Comic-Con 2006: 300 Owns Con

Comic-Con 2006: 300 Owns Con
The best movie of the show.
by Hilary Goldstein

July 23, 2006

- Frank Miller's 300 is an amazing graphic novel. Told in double-page spreads, the story of the 300 Spartans who fought in the Battle of Thermopylae, is brutal and fascinating. Many doubted that director Zack Snyder could possibly capture the visceral feel of Miller's work. After seeing the new trailer. It appears the naysayers have been proven wrong. This is a movie that is going to kick some serious ass. If the graphic novel is a 10, this trailer goes to 11.



We'll leave the play-by-play of the 300 panel to IGN FilmForce. Instead, we're going to focus a bit on how the visuals (and what we learned from Snyder, Miller and actors Gerard Butler and David Wenham.

Wenham plays Dilios, the narrator of the tale. He survived the battle, with the directive to tell the story of the Spartans sacrifice. Just as in the graphic novel, Dilios tells the story of King Leonidas and his plight against 10,000 Persians. It is this retelling that inspires Greece to battle.

Miller's graphic novel pays particular attention to the combat practices of the Spartan army, particularly the phalanx. The phalanx is lines of Spartans, side by side, with each Spartan's shield covering the man to his right. We only see the phalanx for a brief moment, as much of the combat is more one-on-one to show off the use of slow motion to make each sword swing seems all the more forceful.

There's a bit of origin for the king in the trailer, lots of sex and some freakish creatures. Miller's book was, admittedly, not purely historical, but it was grounded in some reality. The film comes off as grand hyperbole. It is based on the events and looks to show the spirit and courage of the Spartans, but it is far less grounded in reality than Miller's work.

But man does it kick some serious ass. The visceral visuals feature backdrops that look as if they came straight off the page. The story is clearly expanded from Miller's quickly-paced story (which is only 88 pages long). That extra material may help propel the movie above the book. We won't know until early 2007, when 300 hits theatres.

Usually a movie that takes some departures from the source material would merit some fan ire. But few will even notice that what scenes were shown go beyond the graphic novel. And frankly, who gives a f#$@. It looks cool.