300- A Celebration Of Style Over Substance

Directed by Zack Snyder, 300 is a fictional retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae that took place during the second Persian invasion of Greece. Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, it took immense liberty with the actual events creating a totally impossible and unique world. It is all about “style over substance” and probably have birth to the term. It is a shot for shot adaptation of the graphic novel and watching the film it looks like a comic book came to life and given a shot of adrenaline. It was breath taking in the theatres and it is equally breath taking on television. 300 is a celebration of blood, gore, violence and masculinity. We all know there is a large audience who find immense pleasure in over the top ridiculousness, me being one of them. Although the story is nearly non existent, it is one of the best offerings in the action and visuals department.

The story is so thin that it can be explained in two lines. “God King” Xerxes is invading all of the Greece and his eyes is on Sparta. Spartan King Leonidas would die along with everyone rather than submit to an evil foreigner. King Leonidas along with three hundred Spartan soldiers( and few thousand “weaker” allies) resist the Persian army of mutants, magicians, war rhinos and elephants etc and finally get their wish of a “beautiful death”. And that is all. But if you went to watch the movie for a true retelling of the original story, which wasn’t that interesting anyways, then you were fooling yourself. Most of the characters are pretty one dimensional but everyone is ridiculously awesome. Gerard Butler is the obvious star and heart of the film. He had enough star power and aura( at least in 2006) to make all of his scenes larger than life even with very basic material. Nothing needs to be said about Lena. She is the queen of the historical genre.

The strength and the main attraction of 300 is it's action sequences. The Spartan battle formation are mostly accurate and their are plenty of the "fast-slow-mo" shots it pioneered. This technique has been done to death since but in 2006, Zack Snyder and team had created a revolutionary technique of action presentation and they should be appreciated for it. We gave Zack so much shit for Batman V Superman after all and he deserves some praise for his initial projects that were good. Unlike most historical cinematic battles, we could actually see the characters fighting. The fight choreography was smooth, exciting and innovative. It is without a doubt one of the best action films of all time.

As I said before, this world is unique and impossible. The Spartans are impossibly stubborn, the Persians are impossibly evil, Xerxes is presented as a literal god rather than a very powerful King( and he is 8 feet tall with impossible amount of face piercings) and even the Spartans are no less than super humans. They carry hundreds of kilos like feathers and throw their enemies like stones and pebbles. And we have war rhinos and elephants as a cherry on top. 300 is fun, ridiculous, silly and was never meant to be taken seriously.

Neither the filmmakers nor Frank Miller claimed that it was historically accurate and from its announcement to release presented is as a historical fantasy. And still it was more accurate than Braveheart and Gladiator, which outright lied about the events. Please don’t take this as a dig on either of those two films. They are true masterpiece of filmmaking but if accuracy didn’t apply to them, it shouldn’t be applied here. Many accused the film of having hidden agendas which is totally misguided. The film is all about muscular hunks shouting their lungs out and fighting their hearts out. It is way too silly to have any agendas and motives. Moreover, the historical data of the time is scarce. Most of the available information are stories and 300 is an extreme amalgamation of those stories.

It is by no means a great film. This is no Gladiator or Braveheart or even Troy but it has a distinct identity of its own. It is ultra-violent, stylish and perversely entertaining for the audience it is meant for. A gift from Zack Snyder to those who, according to the society, needs “medical attention”. It is one of the best cinematic experience one can have had. Before Avatar, before MCU, it was 300 that made me fall in love with watching films.