{"id":403,"date":"2007-03-16T23:31:23","date_gmt":"2007-03-17T03:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/?p=403"},"modified":"2009-09-10T22:07:11","modified_gmt":"2009-09-11T02:07:11","slug":"300-2006-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/?p=403","title":{"rendered":"300 (2006) – Movie Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Until<\/p>\n

Until Johnny comes marching home: Lena Headey and son send Gerard Butler to face the Persian army in the Battle of Thermopylae<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because Rough Men Stand Ready<\/span><\/em><\/h1>\n

[xrr rating=4.5\/5]<\/p>\n

300.<\/em>\u00a0Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Michael Fassbender, Tom Wisdom, Andrew Pleavin, Andrew Tiernan, Rodrigo Santoro, and Giovani Antonio Cimmino. Music by Tyler Bates. Cinematography by Larry Fong. Edited by William Hoy, A.C.E. Screenplay by Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, and Michael B. Gordon, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. Directed by Zack Snyder. (Warner Bros.\/Legendary Pictures, 2007, Prints by Technicolor, 117 minutes. MPAA Rating: R.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

300<\/em>\u2014director Zack Snyder\u2019s faithful, if controversial, adaptation of Frank Miller\u2019s graphic novel\u2014is a visually striking, though loosely interpreted, telling of the now-immortal Battle of Thermopylae.<\/p>\n

Over a three-day period in 480 BC, King Leonidas and his three hundred Spartan bodyguards\u2014with the assistance of about seven hundred Thespians and few thousand volunteers from other Greek city-states\u2014fought the massive armies (estimated in most ancient accounts to have exceeded one million) of Persian Emperor Xerxes I at the Pass of Thermopylae on the Gulf of Malis. Through martial skill, fearlessness, and sheer audacity, Leonidas and his warriors held off the Persians long enough for the Athenians to prepare their navy to defeat the Persians at the Battle of Salamis, and thus save Greece.<\/p>\n

The Battle of Thermopylae is a timeless tale of valor and honor. It takes its place in history with other legendary military standoffs\u2014such as the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, where a few hundred Texans held off the Mexican army for thirteen days, and the 1939 \u201cWinter War,\u201d the World War II battle in which Finnish forces repelled over one million Russian invaders. Why, then, would a cinematic retelling of this remarkable event of so long ago prompt argument and debate today?<\/p>\n

Historical film epics are rarely contentious enterprises nowadays, precisely because they portray events long since past. The ones that do spark heated debate tend to have religious themes, such as\u00a0The Passion of the Christ\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The DaVinci Code<\/em>. If there\u2019s any blasphemy to be found in\u00a0300<\/em>, it\u2019s against oracles and deities long since relegated to the dustbin of piety. Certainly there was little controversy in 1962 when Miller\u2019s original inspiration, director Rudolph Mat\u00e9\u2019s\u00a0The 300 Spartans<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>was released. So what\u2019s happened in the forty-five intervening years to make Snyder\u2019s remake-of-sorts so controversial?<\/p>\n

In a word:\u00a0multiculturalism<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Just as in the days of the ancient Greeks, the theme of saving the civilized West from barbaric Asiatic hordes is made quite explicit in\u00a0300<\/em>, and given voice by King Leonidas (Gerard Butler): \u201cA new age has begun, an age of freedom. And all will know that three hundred Spartans gave their last breath to defend it . . .The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many.\u201d<\/p>\n

But\u00a0unlike<\/em>\u00a0the days of the ancient Greeks, it\u2019s now\u00a0verboten<\/em>\u00a0to suggest the superiority, let alone the\u00a0preferability<\/em>, of Western culture to any other\u2014including, presumably, Persian culture. And therein lies the controversy over this film. As \u201ccivilized people,\u201d we\u2019re not supposed to like war, much less relish military victory or the enemy\u2019s demise. Hell, we can\u2019t even use the word \u201cenemy\u201d anymore to describethe<\/em>\u00a0enemy<\/em>. These days, when Hollywood goes to war, our fighting men are represented\u2014at best\u2014by that ubiquitous fixture of modern cinema, the \u201creluctant warrior.\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast, Leonidas\u2019s Spartans are hardly reluctant: Born and bred since childhood to fight for their military city-state, they\u2019re professional soldiers who revel in the sting of battle. Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) sends an officer to present an ultimatum to his vastly outnumbered foe: \u201cSpartans, lay down your weapons!\u201d Rather than accommodating the Persians (as, say, the British Navy did\u00a0circa<\/em>\u00a02007 AD), Leonidas roars back: \u201cPersians, come and get them!\u201d<\/p>\n

In all of battle lore, Thermopylae stands as the ultimate \u201cDavid versus Goliath\u201d confrontation of civilizations. To most people familiar with Italian Renaissance art, this legend conjures in their minds the great statues by Donatello and Michelangelo. Both are nude figures of the young Hebrew warrior. Donatello\u2019s\u00a0David<\/em>\u00a0is but a boy. Without a care in the world, he leans on his sword with one hand, his other hand resting effeminately against his hip. Think of the eternally boyish Leonardo DiCaprio or Elijah Wood. More famous is Michelangelo\u2019s manlier\u00a0David.<\/em>\u00a0He\u2019s muscular and stands erect, gazing off in serene contemplation. But, while Michelangelo captures David\u2019s physical beauty and agility, his is a static, motionless fighter; the sculpture merely\u00a0hints<\/em>\u00a0at the decisive moment ahead. Think Brad Pitt in\u00a0Troy<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Any David who would have a chance of felling the monstrous Philistine had better be credible\u2014one tough son of a bitch. Baroque-era sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini depicts just\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>kind of David\u2014not naked, but clothed in soldier\u2019s tunic, coiled back to fling the rock at Goliath. Bernini freezes his hero\u00a0in<\/em>\u00a0motion<\/em>: Taut, fierce, and grimacing, Bernini\u2019s magnificent figure conveys both the intent\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0the execution of his bold, violent act.<\/p>\n

The genius of\u00a0300\u00a0<\/em>lies in Snyder\u2019s and cinematographer Larry Fong\u2019s ability to dramatize that same highly stylized sense of kinetic energy and\u00a0un<\/em>freeze it. In particular, as Leonidas, the burly, bearded Scottish actor Gerard Butler is Bernini\u2019s\u00a0David\u00a0<\/em>brought to life.<\/p>\n

Many reviewers have touted\u00a0300<\/em>\u2019s \u201ccomic book\u201d visual sensibility. To me, it doesn\u2019t look like a comic book at all, but rather like an oil painting set in motion. In fact, anyone familiar with Frank Miller\u2019s striking illustrations will note the same qualities in those works. Using a color scheme of burnished tones,\u00a0300\u00a0<\/em>manifests a sophisticated visual unity that owes much more to Jacques-Louis David\u2019s painting\u00a0The Oath of the Horatii\u00a0<\/em>(1785) and Akira Kurosawa\u2019s film\u00a0Ran\u00a0<\/em>(1985) than it does to\u00a0Spider-Man\u00a0<\/em>orThe Fantastic Four.\u00a0<\/em>The rich, gorgeous Technicolor prints further intensify the viewing experience.<\/p>\n

This visual stylization is one reason why\u00a0300<\/em>\u00a0seems more\u00a0real<\/em>\u00a0than the more historically accurate\u00a0The 300 Spartans<\/em>\u2014even though the original was shot on location in Greece, while Snyder filmed his entirely on soundstages in Quebec. For example, the new, stylized Spartan is divested of his breastplate in favor of a uniform that makes him look like a cross between Kirk Douglas in his\u00a0Spartacus\u00a0<\/em>get-up and wrestler Hulk Hogan in leather briefs. But the 1962 movie was filmed mostly from a distance, and the actors\u2019 stiff performances were even more distant. The battle scenes\u00a0looked<\/em>\u00a0like re-enactments; you could tell those Spartans were just a bunch of extras holding spears and shields.<\/p>\n

Not so with this crew: While the scenery in\u00a0300<\/em>\u00a0may have been rendered by CGI artists, the six-pack abs and bulging biceps on these Spartans are real, the product of a grueling five-month-long exercise regimen in which the actors also got Marine Corps \u201cHoorah!\u201d attitude training. And instead of remote, set-piece battle scenes, Snyder gives us relentless, in-your-face combat\u2014beautifully choreographed bloodletting. He conveys with blinding clarity\u00a0<\/em>how the Spartans could pull off such a sustained, concerted defense against a numerically superior force. When they go into their phalanx battle formation, you immediately realize\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0individual soldiers became such a deadly weapon when they fought in unison, something the 1962 film barely depicted.<\/p>\n

I could tell\u00a0300\u00a0<\/em>was going to be a smash hit when the intelligentsia descended upon this movie, unleashing all the sneering invective their vocabularies could muster\u2014from \u201cmilitaristic\u201d and \u201cfascistic\u201d to \u201ctestosterone-laden\u201d and \u201cjingoistic.\u201d Typical was Andrew Sarris, reigning \u201cdean\u201d of American film critics, writing in the\u00a0New York<\/em>Observer:<\/em><\/p>\n

300<\/em>\u00a0was as pathetically puerile as I had expected. Yet I can\u2019t say that it wasn\u2019t at least minimally entertaining. Indeed, there was a subtextual strangeness about the spectacle that would have made the ghost of Leni Riefenstahl nod in recognition.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fortunately, the attempt to cut this superb picture down to size is more of an uphill battle than the one that Leonidas and his men fought. What repelled so many of ourliterati<\/em>\u00a0is also the source of its unexpected devotion among mainstream movie fans, (to the tune of $421 million in gross receipts, as of this writing): Miller and Snyder invest\u00a0300\u00a0<\/em>with the stuff of mythical legend.<\/p>\n

Butler\u2019s Leonidas is a defiant figure with a bit of Phaeton and Sisyphus in him. He ignores the counsel of the Oracle (Kelly Craig), who orders him not to confront the Persians. \u201cTrust the gods, Leonidas,\u201d the governing council cautions him. Leonidas counters, \u201cI would prefer you trust your reason.\u201d Well aware that the very future of reason and democracy lies with his Spartans, the ascetic Leonidas faces down the decadent god-king Xerxes, proclaiming, \u201cWe wrest the world from your mysticism and tyranny!\u201d<\/p>\n

The epic tone of the story is further realized through the narration of Dilios (David Wenham), the one-eyed warrior who returns to Sparta to relate Leonidas\u2019s story of courage and bravado to his own soldiers, firing them up to do battle again with the invading Persians. Mere days after his death, Leonidas is already elevated to the status of Epic Hero.<\/p>\n

As Leonidas\u2019s wife, Queen Gorgo, Lena Headey gives a stirring performance. When the movie opens, a Persian messenger (Peter Mensah) rebukes Leonidas: \u201cWhy does this woman think she can speak amongst men?\u201d The queen fires back, \u201cBecause only\u00a0Spartan<\/em>\u00a0women<\/em>\u00a0give birth to\u00a0real men<\/em>!\u201d\u00a0<\/em>In a quiet scene before Leonidas heads off to war, she bolsters her king\u2019s confidence: \u201cSpartan: Come back with your shield\u2014or on it.\u201d It\u2019s a lesson in honoring the spirit of a fallen loved one that\u2019s completely lost on the Cindy Sheehans of our age.<\/p>\n

History buffs and armchair philosophers have come out of the woodwork to chide viewers for buying into the movie\u2019s inaccuracies. Just as common are complaints that the Greeks had slavery, that Sparta practiced infanticide, that the Spartan army was filled with conscripts, and that they\u2014by gladly laying down their lives in a suicide mission\u2014were hardly rational exemplars of\u00a0 individualism.<\/p>\n

With all due respect to the Borg, however, resistance to\u00a0300\u00a0<\/em>is futile. Its grand sweep and awesome storytelling had me cheering Leonidas\u2019s fearless warriors. What\u00a0can\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0be denied is the movie\u2019s premise that the\u00a0seeds\u00a0<\/em>of individualism (which is a later, Enlightenment notion, anyhow) were planted in the Greek soil they so gallantly defended.<\/p>\n

And, to anyone laboring under the misconception that soldiers are the opposite of individualists, I beg to differ. Over my years of military service, I\u2019ve come to know many Airborne Rangers, Special Forces Green Berets, infantry grunts, Marines, and psychological operations specialists. To a man, these hardcore warriors personify the qualities of character exemplified by Leonidas and his hoplites: heads held high, rigorous discipline, physical prowess, intransigent certainty, moral courage, the ability to face reality at its most grim\u2014and\u00a0the willingness to think<\/em>. When it comes to individualism, these guys walk the walk; everything else is just talk.<\/p>\n

Through its images of crushing brutality,\u00a0300<\/em>\u00a0reminds us that the bounties of civilization that we take for granted are a gift passed down through time from men like Leonidas. Or, in words famously attributed to George Orwell: \u201cWe sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

With\u00a0300,\u00a0<\/em>Frank Miller and Zack Snyder have concocted an antidote to the steady diet of cynicism and derisive irony that Hollywood has been feeding our youth for decades. If you thirst for a tale that extols honor and reveres gallantry, in which the good guys are\u00a0great<\/em>\u00a0and the bad guys are\u00a0evil,<\/em>\u00a0then look no further than this stupendous cinematic achievement.<\/p>\n

Robert L. Jones is a photojournalist living and working in Minnesota. His work has appeared in\u00a0<\/span>Black & White Magazine<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Entrepreneur<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Hoy! New York<\/span><\/span>, the New York\u00a0<\/span>Post<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>RCA Victor\u00a0<\/span>(Japan)<\/span><\/em>,\u00a0<\/span>Scene in San Antonio<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Spirit Magazine<\/span><\/span>\u00a0(Canada),\u00a0<\/span>Top Producer<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0 and the Trenton\u00a0<\/span>Times<\/span><\/span>. Mr. Jones is a past entertainment editor of\u00a0<\/span>The New Individualist<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Because Rough Men Stand Ready [xrr rating=4.5\/5] 300.\u00a0Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Michael Fassbender, Tom Wisdom, Andrew Pleavin, Andrew Tiernan, Rodrigo Santoro, and Giovani Antonio Cimmino. Music by Tyler Bates. Cinematography by Larry Fong. Edited by William Hoy, A.C.E. Screenplay by Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, and Michael […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,35,36,52,3,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action-movies","category-dramas","category-epic-movies","category-graphic-novel-adaptations","category-mreview","category-war-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions\/487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}