Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #266 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-11-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Colour, PAL, Subtitled, Surround Sound
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Like Sin City before it, 300 brings Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's graphic novel vividly to life. Gerard Butler (Beowulf and Grendel, The Phantom of the Opera) radiates pure power and charisma as Leonidas, the Grecian king who leads 300 of his fellow Spartans (including David Wenham of The Lord of the Rings, Michael Fassbender, and Andrew Pleavin) into a battle against the overwhelming force of Persian invaders. Their only hope is to neutralise the numerical advantage by confronting the Persians, led by King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), at the narrow strait of Thermopylae.

More engaging than Troy, the tepid and somewhat similar epic of ancient Greece, 300 is also comparable to Sin City in that the actors were shot on green screen, then added to digitally created backgrounds. The effort pays off in a strikingly stylised look and huge, sweeping battle scenes. However, it's not as to-the-letter faithful to Miller's source material as Sin City was. The plot is the same, and many of the book's images are represented just about perfectly. But some extra material has been added, including new villains (who would be considered "bosses" if this were a video game, and it often feels like one) and a political subplot involving new characters and a significantly expanded role for the Queen of Sparta (Lena Headey). While this subplot by director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) and his fellow co-writers does break up the violence, most fans would probably dismiss it as filler if it didn't involve the sexy Headey. Other viewers, of course, will be turned off by the waves of spurting blood, flying body parts, and surging testosterone. (The six-pack abs are also relentless, and the movie has more and less nudity--more female, less male--than the graphic novel.) Still, as a representation of Miller's work and as an ancient-themed action flick with a modern edge, 300 delivers. --David Horiuchi

DVD Description
Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, 300 takes over the screen like an invading horde. With all the gushing blood of a horror movie and the scope of a classic epic, the second film from Zack Snyder (who helmed the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead) is an impressive visual spectacle. In 300, Gerard Butler (PS I Love You) plays Leonidas, the king of ancient Sparta. The city is famous for its warrior philosophy and Leonidas won't kneel to the demands of Persia's King, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro, Lost). Instead, Leonidas leads his 300-strong army against Xerxes's army of millions. Meanwhile, his wife (Lena Headey, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) campaigns in Sparta for the city to send reinforcements, as she butts heads with the treacherous Theron (Dominic West, The Wire).

Synopsis
Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, 300 takes over the screen like an invading horde. With all the gushing blood of a horror movie and the scope of a classic epic, the second film from Zack Snyder (who helmed the 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead") is an impressive visual spectacle. In 300, Gerard Butler ("The Phantom of the Opera") plays Leonidas, the king of ancient Sparta. The city is famous for its warrior philosophy and Leonidas won't kneel to the demands of Persia's King, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro, "Lost"). Instead, Leonidas leads his 300-strong army against Xerxes's army of millions. Meanwhile, his wife (Lena Headey, "The Brothers Grimm") campaigns in Sparta for the city to send reinforcements, as she butts heads with the treacherous Theron (Dominic West, "The Wire").

Customer Reviews

Storytelling at its finest...
As both an archaeologist and a film lover I do find it amusing when people start criticising "300" for its lack of historical accuracy - in some respects the film is massivly accurate - the story is a rousing yarn told by a veteran spartan soldier to the ammassed spartan army, thus as any good tale should be, it is populated with glorious spartan warriors, repulsive traitors, demonic enemies more beast than man and a corrupt God King revelling in grotesque and unearthly pleasures

If we could travel back to the 5th/4th century BC i think many of the films detractors would be suprised to see storytellers entertaining the populace with a tale of the Mighty 300 not dissimilar to this!

300 is a solid piece of visualy arresting storytelling told in a timelessly entertaining way and should be watched as such.

Brilliant!
I loved this film but didnt expect to after all the poor reviews that came out and the similar films Alexander and Troy which were quite poor really.

This was a straightforward adventure/war film. A band of 300 Spartans, with some Allies, hold the Thermopylae pass against the huge invading force of Persians, which were rumoured to be more than a Million strong. The story is of course based on the real battle of Thermopylae but naturally the directors have taken some liberties with the story but still I feel held true to the spirit of it.

The film is based on the excellent comic book/graphic novel of the same name. Much of the film work, like in the Directors previous film Sin City, has a comic book quality and feel to it. if you read the book you will see that the film is pretty faithful to the book.

It has been a controversial film especially to Iran who saw it as western propaganda but they seem to be missing a number of points; that this battle really took place when the Persian Empire invaded Greece, and more importantly that many of the characters have been made over the top to represent the issues. For example the Persian King is seen as literally a Giant, towering over everyone. This is showing he is the controller of the largest empire in the ancient world. While his cruelties and excesses represent the Persians attempt to take over and subdue Greece.

anyway, politics aside, its a great film. Watch and enjoy!

a review of the actual dvd rather than the film
Brief note on the film first: a very stylised version of what the battle of thermopylae may have been like, adapted from a graphic novel and filmed with back projection to make it look as much as like the comic as possible. The result is really quite stunning, and the action and battle sequences very rousing. And bloody. The film is framed with one spartan telling others what happened, and thus what you are seeing is what they think it must have been like. This is a point lots of people seem to have missed.

As regards the dvd: this is a two disc edition, and the first disc contains a widescreen version of the film, with direct scene access, and a commentary from the director and two of the production staff.

The second disc has:

be one of three hundred: a brief bit with the director giving thanks to those who supported the project online.

A documentary about the battle. twenty five minutes long with contributions from historians and it's fascinating stuff.

A documentary about the spartans. Short but good.

Conversations with the creator of the graphic novel. Brief but interesting.

A short and generic production documentary.

a look at the making of the film in images. fascinating but moves very fast and be warned if you're eplipetic as the fast moving could give you a fit.

lots of short production documentaries, that are all quite interesting, and can be watched as one.

A great film.

And a very good package for it.