5 - Chris Beaumont
I would love to get into hi def, but I don't want to until there is a clear winner, plus I have a ton of standard def disks, and no HD display. Some day perhaps. I don't think it will be that long before Blu Ray wins out.