" Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty... For tonight, we dine in hell!" King Leonidas
☆☆☆☆☆ Classic
300 (2010) is a visual feast.
Directed and co-written by Zack Snyder.
Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey and David Wenham among many others.
I like 300, because Zach's visual style of using both super-imposition and chroma key techniques which brought to life what hand to hand sword fighting in sandals must have been like 2,500 years ago. I've got to hand it to Gerard for being as convincing as Russell Crowe was in Ridley Scott's, sword and sandal epic, Gladiator (2000). It's not easy delivering cheesy, pro-wrestling lines as, "Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty... For tonight, we dine in hell!" Butler's charismatic personality and dark sense of humor carried 300 on his shoulders as well as Crowe carried Gladiator with his Oscar winning performance. As an actor you've got to figure out how to get around weak dialogue or CGI or whatever may be lacking in the story. Both Gerard and Russell show that personality is one effective way in overcoming cheesy dialogue or lackluster CGI.
The CGI wizardry in the scene below kept me glued to the story as it unfolded. I think in a few years location shooting will not exist in filmmaking. Need to shoot in New York, London, Cairo and the Bahamas for James Bond, software like Lightwave will make it possible and cost effective. I included a small CGI discussion by the masters of Lightwave to give you an idea of the artistry involved in making 300.
Trivia - Director Zack Snyder's son, Eli Snyder plays young King Leonidas (7-8 years old) in the child fight training scene.
Note - If you would like to view 300 to rent or buy please click on the link below the comments. It is sponsored by Google, so it is the safest and most secure way to get a copy for your film library.
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