300 (film)
300 is a 2006 American epic historical war action film[4][5] based on the 1998 comic book series of the same name by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. Co-written and directed by Zack Snyder, with Miller serving as executive producer and consultant, the film is, like its source material, a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae in the Greco-Persian Wars. The plot revolves around King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), who leads 300 Spartans into battle against the Persian "God-King" Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his invading army of more than 300,000 soldiers. As the battle rages, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) attempts to rally support in Sparta for her husband.
This article is about the 2006 film. For the 2014 sequel, see 300: Rise of an Empire.300
- Zack Snyder
- Kurt Johnstad
- Michael B. Gordon
- Gianni Nunnari
- Mark Canton
- Bernie Goldmann
- Jeffrey Silver
- Legendary Pictures
- Virtual Studios
- Atmosphere Entertainment MM
- Hollywood Gang Productions
- Cruel and Unusual Films
- December 9, 2006 (Butt-Numb-A-Thon)
- March 9, 2007 (United States)
117 minutes[1]
United States
English
$456 million[4]
The story is framed by a voice-over narrative by the Spartan soldier Dilios (David Wenham). Through this narrative technique, various fantastical creatures are introduced, placing 300 within the genre of historical fantasy. 300 was filmed mostly with a superimposition chroma key technique to replicate the imagery of the original comics.
An unfinished cut of 300 premiered at the Austin Butt-Numb-A-Thon on December 9, 2006. The completed film then premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 14, 2007, before being released in both conventional and IMAX 8 in the United States on March 9, 2007 and on home media on July 31, 2007. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its visuals and style but criticized its historical inaccuracies, including its depiction of the Persians, which some characterized as bigoted or Iranophobic. Grossing over $456 million, the film's opening was the 24th-largest in box office history at the time, and became the tenth highest-grossing film of 2007. The film earned a leading ten nominations at the 34th Saturn Awards, winning two for Best Action, Adventure, or Thriller Film and Best Director (for Snyder). A sequel, titled Rise of an Empire, based on Miller's previously unpublished graphic novel prequel Xerxes, was released on March 7, 2014.
Plot[edit]
In 480 B.C., one year after the Battle of Thermopylae, Dilios, a hoplite in the Spartan army, begins his story of Leonidas I from childhood to kingship via Spartan doctrine.
A Persian herald arrives at Sparta demanding "earth and water" as a token of submission to King Xerxes. He urges Leonidas to submit and insults Queen Gorgo. In response, Leonidas and the Spartan soldiers throw the herald and his envoy into the bottomless pit. Leonidas then visits the Ephors, proposing a strategy to drive back the Persians through Thermopylae to funnel the Persians into a narrow pass, giving the Greeks' heavy infantry the advantage over the numerically superior Persian light infantry. The Ephors warn Leonidas that the Carneia is approaching and that Sparta should not wage war during that time. They consult the Oracle, who decrees that Sparta should honor the Carneia. As Leonidas angrily departs, an agent from Xerxes appears alongside a Spartan politician, Theron, rewarding the Ephors for their covert support.
Although the Ephors have denied him permission to mobilize Sparta's army, Leonidas gathers three hundred soldiers. Theron and the Council confront Leonidas about defying the Ephors by going to war. Leonidas suggests they will not go but depart for war shortly after that. They are joined by a force of a few thousand Arcadians and other Greeks led by Daxos. They reach Thermopylae, watching a storm sinking many Persian navy ships at the Aegean Sea. The Spartans then scouted out a large Persian encampment and constructed the wall, using slain Persian scouts as mortar.
Meanwhile, Leonidas encounters Ephialtes, a deformed Spartan whose parents fled Sparta to spare him certain infanticide. Ephialtes asks to join Leonidas' army and warns him of a secret goat path the Persians could use to outflank and surround the Spartans. Though sympathetic, Leonidas rejects him since his deformity could compromise the phalanx formation.
The battle begins soon after the Spartans' refusal to lay down their weapons. Because of the narrowed pathway, the Spartans repel many waves of the advancing Persian army. Xerxes personally approaches Leonidas and offers him immense wealth and power in exchange for his submission. Leonidas declines and mocks the inferior quality of Xerxes' warriors. That night, Xerxes sends in his elite guard, the Immortals, accompanied by the monstrous Uber Immortal, but the Greeks are once again victorious.
On the second day, Xerxes sends in new waves of armies, including war elephants and an armored rhinoceros, with no success. During a battle, Astinos is killed. Meanwhile, an embittered Ephialtes has defected to Xerxes and reveals the secret path in exchange for wealth, women, and a uniform. The Arcadians retreat upon learning of Ephialtes' betrayal, but the Spartans choose to stay. Leonidas orders an injured but reluctant Dilios to return to Sparta and inform his compatriots of what has happened.
In Sparta, Queen Gorgo attempted to persuade the Spartan Council to reinforce the 300 Spartan soldiers making their last stand. Gorgo comes to Theron for help, having been allowed to make her plea to the Council, but Theron rapes her in exchange for his needed assistance, and the next day betrays her and attempts to defame her as an adultress before the Council. Gorgo kills Theron, revealing a bag of Xerxes' gold in his robe. Acknowledging his betrayal, the Council unanimously agrees to send reinforcements. On the third day, the Persians, led by Ephialtes, traverse the secret path, encircling the Spartans. Xerxes' general again demands their surrender, but the Spartans refuse, and Stelios kills the general. Angered, Xerxes orders his troops to attack. Leonidas throws his spear at Xerxes, slicing his face to prove the God-King's mortality. Leonidas and the remaining Spartans fight to the last man until they finally succumb to an arrow barrage.
Dilios concludes his tale before the Spartan Council. Inspired by Leonidas's sacrifice, the Greeks mobilize an army with Sparta leading the charge. A year later, Dilios, now head of the Spartan-led Greek army, leads them to battle at Plataea against the Persians.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
300 was released in North America on March 9, 2007, in both conventional and IMAX theaters.[56] It grossed $28,106,731 on its opening day and ended its North American opening weekend with $70,885,301,[57] breaking the record held by Ice Age: The Meltdown for the biggest opening weekend in the month of March and for a spring release. Since then 300's spring release record was broken by Fast and Furious and 300's March record was broken by Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.[58][59] 300's opening weekend gross is the 24th-highest in box office history, coming slightly below The Lost World: Jurassic Park but higher than Transformers.[60] It was the third-biggest opening for an R-rated film ever, behind The Matrix Reloaded ($91.8 million) and The Passion of the Christ ($83.8 million).[61] The film also set a record for IMAX cinemas with a $3.6 million opening weekend.[62] The film grossed $456,068,181 worldwide.
300 opened two days earlier, on March 7, 2007, in Sparta, and across Greece on March 8.[63][64] Studio executives were surprised by the showing, which was twice what they had expected.[65] They credited the film's stylized violence, the strong female role of Queen Gorgo which attracted a large number of women, and a MySpace advertising blitz.[66] Producer Mark Canton said, "MySpace had an enormous impact but it has transcended the limitations of the Internet or the graphic novel. Once you make a great movie, word can spread very quickly."[66]
Critical response[edit]
The film received a standing ovation at its world premiere in front of 1,700 audience members at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 14, 2007.[67] It had been panned at a press screening hours earlier, where many attendees left during the showing and those who remained booed at the end.[68]
As of January 2021, on Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an approval rating of 61% based on 236 reviews, with an average rating of 6.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A simple-minded but visually exciting experience, full of blood, violence, and ready-made movie quotes."[69] As of October 2020, on Metacritic, the film had an weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[70] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[71]
Some of the most unfavorable reviews came from major American newspapers. A. O. Scott of The New York Times described 300 as "about as violent as Apocalypto and twice as stupid," and he also criticized its color scheme and suggested that its plot includes racist undertones; Scott also poked fun at the buffed bodies of the actors who portrayed the Spartans, declaring that the Persian characters are "pioneers in the art of face-piercing", and declaring that the actors who played the Spartans had access to "superior health clubs and electrolysis facilities".[72] Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times that "unless you love violence as much as a Spartan, Quentin Tarantino or a video-game-playing teenage boy, you will not be endlessly fascinated".[73] Roger Ebert gave the film a 2 out of 4 rating, writing that "300 has one-dimensional caricatures who talk like professional wrestlers plugging their next feud."[74] Some critics employed at Greek newspapers have been particularly critical, such as film critic Robby Eksiel, who said that moviegoers would be dazzled by the "digital action" but also feel irritated by the "pompous interpretations and one-dimensional characters".[64][75]
Variety's Todd McCarthy described the film as "visually arresting" although "bombastic"[76] while Kirk Honeycutt, writing in The Hollywood Reporter, praised the "beauty of its topography, colors and forms".[77] Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper acclaimed 300 as "the Citizen Kane of cinematic graphic novels".[78] Empire gave the film three out of five, writing, "Visually stunning, thoroughly belligerent and as shallow as a pygmy's paddling pool, this is a whole heap of style tinged with just a smidgen of substance." Comic Book Resources' Mark Cronan found the film compelling, leaving him "with a feeling of power, from having been witness to something grand".[79] IGN's Todd Gilchrist acclaimed Zack Snyder as a cinematic visionary and "a possible redeemer of modern moviemaking".[80]
Accolades[edit]
At the MTV Movie Awards 2007, 300 was nominated for Best Movie, Best Performance for Gerard Butler, Best Breakthrough Performance for Lena Headey, Best Villain for Rodrigo Santoro, and Best Fight for Leonidas battling "the Über Immortal",[81] but only won the award for Best Fight. 300 won both the Best Dramatic Film and Best Action Film honors in the 2006–2007 Golden Icon Awards presented by Travolta Family Entertainment.[82] In December 2007, 300 won IGN's Movie of the Year 2007,[83] along with Best Comic Book Adaptation[84] and King Leonidas as Favorite Character.[85] The movie received 10 nominations for the 2008 Saturn Awards, winning the awards for Best Director and Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film.[86] In 2009, National Review magazine ranked 300 number 5 on its 25 "Best Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years" list.[87]
Historical accuracy[edit]
In the actual Battle of Thermopylae, the Spartans had already joined an alliance with other Greek poleis against the Persians. During the Battle of Thermopylae, Xerxes's invasion of Greece coincided with a Spartan religious festival, the Carneia, in which the Spartans were not permitted to make war. Still, realizing the threat of the Persians and not wanting to appear as Persian sympathizers, the Spartan government, rather than Leonidas alone, decided to send Leonidas with his personal 300-strong bodyguard to Thermopylae.[88] Other Greek poleis joined the 300 Spartan men and totaled somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 total Greek troops. The historical consensus among both ancient chroniclers and current scholars was that Thermopylae was a clear Greek defeat, and the Persian invasion would be pushed back only in later ground and naval battles.[89]
Since few records on the actual martial arts used by the Spartans survive aside from accounts of formations and tactics, the fight choreography, led by the stunt coordinator and fight choreographer Damon Caro, was a synthesis of different weapon arts with Filipino martial arts as the base.[90]
Paul Cartledge, Professor of Greek History at Cambridge University, advised the filmmakers on the pronunciation of Greek names and said that they "made good use" of his published work on Sparta. He praised the film for its portrayal of "the Spartans' heroic code" and of "the key role played by women in backing up, indeed reinforcing, the male martial code of heroic honour", but he expressed reservations about its "'West' (goodies) vs 'East' (baddies) polarization".[91] Cartledge wrote that he enjoyed the film but found Leonidas' description of the Athenians as "boy lovers" ironic since the Spartans themselves incorporated institutional pederasty into their educational system.[92]
Ephraim Lytle, assistant professor of Hellenistic history at the University of Toronto, said that 300 selectively idealized Spartan society in a "problematic and disturbing" fashion and portrayed the "hundred nations of the Persians" as monsters and non-Spartan Greeks as weak. He suggested that the film's moral universe would have seemed "as bizarre to ancient Greeks as it does to modern historians."[93] Lytle also commented, "Ephialtes, who betrays the Greeks, is likewise changed from a local Malian of sound body into a Spartan outcast, a grotesquely disfigured troll who by Spartan custom should have been left exposed as an infant to die. Leonidas points out that his hunched back means Ephialtes cannot lift his shield high enough to fight in the phalanx. This is a transparent defense of Spartan eugenics, and convenient given that infanticide could as easily have been precipitated by an ill-omened birthmark."[93]
Victor Davis Hanson, a National Review columnist and former professor of classical history at California State University, Fresno, wrote the foreword to a 2007 reissue of the graphic novel and said that the film demonstrates a specific affinity with the original material of Herodotus in that it captures the martial ethos of ancient Sparta and represents Thermopylae as a "clash of civilizations". He remarked that Simonides, Aeschylus, and Herodotus viewed Thermopylae as a battle against "Eastern centralism and collective serfdom", which opposed "the idea of the free citizen of an autonomous polis".[94] He also said that the film portrays the battle in a "surreal" manner and that the intent was to "entertain and shock first, and instruct second."[95]
Touraj Daryaee, who is now Baskerville Professor of Iranian History and the Persian World at the University of California, Irvine, criticized the film's use of classical sources by writing:
In popular culture[edit]
300 has been spoofed in film, television, and other media, and spawned the "This is Sparta!" internet meme.[138] Skits based upon the film have appeared on Saturday Night Live[139] and Robot Chicken, the latter of which mimicked the visual style of 300 in a parody set during the American Revolutionary War, titled "1776".[140] Other parodies include an episode of South Park named "D-Yikes!",[141] the short film United 300 which won the 2007 MTV Movie Spoof Award,[142] and "BOO!" by Mad magazine in its September 2007 issue #481, written by Desmond Devlin and illustrated by Mort Drucker.[143] 20th Century Fox released Meet the Spartans, a spoof directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Universal Pictures once planned a similar parody, titled National Lampoon's 301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus Wallace Leonidas.[144] Samurai Jack, an American animated series by Genndy Tartakovsky, also paid homage to the Battle of Thermopylae in the 12th episode of its second season, but instead used minotaur robots as the antagonists.[145]
300, particularly its pithy quotations, has been "adopted" by the student body of Michigan State University (whose nickname is the Spartans), with chants of "Spartans, what is your profession?" becoming common at sporting events starting after the film's release, and Michigan State basketball head coach Tom Izzo dressed as Leonidas at one student event.[146][147] Nate Ebner, a football player with the New England Patriots in the National Football League and formerly with the Ohio State Buckeyes, was nicknamed "Leonidas," after the Greek warrior-king hero of Sparta acted by Gerard Butler in the movie 300, because of his intense workout regimen, and his beard.[148]