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Last Sunday, esrblog and I went to see "300", the new movie based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller.

I don't need to put this review under a cut, since it's easy to talk about this movie without resorting to spoilers. In fact, I'm not sure that's it's possible to affect anyone's enjoyment of this movie with spoilers, since if you know anything about ancient Greek history you know the basic plot, if you've read Miller's graphic novel you know the entire script (and will be able to predict most of the visuals with accuracy), and if you are unfamiliar with both, you are extremely unlikely to be lining up to pay $10 to see this movie in the first place.

That summarizes pretty well most of what is interesting about "300". Its fight scenes offer nothing to the bladed weapons fan or the fight choreography freaks. Its costumes are only historical to the extent it suited Miller's whim (so you have Spartan fighters in plausible helmets and scarlet cloaks wearing nothing else but black leather Speedos, for example). There is a lot of sweat but amazingly little gore, considering how many characters, minor and otherwise, are decapitated. The rhetoric is all about the importance of freedom and doing what's right no matter what the law dictates, but what the film really shows you is male bonding and female loyalty To Her Man. In image, tone, script, and style, the movie strives to be nothing more than an animated version of the graphic novel, and in this it succeeds. Unfortunately, that's the only real success it scores. Which is a pity, because most of the major roles are well cast, and the actors do an impressive job with them despite the (intrinsic) limits of the script.

Since I saw the movie, I have read some reviews which claim that Miller is a conservative and that the movie, like the book, is a heavy-handed paean to the men in Iraq. I can't speak for Miller, of whom I had never previously heard, but I'm not convinced that the movie has any ideology behind it at all--save the desire to show lots and lots of buff men nearly naked for two hours. (The only exception to this rule is the rank and file of the Persian army, who are shown, again with some historical plausibility, in draped veils and pajamas.) Xerxes, the Persian king, is shown, implausibly, as ten feet tall and naked except for the sort of jewelry you find on Hindu images of Shiva. He likes to make his enemies kneel before him. Right.

In case you haven't guessed, I was disappointed in the movie. I had hoped to see a historical drama about a critical turning point in Greek history, not a gay revue. And I had hoped to see rather more respect than the movie manages to convey for the courage of the very real Spartans who died at Thermopylae to defend their homeland. Call me naive, if you will.

The bottom line: If you liked Miller's novel you will probably like this movie. If you did not, or if you've never heard of Miller and his novel, this movie is not worth your time.