The comic book revolution continues to influence the films that Hollywood cranks out, bringing familiar characters off the pulp pages and into the public conscience. Last year’s Sin City brought new light to the genre, bringing a very specific look to the film pallet, its rich black-and-white set against stark glimpses of color setting the mood for a fascinating, intriguing story. Frank Miller, the graphic novelist who created the Sin City stories and helped direct the movie, brings his retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. to the screen with 300. And while Miller deserves adulation for once again challenging the visual conventions of film, his translation from comic to film here isn’t quite as complete as previous efforts.

In the Battle of Thermopylae, Spartan king Leonidas (Gerard Butler) led a contingent of 300 Greeks against the army of thousands led by Persian god-king Xerxes. Trained from birth to be soldiers, the Spartans put up a fight so brave that it inspired the whole country to rise up against the advancing Persians; the movement turned the tides in the Greco-Persian war and halted Persian expansion into Europe. The film splits its attention between the battle and the reaction back in Sparta, where Leonidas’ queen (Lena Headey) tries to rally support from local government to send more troops.

As Leonidas is leader of the Spartans, so too is Butler the biggest player in the film. His intensity, gruff bravado, and fierce speechifying make Gladiator’s Maximus look like a
whiny farmhand. But aside from Butler, no performance is memorable enough to warrant mention. Everyone does just fine in their roles, but nobody brings a “wow” factor to the table.

The real success of this movie, and what I suppose is the aspect that has people calling it a revolution in film making, is how visually stunning it is. This movie has style coming out of its ears; it’s not enough to simply say that a scene looks like a recreation of the comic book, you have to note how imaginative, fresh, and jaw-dropping some of the shots are. These translate best, of course, when they are framing any of the scores of dismemberments and decapitations. But lost in the search of a visually stunning film is the ability to tell a great story, a feat that Sin City handled so well.

300 is basically a summer blockbuster in March: it’s got all the gore, machismo, and visual innovation of any number of big-time action movies. But with that comes a caveat: there’s not much behind the bloodied faceplate. 300 delivers on its violent promise in spades, but anything beyond mindless entertainment is just out of Miller’s grasp. Of course, there’s always Sin City 2.

Rating: * * * of 5

Note: Movie Hawk saw this movie with Matt over at [sic], whose review made it very difficult to simply write “yeah, what he said.”

Trackback This Post | Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed