Frank Miller's "300"

If you've not yet heard of Frank Miller's 300, then I suggest you immediately watch the trailer and then come back here.

Done drooling? Good. Before you continue, be forewarned that there are plot details ahead. If you don't want any spoilers, turn back now.

You've been warned.

I'd never heard of 300 until seeing the teaser trailer a few months back. I've gotten out of the comics scene in recent years, and I don't know nearly as much as I should. But after seeing that trailer, I felt I just had to read the graphic novel on which this movie will be based.

As you likely already know, Frank Miller is responsible for bringing us the critically acclaimed Sin City...which was also a movie based on a series of comics. It was a movie that you either liked it or you didn't. I liked it...I thought it was a fantastic form of cinematography...a unique way of bringing a comic to the big screen and retain its 'comic book feel'. Beyond that...the story, while interesting, was not ground-breaking. But the acting was solid and it did keep me entertained which is...as you already know if you know me...all I ask in a film.

300 looks set to do one better. The story looks to me to be far more interesting than Sin City was...and still the cinematography has a look to it that just 'feels different'...at least so far as I can tell from the trailers. It's got a bit of warm, dusty tinge to it...making it look a bit ancient...like the story being told.

Edit: Somehow half my post disappeared. But in the almighty words of Foghorn Leghorn, "Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency." Here's the rest:

The two stories are, of course, like apples and oranges. One is pure dark fantasy and one, while completely re-imagined and likely historically inaccurate as all hell, is at least rooted in some historical fact.

300 focuses on the battle of Thermopylae in which "300" stood strong against "1,000,000". Leonidas is our Hero, and he is the King of Sparta...commander of the Spartan army. Xerxes is our villain...King of Persia and leader of the Persian army.

The thrust of the story is thus: The Persians want to take over Greece, and the Spartans are having none of it. King Leonidas plans on stopping them...or at least making a valiant last stand...even if he is hopelessly outnumbered. Better to stand and fight than kneel into slavery.

While official historical records contradict each other seven ways from Sunday...the Persian army being anywhere from as little as 100,000 troops to as many as over 5,000,000...while numbers for the Greeks range anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 troops.

Any way you slice it, however, the Greeks were hopelessly outnumbered. There was only a single road into Greece the Persians could take, and it was through a bottle-neck passage at Thermopylae or, as Leonidas describes them, "The Hot Gates". The popular story is that due to Greece's superior military strategies, combat abilities, and knowledge of the terrain, the Greeks were able to fight off the Persians admirably, despite the odds in numbers being heavily against them.

The turning point came when a soldier betrayed the Greeks and showed the Persians a secret path, allowing them to encircle the Greeks and destroy them. The number 300 comes from the 300 Spartans that made up but a portion of the total Greek army, and who stayed behind to fight the Persians to allow the retreat of the remainder of the Greek army.

In the end, no matter what you choose the actual numbers of the troops for each side of the battle to be, the Persians suffered losses that were horribly unfitting to their overwhelmingly larger army. In other words, the Greeks kicked some major ass.

Interestingly, from all I've seen from the trailers, and what I read between the covers of 300, and what I've read of early reviews on the film, is that this film is set to be a very accurate representation of the original graphic novel...nearly a page-by-page transfer to film. I hope this is the case.

The visuals in the trailer match surprisingly well with what you see on the pages of the book, and indeed I can look at the majority of shots in the trailer and know precisely what part of the book they come from...they look so similar.

Was 300 the best I've read? Certainly not. It has flaws. It seems to rush itself right along from start to finish. It feels awfully cold and harsh for the majority of the story and I never truly find myself caring an enormous deal for our protagonist. But it pulled me in all the same and I read it cover to cover...I would recommend it as an afternoon read for anyone and I personally can't wait to see the film adaptation.