Frank Miller is a genius. I guess that fact is obvious to those of us who have read his graphic novels over the years. He created what is arguably the best Batman series ever — The Dark Knight Returns.
The rest of the world came to know of his genius when Sin City hit the big screen a couple of years ago and became an instant hit. The dark story lines and the imagery conjure up precise ideas and feelings — probably the ones that Frank Miller wanted everyone to think of in the first place with his Sin City graphic novels. With Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller crossed that hallowed line - adapting a great graphic novel into an even better movie while still retaining that essential touch which made the books special.
While not directly involved in the production of 300, Miller's fingerprints are all over the movie version of his graphic novel, which he created in collaboration with Lynn Varley. Although the movie version has been directed by Zack Snyder, the visual imagery, the storytelling, and the composition of sequences tell a story that was exquisitely framed by Miller and Varley.
The movie is visually stunning and that is an understatement. As Sin City used color prodigiously, so does 300, but to the other extreme. While Sin City had just one or two colors embossed on an otherwise black and white canvas, 300 shows a riot of colors, but in a dim, blurred sort of way, almost apologetic that color seems to exist. Yet the dimness and the grainy camera work shows sweeping scenes that capture your imagination and force you to gape at the screen like a 5-year-old on his first outing to the movie hall.
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