300 review

DVD of the week – The wait is finally over as 300 stampedes onto DVD this week, with hordes of Spartan fans snapping-up copies of the Frank Miller-inspired flick like it is going out of fashion.

The visually-stunning, swashbuckling swords and sandals epic roared onto the UK cinema screens way back in March, but 300 will finally unleash its full fury on the DVD-buying British public this week, as the special effects bonanza goes on sale nationwide.

Inspired by Frank Miller’s graphic novel, like the stupendously-successful Sin City, 300 sees the fiercely patriotic Spartan King Leonidas (played by the charismatic Gerard Butler) and a group of 300 warriors (including David Wenham, Michael Fassbender and Andrew Pleavin) courageously attempt to hold-off a huge Persian army lead by emperor Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), in this ferocious retelling of the ancient battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

Mixing mythical legend with surreal comic book style, director Zack Snyder stacks the odds against the Spartans even further by chucking a giant with filed fangs, battle elephants, a charging rhino and a lobster-man whose claws decapitate soldiers onto the Persian side in the sweeping battle scenes. While blood, limbs, swords and spears fly from all angles it is sometimes difficult to see where the CGI ends and the acting begins, but the operatic excess carries the 200-minute flick with success.

Plus, for female viewers the buff bodies of the warriors make Men’s Health cover models pale in comparison – in fact, such attention has been devoted to the film’s body beautiful that a 300 Workout DVD which aims to give viewers the rippling torso of a Spartan soldier has actually been released too – although it might not make the most subtle of Christmas presents girls.

Loud, proud and mind-blowing in every cinematographic sense, the script might not be dazzlingly sophisticated and the storyline isn’t factually accurate or mentally-challenging by any stretch of the imagination, but if you’re seeking two hours of pure action entertainment, you won’t find it more stylishly executed than in 300 this year.

Film: 300
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, Rodrigo Santoro
Classification: 15
Release date: 1 October 2007
Available from: Amazon.co.uk for £12.98

Michelle Byrne
1 October 2007