300 - Blu-ray review

The Movie According to John:

Maybe the third time's the charm. I enjoyed the look of this picture in a movie theater and on standard-definition DVD, but I never engaged much with the story or characters. Now that I've had a chance to watch it yet again, this time in high-definition picture and sound, I started to like it more. Certainly, the picture's razor-sharp, 1080-resolution video and robust TrueHD audio helped a lot in my conversion.

"300," the 2006 movie adaptation of Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's graphic novel, is something of an audience splitter. Many people, like DVDTOWN's own Jason Vargo, loved the film; many other people, like myself, enjoyed the look of the film but longed for more substance; and still other people, like a friend with whom I went to see the movie in a theater and then later a different friend and fellow reviewer for another Web site, positively hated it. All I can figure is that while "300" may not be the world's greatest movie, it does provide an opportunity for discussion.

To begin, let me admit that when I first went to see "300," I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting into. I suppose I was looking forward to another "Sin City" type rendering of a comic book to the screen. In that regard, I got exactly what I was looking for. The movie definitely has the appearance of a comic book.

(Incidentally, I still see graphic novels as essentially comic books, no matter that they're usually more serious and often in black-and-white. As a former English teacher, it's hard for me to accept something that is mostly a series of illustrations as a "novel," with so little prose narrative involved. If there were no words at all, just pictures, would it still be a novel? Is a movie a novel? Not by traditional standards. And why am I going off on this tangent? Because the movie "300" takes a rather a nontraditional approach to filmmaking, just as the graphic novel takes a nonstandard approach to writing. Things are seldom black-and-white, even in the graphic-novel comic-book trade.)

Anyway, the film's plot, loosely based on real life and exaggerated by legend, is basically one, big battle sequence between a relatively small force of ancient Greeks from Sparta and about a gazillion invading Persians. Since there is not a lot more than that, I'll just toss out a few random thoughts about the movie in general.

I suspect that one's appreciation for this film will depend on one's tolerance for hack-and-slash. A good part of the story deals with fighting, with huge armies clashing in battle, with people slicing off one another's heads and limbs, and with a great deal of posturing from everybody involved. It's all really quite remarkable to look at, like nothing that's been done in the same way before, and in that regard it is fascinating to watch. But for how long? The movie is 116 minutes, and it seems like about 115 of those minutes involve fighting. That's hyperbole, of course, but you get the idea. I suppose if you have grown up with violent video games, you'll love the film; otherwise, it may become tiring.

Next, I found it hard not to like the film's appearance. It's meant to look like the Frank Miller graphic novel on which it's based, and it does. Done up a lot in the style of "Sin City," in that the filmmakers made it appear like black-and-white even though it's in color, "300" even stops and freezes a shot from time to time in order to remind one of the still frames in a comic book. It's quite effective the first few times you see it done, but add to that a healthy dose of slow-motion blood and gore and again, like much of the movie, it can get old fast.

Speaking of framing, the filmmakers also make sure that they block most of the shots the way they were set up in the graphic novel. We get lots of close-ups, usually with full, head-on sightings, and any number of carefully arranged group shots, usually with each frame meticulously staged and dressed for maximum symmetry.

What's more, as you know, practically the whole film was created on a soundstage, using bluescreens behind the actors, the backgrounds filled in later with computer graphics, electronic matte paintings, and such. It's the same technique that worked successfully in movies like "Sin City" and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." It works fairly successfully here, too, allowing a relatively small number of actors to portray all three hundred Spartans and probably a few more actors to represent the limitless Persian army. There is never any real sense of reality to it, everything being rather flat and stagey, so just keep in mind that the filmmakers meant it to look like a flat, stagey comic book. The 300 Spartans marching off through the fields reminded me of Dorothy and her friends heading toward the Emerald City. Don't expect in "300" anything like the gorgeous location shooting we find in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings," despite the plethora of CGI effects in both movies.

The action is all highly stylized in "300," the actors forever striking poses and the sword strokes looking both real and unreal at the same time. The characters must, after all, remind the viewer of comic-book creations, not actual, flesh-and-blood people. For that reason, every bare-chested Spartan seems to be wearing the same sort of breastplate that Ricardo Montalban wore in "The Wrath of Khan." Well, OK, either that or the filmmakers hired some really buffed-up actors to play the parts. Maybe a little of both, who knows. Moreover, for visual effect, you've got a bottomless pit in the middle of Sparta, monstrous creatures in the Persian army, and old priests looking like the Evil Emperor from "Star Wars." It helps to take these visuals with a grain of salt, assuming the filmmakers meant many of them only as reminders of the folklore of the 300 Spartans, not the actual history of the soldiers.

Which brings us to the film's lead, Gerard Butler, as the Spartan King Leonidas. Was there ever an actor to star in such a string of high-profile pictures with audiences still not being able to recognize his face? I'm willing to bet that even after his doing "Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life," "The Phantom of the Opera," "Beowulf & Grendel," and "300," most movie buffs wouldn't recognize Butler's countenance from a studio still. Not that he isn't a good actor; he proved that to my satisfaction in the little Scottish film "Dear Frankie." No, in "300" he mainly gets to do what most of the other actors in the film do--flex his considerable muscles. But because the actor plays a character with no discernable personality and because the actor wears a full beard throughout the film, who would know it was Gerard Butler? Incidentally, in several scenes the actor's Scottish accent shows through more prominently than in others, reminding one of Sean Connery and the fact that producers had considered Butler for the role of the newest James Bond.

In the end, I'd rate the movie's fancy new high-definition graphics and near-lossless sound a 9 or 10/10 and the movie's plot and characters a 4-5/10, rounding out to about a 6/10 overall score from me. Most important, the movie reminds us that motion pictures are, after all, about more than characters and story; movies are about visual and audio presentations as well, sights and sounds that we cannot easily experience from reading a novel or looking at a comic book. As such, this moving picture does, indeed, move.

The Details According to Dean:

Video:
"300" is a stylistic film. The CGI blood splatters and stylized hues give the film a look that is unique. "Sin City" pushed black and white to new heights with its stylistic look, but "300" does not forgo color. Instead, it just distorts the hell out of it and provides a gritty, dark and undeniabilty different viewing experience. Detail is very good and easily the best quality of the high definition transfer. The desaturated colors present a little life here and there, but they are so stylized, that "300" is a film that will never be used to show off the richness of color in a Blu-ray disc. "300" is a picture that was created to pay homage and mimic Frank Miller's original graphic novel. It is a stylistic journey through film. It is intended to be rough and unsettling in visuals. Anytime somebody uses CGI to enhance blood and inject film grain, you are going to have a visually unsettling picture.

The digital transfer holds up nicely. The 2.4:1 widescreen picture is mastered with the VC-1 codec and looks quite stunning. When I had originally watched "300" in the cinemas, I left feeling a slight air of disappointment at the visuals. I expected something that was pure beauty and had expected the CGI blood to nearly land in my lap. The film does not feel three dimensional, but the Blu-ray never feels overly flat. It is hard to explain, but "300" can feel both warm and cold at the same time. There aren't any major flaws in the transfer. It holds up remarkably well. Not once could I point out a flaw in the digital transfer to the high definition format. It is just that the stylistic choices made during the creation of this film has resulted in a stylistic experience that is different from anything else you will see. It just doesn't lend itself well to the world of high definition.

Sound:
While the visuals of "300" may not be awe-inspiring due to stylistic choices, the sound quality of the disc is superb and during the entire picture, you will find yourself wandering if a spear had just flown over your shoulder. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack provided on the Blu-ray disc is among the most dynamic tracks I've yet to hear on either of the high definition, next generation formats. And if the inclusion of a Dolby TrueHD track wasn't enough, Warner has also provided an Uncompressed PCM 5.1 mix. Comparing the two, I heard very little differences. The PCM track sounded nearly identical to the Dolby TrueHD mix. In the end, I decided they were similar enough that I allowed the majority of the film to play with the TrueHD mix and simply did not switch back to the Uncompressed track. I'm sure there will be plenty of debate about these mixes, but I could hardly tell a difference. Compared to the provided Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes in English, French and Spanish, the two next-gen sound formats were marked improvements.

Any way you slice the soundtrack for "300" with a sword, you come up with a clean and powerful sounding mix. The film absolutely rises to the occasion when combat is in the air. The metallic clanking of swords clashing are sharp. The sound of flesh being slashed is clean. Lightning crashes loudly. The sound of war drums beating is deep and foreboding. Dialogue is clean and intelligible, although not many words are spoken when the blood shedding is occurring. I loved the separation between channels, but also enjoyed how fluid the channels passed information between one another. Tyler Bates musical score is eerie and haunting in adding depth to the film's soft moments and fierce battle scenes. I have heard a few other titles that were perhaps more impressive in their soundtracks, but "300" is among the best titles when it comes to sonic performance. This disc is definitely a treat to the ears.

Extras:
We are in the middle of a format war. It is HD-DVD versus Blu-ray. One benefit of not being able to write my review prior to the street date is that I know that the Blu-ray disc outsold the HD-DVD disc by a 2-1 margin in its first week. Sadly, this is only because of the installed base of players. I'm going to tell you right now that the HD-DVD disc is easily the superior version. It contains a few incredible supplements that are completely absent on the Blu-ray release. A complete Bluescreen Picture-in-Picture Version of the film is present and shows the entire picture before the bluescreen effects were added. Some uber-cool web features are also present on the HD-DVD disc and completely absent here. I won't spend time listing them here. John J. Puccio's excellent review of the film does a great job of that. I for one, will be spending money to purchase the film on HD-DVD and my Blu-ray disc will sit idle.

The Blu-ray disc does contain a nice set of offerings that are also contained on the HD-DVD disc. The Audio Commentary by Director Zack Snyder, Writer Kurt Johnstad and Director of Photograhy Larry Fong is a dry commentary track that provides a good number of details on the making of the film. With three people behind the microphone, I felt the amount of white noise present in the track was a little much. It seemed the threesome were either having difficulty in having things to say or just enjoyed the show. There was a great deal of things to learn on this commentary, but I have a feeling the HD-DVD video commentary was the real deal and where Snyder put most of his efforts.

The 300 – Fact or Fiction? (24:36) is a great little feature that looks at the film's true roots in history. A lot of time spent in this documentary finds the cast and crew discussing other films based upon the story of the three hundred Spartans and the various incarnations over time on the big screen. Discussions are made about how this was Frank Miller's adaptation of the mythology and not intended to be fully faithful to the story. Artistic license was taken and pointed out here. Who Were the Spartans?: The Warriors of 300 (4:32) is a short look at the main characters in the film and a comparison to the real Spartans that existed in history. The interpretation of Frank Miller on Spartans is again discussed. These two supplements are provided in high definition.

After the making of footage, the "Behind the Story" supplements continue with a few smaller bits. Preparing for Battle: The Original Test Footage (6:43) is shown in high definition and a sit down with Frank Miller and the filmmakers and they discuss the rough version created to help sway the money men into greenlighting the film. The Frank Miller Tapes (14:42) discussed the graphic novel creator and his influences on the look at the film and also at his visual style. Much of this feature talks about bringing the story from print to film. Making of 300 (5:51) is a very short EPK styled making of featurette. Featuring a strong musical score and snippets from the film, it doesn't add much that you didn't already discover in the supplements. The last "Behind the Story" vignette, Making 300 in Images (3:40) is a time-lapsed collection of photography showing sets being built and scenes being shot. It is an interesting and extremely quick photo gallery.

The Webisodes (38:23) section contains twelve different web based episodes that were shown during the film's production. These webisodes cover production design and wardrobing. They touch on the stunt work involved and discuss the film's translation from the graphic novel to the big screen. Time is spent with Gerard Butler and other actors. The full experience takes nearly forty minutes and each webisode is only about three minutes long. As a whole, it is not a bad supplement, but some of the individual pieces feel overly short. This is easily the best making-of feature on the Blu-ray disc, but doesn't quite make up for the missing material contained on the HD-DVD title. Under "Additional Footage," some Deleted Scenes (3:23) with introductions by the film's director are included. There are only three scenes and they are short. I enjoyed them though. They didn't deserve to be kept in the film, but it was additional material for this interesting picture.

Closing Comments:
"300" is an intriguing film. I was overly disappointed with the film after seeing it in theaters. However, the picture has grown on me after watching it a second time on Blu-ray. The visual style of the film is unique and although it doesn't necessarily create jaw-dropping visuals on Blu-ray, it is a technically sound transfer. The soundtrack, however, is very impressive. This easily ranks among my top five Blu-ray titles in the sound department. Where the Blu-ray disc stumbles greatly is in the list of Supplements. The HD-DVD release is a true next generation experience with a unique video commentary and groundbreaking web-based content. The Blu-ray release only receives high definition versions of the same supplements contained on the special edition DVD release. If you have the choice, you want to pick up the HD-DVD version. However, if you only possess a Blu-ray player, then this isn't a bad title to add to your collection.