300

THE FLICK: From the very first early peeks at the trailer, 300 looked too good to be true: Impossibly ripped Greek heroes launching themselves across swirling orange skies...half-nude women floating on currents of air...monstrous wolves, masked demons and an endless army of Persian warriors advancing on a meager band of Spartan warriors. It literally made every man in the theater gasp in anticipation. And despite those enormous expectations, director Zack Snyder actually delivered on his promise of a faithful translation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel, pushing CGI technology to create a fully-realized world where only a green-screen existed before. Of course, George Lucas foretold all of this was coming. His Star Wars prequels were to be an entire CG universe of wonders, fulfilling the promise of a digital medium in which anything was possible. But the result was a trilogy of Playstation cut-scenes, abusing the technology more than it celebrated it. It took a new generation of filmmakers like Snyder (and Rodriguez’ work on Sin City wasn’t bad either) to use the technology in more interesting ways. Not that 300 is flawless cinema. Its story and dialogue suffer from comic-book origins, where lines like “Only Spartan women give birth to real men” can actually be delivered without inducing giggles. And the innovative battle-scenes – incorporating the same sort of speed-up / slow-down effect pioneered in The Matrix – are repeated ad nauseum at points. The film requires you to not only buy into its unapologetic testosterone addiction (only the Oliver Stone / John Milius original Conan even comes close), but to roll with its questionable use of mythology and monsters. But just as your interest begins to wane – as it will during the tacked on Spartan queen sub-plot – Snyder wows you with another bravura action sequence. He’s helped immensely by Gerard Butler as King Leonidas, who looks truly god-like under a helmet, even when facing down the 10-foot tall man-god Xerxes himself. With fiery eyes and snarling white teeth, he barks out commands with such authority you’re almost tempted to join up with his doomed band of soldiers. Tonight, we may dine in hell, but at least they have an awesome in-flight movie. THE FEATURES: Word has spread through advance reviews that 300 isn’t the retina-shattering experience on Blu-ray we all expected it to be. And that’s probably true. Snyder’s film intentionally manipulates the image so much that a crystal-clear, real-world presentation just isn’t going to happen; that’s not the way the film was meant to be seen. What we have on hi-def is a perfect representation of what we saw in theaters, and you simply couldn’t ask for more than that. Not to mention a healthy sampling of extras, almost all presented in hi-def, which begin with Fact or Fiction, a 24-minute expose on the film’s historical accuracy. As Snyder admits he often exaggerates a moment for dramatic purposes, and he wasn’t out to film a history lesson. Still, even the PhDs concede that he got quite a bit right despite the style over substance presentation. The who, what and where of Spartan culture continues in the appropriately named featurette Who Were The Spartans? Now we get to the really good stuff...Preparing for Battle: Test Footage. When Snyder had trouble convincing people to finance the film, he created a cut-out animated storyboard based on Miller’s artwork (and narrated by actor Scott Glenn). When that didn’t seal the deal, he used some studio money to produce a brief action scene done in the same style as the finished film. Both are presented in their entirety and the latter will just blow you away! The Frank Miller Tapes finally gets into the background of this highly-influential comic artist through interviews with the man himself and the guys who helped him form his career. And finally the Deleted Scenes section, although brief, contains one audacious sequence featuring a Persian giant ridden by midget archers you have to see to believe. All of the aforementioned extras are presented in hi-def, but with Making of 300 we move down to your standard 480p image and your standard 5-minute EPK; completely skippable besides the on-set footage. Making 300 in Images is a montage / time-lapse of the production. Don’t watch if you’re epileptic...I’m serious. Next up are all 12 Webisodes that were used to promote the film on-line, featuring topics like stunts, wardrobe, and weapons training. Lastly, Snyder makes himself available for a full commentary along with his producer. It’s a rather sparse track and highly technical, which I personally enjoyed. But the director’s speaking style can’t keep up with the film’s frenetic pace. He actually manages to make his own film seem dull...which is quite an accomplishment.