Spring Break
'300' is the way action dramas should be
Khaled Okla
Issue date: 3/23/07 Section: The Edge
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One Spartan ducks and slices the head off a Persian with a quick swipe of a sword. Another Persian marches onward toward the King of Sparta, Leonidas who severs his leg straight through muscle and bone so the soldier can march no more. All of this can be seen in great detail in "300." The technology of new age and the avant-garde style of the movie's producing and directing can bring filmmaking into a new era - perhaps the greatest.
When Frank Miller's (author of the "300" graphic novel) comic "Sin City" was produced as a film in 2005, many people were astonished by the impact and feel of the "green screen" cinematography. Things look so amazing, yet so fabricated that the human mind thinks, "This is cool." Although "300" was made by a completely different production crew than "Sin City," the fundamental elements of both films can be compared down to a "t." It's just that "300" has a different impact than "Sin City."
"300" depicts the story of the supposed 300 Spartan warriors in Greece that fought over 20 million Persians for freedom in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. At the time of the story, Persia is the largest and most powerful empire in history. King Xerxes of Persia wants to conquer Sparta and all of Greece. It is up to King Leonidas and 299 other Spartans to defend his country.
As in "Sin City," we see heated battles of god-like proportions. In Frank Miller's stories, characters have superhuman strength and simple laws of physics are often broken.
We are to believe that 300 men can ward off thousands of Persians with just their bodies, and that arrow-headed spears can be thrown hundreds of feet and be pulled out of a corpse like a knife in butter. But that's what makes the film so spectacular. The fact that the story shows these men that are so powerful that they can perform these feats is incredible. This is really brought to life by the cinematography.
What we see in the film is an apparition. It's not real - none of it. Ninety percent of the film was produced in front of what we call a "blue screen" and ten percent was produced in front of a "screen." The filmmakers said they used mainly blue because the contrast of color, such as the red capes of the Spartans, worked much better against blue. The whole film was shot in Montreal, Quebec in 60 days. It makes one wonder why all movies are done like this.
When Frank Miller's (author of the "300" graphic novel) comic "Sin City" was produced as a film in 2005, many people were astonished by the impact and feel of the "green screen" cinematography. Things look so amazing, yet so fabricated that the human mind thinks, "This is cool." Although "300" was made by a completely different production crew than "Sin City," the fundamental elements of both films can be compared down to a "t." It's just that "300" has a different impact than "Sin City."
"300" depicts the story of the supposed 300 Spartan warriors in Greece that fought over 20 million Persians for freedom in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. At the time of the story, Persia is the largest and most powerful empire in history. King Xerxes of Persia wants to conquer Sparta and all of Greece. It is up to King Leonidas and 299 other Spartans to defend his country.
As in "Sin City," we see heated battles of god-like proportions. In Frank Miller's stories, characters have superhuman strength and simple laws of physics are often broken.
We are to believe that 300 men can ward off thousands of Persians with just their bodies, and that arrow-headed spears can be thrown hundreds of feet and be pulled out of a corpse like a knife in butter. But that's what makes the film so spectacular. The fact that the story shows these men that are so powerful that they can perform these feats is incredible. This is really brought to life by the cinematography.
What we see in the film is an apparition. It's not real - none of it. Ninety percent of the film was produced in front of what we call a "blue screen" and ten percent was produced in front of a "screen." The filmmakers said they used mainly blue because the contrast of color, such as the red capes of the Spartans, worked much better against blue. The whole film was shot in Montreal, Quebec in 60 days. It makes one wonder why all movies are done like this.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Julie Terstriep
posted 3/23/07 @ 3:31 PM CST
Nice review of "300", but I think the Persians numbered in the 100,000-500,000 range instead of 20 million Persian soldiers.
The 300 were battling overwhelming odds, just not quite that overwhelming!
AngelD
posted 3/24/07 @ 1:13 AM CST
Yes, the movie was awesome. I loved every second of it. I'm usually not a big fan of the action genre, but this one was a huge exception. Even as someone with a degree in history, I didn't care that it wasn't totally historically accurate, and usually that really ticks me off about a movie that's based on a historical event. (Continued…)
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