300 DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Revisits Epic Battle of Thermopylae

In mid-September of 480 BC, a force of 300 Spartans, led by King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), along with 700 Thespians volunteers, defended Greece against a massive horde of marauders from Persia at the epic Battle of Thermopylae. Though badly outnumbered by adversaries whose strength was said to be in the hundreds of thousands, the Greeks made one of the most famous last stands in the annals of military engagements.
Leonidas’ ingenious strategy was to station his soldiers at the narrowest point in the road of the treacherous terrain through which the Persians would have to pass. As a consequence of this clever tactic, his small, but determined army managed to hold the thundering herd at bay for three days, exacting a heavy toll on rival King Xerxes’ (Rodrigo Santoro) troops in the process. Although the ill-fated Spartans fought to the death, they were nonetheless credited with saving the day, because they created a delay which enabled Athens to prevail ultimately against the savage invaders. Perhaps more significantly, historians generally agree that had Greece fallen, the course of Western Civilization would have been irreversibly altered, since it was considered to be the gateway to a Persian conquest of all of Europe.
Based on the graphic comic book series of the same name written and illustrated by Frank Miller, 300 shares its source material’s unapologetically sadistic bent, littering the screen with scads of computer-generated sprays and spurting of blood with every stab in the chest, chop of a limb and hacking off of a head. Such an incessant assault on the senses is clearly designed with the Joystick Generation in mind, those video gamers raised on wave after wave of grisly displays of gratuitous dismemberment.
A monochromatic, testosterone-sodden cross of Gladiator and Sin City strictly for the bloodlust demographic.

Good (2 stars)
Rated R for sexuality, nudity, and relentless graphic battle sequences.
Running time: 117 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
2- Disc DVD Extras: Additional scenes, director’s commentary, webisodes on the set with the cast and crew, plus several other featurettes.