"300" is the Real Deal

The Battle of Thermopylae was a great story long before Frank Miller added his genius stroke. Beautifully shot with the proper amount of ambience and impact, "300" turns a great story into an undeniable epic.

Faithfully adapted from the graphic novel, Miller tells the story of 300 Spartans fighting against one million of King Xerxes' best soldiers.

The concepts of honor and pride are standard when it comes to the gladiator/epic genre, but Miller and director Zack Snyder deftly take those clichés and turn them into something refreshingly original.

Snyder and fellow writer Kurt Johnstad did a first- rate job penning a script that is equal in concept as it is in brutality. By emphasizing a love of country in its defense rather than world conquest, the Spartans are given a layer of character instead of the globe-trotting, hackneyed stereotypes permeating films like "Troy" and "Alexander."

The importance of women in this film shows an enlightened view. Instead of solely being objects of lust as in most epics, women are as important as Sparta considering "Spartan women give birth to real Spartan men." These two ideas make you believe in the Spartans as humans, not just warriors.

Channeling Sun Tzu's "The Art of War," Gerard Butler gives a charismatic and passionate performance as Leonidas of Sparta. His sense of urgency makes you believe that this one battle is everything his whole life has been waiting for. The dialogue at times might seem banal if transferred to another film, but Butler's cadence and timing compensates for that and makes you believe that the bloodshed is necessary.

Vincent Regan's role as Captain Artemis is almost as essential as Butler's. Artemis represents the archetype of what every Spartan man should be: strong, disciplined and willing to sacrifice anything in the name of Sparta. But when that sacrifice is made, Regan's bravura shows the permanence and horror that is war. His transformation into a sullen, brooding and grief stricken father goes to the heights Russell Crowe could have only dreamed of in "Gladiator."

King Xerxes may be the main antagonist but the shrewd Spartan councilman, Theron, upstages the King-God. Adding the proper amount of sleaze and deception, Dominic West's display of prevarication is worthy of the audience's contempt.

Snyder does an excellent job of blending the extremely rich atmospherics that give homage to the graphic novel while displaying a sense of surrealism. Combined with lush shots of wheat fields with poetic yet brutal fight scenes, "300" walks the line between harsh reality and the phantasmagoric.

Casual fans will soon recognize that Frank Miller's reach goes well beyond the sex and violence noir that is "Sin City." Miller's uncanny talent to add depth and understanding to unsavory or one-dimensional characters is what makes him a true artist.

At the end of "300," you will feel as if you were witness to something tragic, yet redeeming and above all powerful. Kirk Douglas may have said, "I am Spartacus." After watching "300" you'll agree that, "This is Sparta."