300

Snyder is here to entertain! An elegant recycler of the classic sandal adventure and heroic epic wrapped in a beautifully re-styled audiovisual package that has very little to do with history itself, and the search for historical context can hardly be called viewer ignorance. The vast majority of current productions are in the same boat, so why nitpick here when it's clear from the start that the pathetic phrase will be part of every Leonidas (Gerard Butler, the most charismatic leader of the screen a few years back, scores points!) monologue, the purely macho speech of every dialogue, and that the battle will be nothing but visual gluttony of the finest quality? I enjoyed 300 for its relative originality, down to the last drop of digitally redacted blood the characters shed, and I’m certainly not worried about the future of other Hollywood productions. There have already been several similar booms, and in a few years, young angry teens will find their new cult. It is rather surprising how many people, after seeing 300, suddenly crave pure awesomeness, which has survived (and will survive) everything. (29/04/2007)

Oops. This is no mega epic. 300 is a modest experiment based on a ten-page screenplay and with nice blue-screen backgrounds. The dialogue pretends to be so serious and cool that it’s laughable. The story recycles what we’ve already been told by Braveheart and Gladiator, only shortened and focusing exclusively on the visual aspect. It’s nice to look at and the battle scenes are well done, but everything else is bland. If not for the slow-motion shots, 300 would barely run 60 minutes. It’s fine for what it is, but I hope it doesn’t herald the start of a new film subgenre. (13/03/2007)

Both an excellent start and conclusion and... And in the meantime, there is only filler, which is not boring only thanks to the charismatic Butler and the artistic component, which eventually becomes too much. It isn’t completely fair to reproach 300 for its unmistakable macho and even fascist façade, but to criticize its boring action scenes is. The middle part is mostly the clash between the brave Spartans and Persian masses, but the action itself somehow lacks juice. Which is a big problem with this type of movie. Paradoxically, the biggest plus doesn’t come until the stylized final credits. (30/03/2007)

For me, a completely indigestible mix of pathos, stupid dialogues and a pseudo-art image, which, apart from rich colors and slow-motion, offers nothing more interesting than bricks of soaked Spartans and a nice composition here and there. Snyder is an absolute maniac, who, more than the narrative itself, is driven by various effects, accessories and frills, because of which, from my point of view, the film has no tempo, explosiveness or even meaning. Impactful comic book bullshit about freedom and building speeches, in the style of the last battle ignited me, endlessly irritate, and the action scenes bore me with their sterility and the absence of a decent choreographic idea. Any way I look at it, it’s a truly idiotic work, probably only good for making fighting slogans for hockey teams. (19/12/2008)

I really like Zack Snyder for Watchmen and Dawn of the Dead (and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole and Suckerpunch look very promising, too), but 300 is unfortunately a very big misstep. A visually fancy historical carnage (a bit too digital and artificial for my taste) that to it’s own chagrin takes itself way too seriously. Gerard Butler is one of the least likeable actors and his heroic speeches almost made me burst out laughing. This is not Sparta, this is a bad joke. (12/09/2010)