Gritty, gripping battle

Soren Andersen, for the Northwest Guardian

First and foremost, “300” is a stunning visual achievement.

Set in ancient Greece and shot in shades of smoke-smudged bronze and faded crimson (desaturated shades created by a special post-production process), the picture has a highly stylized look that is not of this world. It’s a look at once mythic and gritty, something torn from a feverish and blood-drenched imagination.

The imagination is Frank Miller’s, and the images are torn, almost literally, from the pages of his highly lauded comic-book series about the last stand of 300 Spartan warriors at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

In the manner of Robert Rodriguez in his cult-fave adaptation of Miller’s “Sin City” comic series, “300” writer-director Zack Snyder (“Dawn of the Dead”) has essentially used Miller’s boldly distinctive panels as his storyboard, re-creating them with astonishing fidelity through extensive use of computer-generated imagery.

And what images they are:

Spartan soldiers, pressed together, crouched beneath their shields with spears upraised, presenting the aspect of a lethal armored porcupine. A would-be world conqueror, standing astride a massive mobile throne (borne on the shoulders of scores of bent-down slaves), effeminate in his eye shadow and manner, his bald head elaborately crisscrossed with slender strands of jewelry.

And above all: a bearded warrior king, his naked torso tanned and chiseled, his head encased in a tight-fitting plumed helmet, teeth bared in a ferocious smile, eyes burning with zeal for battle.

Played by the Scottish actor Gerard Butler with hypermasculine forcefulness, the warrior king is Leonidas, ruler of Sparta and leader of the doomed effort to stop the advance of the invading army of Persian King Xerxes (Brazil’s Rodrigo Santoro) at the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae on the northern coast of Greece. Outnumbered by the tens of thousands, the Spartans inflicted massive casualties on Xerxes’ men during the three-day battle before being encircled and killed to the last man.

The battle is credited with averting the Persian conquest of Greece and thereby saving Western civilization. It’s also the source of some immortal quotes, among them this one, spoken to Leonidas by his wife, Gorgo (Lena Headey), as he marches off to war: “Come home with your shield or on it.” And this, spoken by a cocky Spartan soldier when a Persian informs him that soon the invaders will unleash a rain of arrows so thick they’ll blot out the sun: “Then we will fight in the shade.”

Snyder made sure to include both quotes in his picture.

It’s the battle scenes that are “300’s” glory. The battling is up close and in your face, with faces pierced by spears, bodies pincushioned by arrows and extremities slashed by swords. Deftly mixing fast-forward and slow-motion footage, and filling the air with CG-generated gouts of blood, Snyder proves himself a master at choreographing carnage. But grisly as it is, the bloodletting is not realistic. Fighting under threatening bronze-colored skies, red capes undulating in mimickry of the rivers of red flowing at their feet, these warriors are like figures out of an unnerving dream.

Snyder’s facility with action and visuals is not matched by fluency of dialogue or skill with characterizations. Leonidas and Xerxes are icons rather than fully realized characters, and Leonidas’ warriors, incredibly buff and impressively scarred, are virtually indistinguishable.

The dialogue is mostly bombastic sound bites: “Spartans! Enjoy your breakfast, for tonight we dine in hell!” and “A new age has come, an age of freedom. And all will know that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it.” This isn’t dialogue; it’s sloganeering.

Snyder embellishes on Miller’s tale with a subplot involving Queen Gorgo and a traitorous and lecherous Spartan lawmaker played by Dominic West that seems superfluous and interrupts the flow of the narrative.

But using high-tech means to create a tale of heroism at its most elemental, Snyder’s movie grabs you by the throat from its first battle scene and never lets go until the final, fatal sun-blotting shower of arrows.

300

Director: Zack Snyder

Cast: Gerard Butler, Rodrigo Santoro, Lena Headey, David Wenham and Vincent Regan

Running Time: 1:57

Rating: R; violence, sexual situations

Where: In wide release; showtimes,