I just have to get it out of my system: I love 300! You know, the gory movie about the Spartans who stood up to the Persian empire, based on a comic by Frank Miller. I’ve seen the movie twice so far – once as a DVD rip (Shhh! Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!) and yesterday I saw it again at the movies. While I love it, the other geeks I saw it with were divided: some thought it was a beautiful action flick, and some were quite disappointed. Personally I’m not sure why I love it; given my loathing for Kill Bill and similar action-only movies I really shouldn’t approve of this two-dimensional fantastical portrait of a slaughter. Induction really isn’t applicable in real life, it seems.

But what differs between Kill Bill and 300? Why do I approve of the latter but not the former. Well, one obvious thing is aesthetics. Kill Bill is essentially a mix of a gangster flick and a samurai flick (or something like that), while there’s no missing the fact that 300 is an animated comic. Every detail in the movie breathes comics – from the way they almost exclusively utilized blue/green screens rather than real environments, to the over-the-top one-liner-based dialogue. Not to mention the constant posing. I think this is a prime example of how cliches can be used to create something grand – and probably grander than what would have been created with more restraint. Movie critics apparently aren’t too fond of the movie, and that’s understandable: I would hazard a guess that the movie’s simplistic script and cliches are poison to a reviewer schooled in film theory. Maybe it takes a layman to appreciate this kind of entertainment; after all, it has performed marvellously at the box offices.

Another thing that struck me is that Kill Bill is the story of one person, compared to – say – 300 persons. 300 persons fighting for a greater cause than their personal revenge. The epic quality of 300 is most definitely something that appeals to me much more than the down-to-earth feeling of Kill Bill: there’s no sense of greater cause in the latter. Also, it doesn’t hurt that the Spartans are doomed from the very beginning; I have a very nasty addiction to tragedy, and people giving up their lives almost always send shivers up my spine. I’m quite aware that my Goth tendencies are at fault, but I prefer it that way, thank you!

A third thing that separates Kill Bill and 300 is the gender of the protagonists. Male chauvinist pig that I am, I probably have a bias against female warriors. Or – more realistically – I probably can’t identify with Kill Bill’s main character in the same way that I can identify with Leonidas of Sparta. And to tie things up with the previous paragraph: I also find it easier to identify with the driving force of the Spartans than with whatever-she’s-called in Kill Bill. Epic sacrifice is much more appealing than personal revenge.

Okay, I’ve established some of my reasons for liking 300. But there’s more. For instance, the movie is extremely – and I mean extremely – close to the original comic, visually. This worked wonders in Sin City, just as it does in this movie. I also love tiny details like how Thermopylae is translated into Hot Gates. It makes sense – since they are speaking English it makes sense to translate the names of the places as well. It’s especially effective in this case, since Hot Gates has an undertone of Hell that – probably – wouldn’t have been very obvious if the Greek name was kept. Speaking of original Greek names, I had to refresh my memory on the battle of Thermopylae after seeing this movie, and I might as well sum up some important things I noted. All so that you don’t have to bother with it.

• The Spartans didn’t face Xerxes with only Arcadians at their side. Rather, there were also 400 Corinthians, 1,000 Phocians, and many many more. In total, the estimate lies at 7,000 people holding Thermopylae against the Persians.
• The Persians supposedly numbered millions, but modern estimates suggest “just” 200,000 land-based troops.
• In the movie there’s a lot of talk of Sparta’s freedom against Persia’s slavery. I think they forgot to mention the fact that the Helots were slaves to Sparta, and 1,000 Helots were with the Spartans at Thermopylae.
• The oracle’s prophecy isn’t elaborated upon in the film, but according to Herodotus the original prophecy was that Sparta will be destroyed unless one of their two (yes, two) kings give up his life. It’s speculated that this is a reason why Leonidas decided to stand at Thermopylae.
• And much much more. This is all rather fascinating, actually, but I can’t be arsed to write more.

Finally, I just have to mention two things:

1. If you haven’t seen 300 yet, do it!
2. And… Since 300 and Sin City were successfull, please please please please God let them make a properly dark and gruesome version of Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns as well!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 4:57 pm and is filed under Movies, Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.