For my review Ive chosen 300.
This ancient and epic tale of the battle of Thermopylea is brought back to life by Sin City's director Frank Miller. Originally based on Lynn Varleys novel and Frank Millers 300 comic, the film tells the story of how 300 heroic spartans led by King Leonidas stood and faced against Xerxes overwhelming hordes, putting up an impressive fight.

Personally i often tire of films and only buy dvds if a film is genuinly special, but when i saw this i was blown away. This is a film i could watch over and over again just like frank Millers previous smash hit success of Sin City.
Firstly, and most importantly the visual effects are absoloutly stunning. With no real life sets, 300 is all CGI based with all the actors acting on green screen. Some people critise films with too many special effects but to be honest who needs real sets when you can make your own just how you want it? Throughout the film i found it hard not to get lost in the amazing visuals with it being the gritty noir feel of the night battles, or the golden browny effect of the grain feilds of Sparta.

These are all spectacular pieces of cinema, but what really makes this films visuals great are the battles. The superbly trained killer spartans slaughter the untrained persians in their 1000's . Blood spurts and limbs fly as the muscualar spartans swoop stylishly round the battle field killing as they go. This has been critised due to anti-eastern views and can also be contrasted to todays war in Iraq with highly tained Americans killing untrained eastern soldiers. But to be put into persective this is very trivial and in 480bc they were fighting Persians and it would be silly to change the enemy . Clever speeding up and bullet time of the fighting gives the audience the perfect view to the kill and every minuite detail of the battle which certainly got my adrenaline flowing when i saw this at the cinema.

Ive seen quite a lot of the 300 comic and it was quite saisfying to see all the key scenes coming to life on the big screen. It made me realise just how faithful the directer Jack Snyde had been to the comics, just like Robert roderigues had been in Sin City.



All in all, this film is the gem of 2007 and succeeds in bringing the novel and comic to life. If you look for kick ass battles, muscualr macho men or stunning cgi effects, this is definatly a film for you. But be warned, do not look for historical accuracy or moral message for you shall find nothing.

by jam