The following is a review of the film ‘300’ from the perspective of a rabid Halophile. Turn back now, ye gamer, if you have yet to witness the awesome spectacle which has been wrought from the pages of Frank Miller’s surreal history lesson. Spoilers abound below. While plot points are not clearly outlined, the ending is discussed. What’s more, despite the all-out media saturation surrounding this March release, it is strongly recommended that you enter this experience as uninfluenced as possible.
Of course, it is difficult to spoil a story inspired by events born of the past. There is not a single historian or military tactician on the planet who has not heard the tale of the Spartans and their glorious stance against the tyranny of God-King Xerxes in the Battle of Thermopylae. It was there, in those hot gates, that the Spartans secured their seats in the timeless halls of legend.
For the Halo fan, there is much to love in this cinematic adaptation. The origin of our species is documented and celebrated with vivid carnage. Attention to historical accuracy takes a back seat to fantastic violence. 300 delivers a beautifully painted thrill-ride, gruesome in its attention to gory detail. The imagination is unshackled to give the original hero his due theatrics. The ugly dance of the sword-fight has never looked so graceful in its hideous brutality.
As players of Bungie’s master-franchise, we are no stranger to the Legend of the Spartans. Even for the uninformed, the resemblances between the Spartans of King Leonidas and Spartans of Dr. Halsey are unmistakable. It is obvious that respectable scrutiny was given to Greek lore by the creators who framed out the back-story for our beloved Spartan – the Master Chief. The creators of our post-modern hero did not just carelessly slap a tough-sounding label on their protagonist. Seeing 300 will enable a Halo fan to truly appreciate the glorious tradition that is carried into battle in the service of the United Nations Space Command.
In 300, we see Spartan children separated from families at tender ages to learn their crafts of war. A Spartan finds his new family among his own. Combat is the profession of a Spartan, and training begins soon after one learns how to walk. These images are strikingly reminiscent of introductions to a young boy named John who was abducted from a schoolyard playground and given the number 117 by architects who needed raw flesh for the construction of super-soldiers to save the galaxy. Spartans are sent into the wild to become warriors, in both 480 BC and 2552 AD. They are hardened to the point at which surrender and retreat are foreign notions. They are the flawless cowboys.
As the Spartan army in 300 faces off against a mass-onslaught of Persian invaders, it is hard not to conjure up mental images of so many Covenant Grunts waddling across the plains of a distant world described in the opening stanza of an Eric Nylund novel. The Spartan reputation is one of dangerous skill. A Spartan is always comfortably outnumbered, and fights his way out of a corner through his commitment to the arts of war.
At the conclusion of 300, we witness events similar to the conclusion of the Fall of Reach. In the end, the irresistible force overcomes the immovable object. In 480 BC, there existed no technology to glass the planet, but several thousand arrows dish out a similar tragedy; bringing the Spartan army to a tragic end as martyrs for the causes of freedom. Prior to this, we see one lone Spartan being dispatched home to unite the remaining armies. In the final frames of the film, the armies of Greece take to the battlefield [lined up behind their last Spartan] to finish the fight.
One Spartan. Many soldiers. They rally around his impossible story. The follow him into the fog of war with reckless abandon, their hope stymied by his mere presence.
A Spartan is easy to follow after all. You can always pick them out of the crowd by those distinctive helmets that they wear.
Run, do not walk to you local multiplex, fellow gamer. This film was made for you. Oo-Rah!
It was a great movie and I loved the style that they used.
I would go on, but nothing can do it justice besides seeing it for yourself.
This movie was absolutely amazing. Go see it.
I hope by your article your not implying the other Spartans around David Wenham’s Spartan are not spartans…your words seemed to indicate that. Amazing movie-nice article Xerxdeej
I did get that impression, trigger. It seemed to me that the entire movie was narrated by David Wenham, told around the campfire just before the last battle between in the Persian Grecco War. While that battlefield was occupied by Greek Soldiers, perhaps some from Sparta, the rhetoric seemed to imply that a “Spartan” was the elite, professional warrior who followed King Leonidas.
Regardless, the unit that faced Xerxes at Thermopylae was a special crew, similar to John 117 and his S.P.A.R.T.A.N. corps. Leonidas’ Spartans were the first to fight. They were the super-soldiers who faced the impossible odds, while their peers obeyed politics and stayed home. When they dispatched one of their ranks to survive the battle, it reminded me of the last Spartan in Halo.
This is an AWESOME video I just saw up on HBO. Check it out.
http://files5.bungie.org/Halo_300_HQ.mov
Basically they edited Halo clips to match the 300 audio. There were some good choices of clips and good editing. VERY NICE.
At the end the last spartan without the eye said ” I wonder how the Persians will like 10,000 spartans leading 30,000 free Greeks” or something close to that
The end of the movie confused me; I always thought the 300 Spartans were the only ones, and they held off Persia at the pass of Thermopylae long enough to allow Greece to get an army together to fight the Persians. However, he says something like “Now we 10,000 Spartans fight 30,000 Persians!”
FYI, Greeks fought naked.
Also, read Gates of Fire.
Great write up XerxdeeJ. I too, found myself thinking of all of the Halo books, while watching 300.
Great, great movie.
I think the end of the movie depicted the remaining able-bodied citizens of Sparta making the last stand against the Persians. While Spartans by Zip-Code, they are not the elite detachment that followed Leonidas. My point was more one of comparison between the narrator character and the Master Chief.
Finally saw this a couple of days ago.
When Leonidas is preparing to head north, and is confronted by Theron and other council members, he says specifically “I’m out for a stroll, with but 300 Spartans; the bulk of the Spartan army will remain here to guard Sparta.” (Okay, paraphrased, but he specifically mentions that the majority of the Spartan army is NOT going with him.)