Graphic novel adaptation 300 wins a heartily defiant 227 Spartans out of 300. Those are Spartan shields.In 480 BC (thank you wikipedia) the mighty Persian army of Xerxes I rampaged from the Iranian Plateaux across the Middle East and through Turkey before being halted by a Greek army at the Battle of Plaatea. 300 is not the story of that battle, but of Thermopylae, where three hundred Spartans and seven hundred Thespians (soldiers from Thespiae, rather than pretentious stage actors) held up the massive Persian force. The Thespians have been sadly neglected by history, in favour of the poetic majesty of the three hundred.
Taking Frank Miller's lead and putting the history firmly to one side, We'll move on to the film. The influence of the graphic novel, even to someone who hasn't read this or any other example of the medium, is glaringly obvious. From literally the first scene to the end credits there's shots that are lifts straight from comic panels. Frank Miller has an executive producer's credit and if we assume he wasn't brought in for his technical knowledge, it must be his artistic vision. I have no doubt that this is an extremely faithful rendition of the comic. Which is great, because the art is just fantastic. Shot on a digital backlot (the whole film was shot in a studio, with the backgrounds digitally added) the whole picture has a comic book gloss over it: the skies are either brilliant blue or tumultuous storms, with black earth and golden sunsets. It's not quite reality, it's stronger, brighter than that. Like reality with the colour turned up. Like reality as told by someone who went there once and has been enamoured with it ever since.
Of course, one cannot talk about 300 without talking about the battle. The glorious battle. The pounding, pulsating, adrenaline fuelled battle. The fights are a mass of squealing soldiers and squelching swords (do you see what I did there?) shot in shades of bronze and silver. Percussion beats in time to sword and spear thrusts whilst outrageous blood splatter arcs across the screen. Limbs tumble about in slow motion whilst the Spartans dance through hordes of Persians. The legendary prowess of the Spartans is introduced to us first in a well-executed prologue and then in a slightly clumsy contrast between the professional Spartans and the unskilled Arcadians. I think their performance could be improved somewhat, however, by the wearing of some kind of armour. Or just a shirt, or something. Much of the film is an exhibition of oiled, waxed, man chest. On the big screen, Gerard Butler's nipples are disturbingly large. The big screen exposes some minor failings in the special effects department. Flawless though the computer effects are, the real ones are a little less so. Most of the buldging Spartan muscles are obviously painted on (here's looking at you, Xerxes) whilst the hunchback's prosthetics sometimes don't stand up to close inspection. Still, it's a minor gripe and perhaps the sheer quantity of greased greek makes up for the dubious quality. As if worried by the burgeoning homoeroticism, director Zac Synder graced us with no less than four gratuitous boobs, and all was well.
But that brings us neatly round to the other half of the story, to the story of the Queen back in Sparta. Unfortunately for the pace of the film, politics is never and has never been interesting. It's almost as if the studio were labouring under the impression that people would be going to see the film looking for a balanced and stimulating drama rather than just a great fight (or lubed up Greeks, I guess). The non-action element of the film, detailing the politics of Leonidas' Queen (Leonidas being the guy in charge) trying to get reinforcements to the Spartans, is frankly dull in places. It's not given enough time to develop into a story of it's own and all the time we're away you get the sense that we're just killing time until the next battle. Being an exponent of cinema as pure entertainment (I refer you to the entry for Snakes on a Plane) the score would have been much higher if we'd simply glossed over the stagnant politics entirely.
300 is a comic book (Is there a difference between a graphic novel and a comic? Only to fans of graphic novels I think.) and it's still a comic book on the big screen. This, of course, is both a gift and a curse. The characters are universally one dimensional, with the exception of Ephialtes who was purely a plot device and didn't get enough screen time to develop. It'd be easy to dismiss it as just another swords and sandals fighting epic but it's just a little more than that. The visuals take a basic story and lift it. It's almost greyscale at times and the atmosphere is really well generated by Zach Snyder (who I was very sceptical about at first). The film is all Frank Miller's melodrama and it shows in the lighting and the cameras and well as in the diaglogue and the effects. It's easily amongst the best comic adaptation and although it's not the most balanced of films it doesn't try to be. It's a shining example of what's great about graphic novel adaptations.
