300 Plot

300 is a 2007 film adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller, itself partly inspired by another film, The 300 Spartans. Both the graphic novel and the film are fictionalized accounts of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The film is directed by Zack Snyder with Frank Miller attached as an executive producer and consultant, and was shot mostly with bluescreen to duplicate the imagery of the original comic book.

Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fight to the last man against Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his army of more than one million soldiers. The sacrifice of the Spartans inspires all of Greece to unite against the Persian invaders. In Sparta, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) attempts to rally support for her husband. The story is framed by a voice-over narrative by the Spartan soldier Dilios (David Wenham). As 300 uses historical narrative to introduce fantastic creatures, it fits within the genre of historical fantasy.

300 was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters in America on March 9, 2007. The film broke box office records, although critics were divided over its look and style. Some acclaimed it as an original achievement, while others accused it of favoring visuals over characterization. Controversy arose over its depiction of the ancient Persian and Greek civilizations.

A group of Persian messengers arrive at Sparta, demanding Sparta's submission to King Xerxes. Outraged and offended at their behavior, King Leonidas kicks the messengers into a pit and resolves to fight the Persians. He visits the Oracle, explaining his plan and offering a customary payment in gold. The priestly Ephors, having been bribed by Xerxes, interpret the Oracle's message to mean that Sparta should not go to war, so as to not interrupt the sacred Carneian festival.

Nevertheless, Leonidas gathers 300 of his best soldiers to fight the Persians (selecting those who have already sired children). As they march north, they are joined by a group of Arcadians and other Greeks. Arriving at the narrow cliffs of Thermopylae (or "Hot Gates"), in sight of the Persian army, they build a wall to halt the Persians' advance. Ephialtes, a hunchbacked Spartan whose parents had fled to save him from customary infanticide, approaches Leonidas, requesting to redeem his father's name in battle, and warning him about a secret goat path that the Persians could use to surround them. Leonidas turns him away as his inability to properly hold the shield would create a weak spot in the phalanx.

Before the battle starts, the Persians ask that the 300 drop their arms. Leonidas responds "come and take them!" The Spartans fight off numerous waves of Persian attackers, including their elite group of the Immortals, using the phalanx formation and hand to hand combat. The 300 defend their position for a number of days and suffer few losses. Xerxes, impressed, approaches Leonidas directly and promises him wealth and power in exchange for his surrender. The Spartan king declines, saying that he will instead make the "God King" bleed. Shortly thereafter, an embittered Ephialtes reveals the goat path to Xerxes, and is promised a lucrative and powerful position in the Persian Empire.

Back in Sparta, Queen Gorgo, upon the advice of a councilman, attempts to enlist the influential Theron to help her persuade the Spartan council to send reinforcements to Leonidas. Theron agrees to help, but demands that Gorgo sleep with him; Gorgo reluctantly assents. Meanwhile, the Greeks realize that Ephialtes has betrayed them, and the Arcadians decide to retreat in the face of certain death. The Spartans refuse to follow, respecting their laws. Leonidas orders only one man, Dilios, to retreat and use his rhetorical gifts to tell the story of the 300 to the Spartan people, ensuring that they be remembered. Dilios reluctantly leaves with the Arcadians. At Sparta, Queen Gorgo appears in front of the council, but is not supported by Theron, who furthermore accuses her of adultery. The Queen, enraged at this betrayal, manages to kill him by snatching a sword from a nearby soldier. Persian coins fall from Theron's purse, and the Council denounces him as a traitor and unites against Persia.

At Thermopylae, the 300 are surrounded by the Persian troops. Xerxes' spokesman demands their surrender, saying that Leonidas may keep his title as King of Sparta and become warlord of all Greece, answering only to Xerxes. In defiance, Leonidas throws his spear at Xerxes, and cuts his cheek, thus delivering on his promise to "make the 'God King' bleed." Xerxes signals for his archers to fire. The remaining Spartans are killed in the hail of arrows, with Leonidas dying last. Dilios eventually returns to Sparta and inspires the council with the bravery of the 300. Finishing the tale of the 300 a year later on a new battlefield, Dilios concludes that the Persian army, who defeated a mere 300 Spartans only after great difficulty, must now be terrified to face 10,000 Spartans and 30,000 Greeks from the other city-states. The roused Greek host heads off to fight the Persian army, beginning the Battle of Plataea.

In August 2005, Gerard Butler was cast to portray King Leonidas. On September 26, 2005, a casting call was issued for the role of Pleistarchos (Leonidas' son), younger portrayals of Leonidas, as well as a Persian messenger. Three days later, a second casting call went out for the role of the Oracle Girl, a slave to the Ephors. A month later, Lena Headey joined the cast as Gorgo, Leonidas' wife. The casting of David Wenham, Dominic West, Rodrigo Santoro, and Vincent Reagan were also announced at this time.

Producer Gianni Nunnari had nourished a passion for the Battle of Thermopylae since his youth but the story was already in development as Gates of Fire with director Michael Mann. Nunnari discovered Frank Miller's graphic novel 300, which impressed him enough to acquire the film rights. 300 was jointly produced by Nunnari and Mark Canton, with Michael B. Gordon completing a second draft of the script. In June 2004, director Zack Snyder, previously known for Dawn of the Dead, was hired to direct. Snyder, who had before attempted to make a film on the basis of Miller's novel, worked with screenwriter Kurt Johnstad to rewrite Gordon's script for production. Miller was attached to the project as executive producer and consultant.

The film is a shot-for-shot adaptation of the comic book, similar to the film adaptation of Sin City. Snyder photocopied panels from the comic book, from which he planned the preceding and succeeding shots. "It was a fun process for me... to have a frame as a goal to get to," said Snyder. He also shot the film in a style that would be similar to the comic book. Numerous images and pieces of dialogue are taken directly from Miller. One exception to the direct adaptation was the use of the character Dilios as a narrator. Snyder used this narrative technique to show the audience that the surreal "Frank Miller world" of 300 was related from a subjective perspective. Snyder also added the sub-plot in which Queen Gorgo attempts to rally support for her husband.

Two months of pre-production were required to create hundreds of shields,spears and swords, some of which were recycled from Troy and Alexander. An animatronic wolf and 13 animatronic horses were also created. The actors trained alongside the stuntmen, and even Snyder joined in. Upwards of 600 costumes were created for the film, as well as extensive prosthetics for various characters and the corpses of Persian soldiers.

300 entered active production on October 17, 2005 in Montreal, and was shot over the course of 60 days in chronological order with a budget of $60 million. Employing the digital backlot technique, Snyder shot at the now-defunct Icestorm Studios in Montreal using bluescreens. Butler said that while he didn't feel constrained by Snyder's direction, fidelity to the comic imposed certain limitations on his performance. Wenham said there were times when Snyder wanted to precisely capture iconic moments from the comic book, and other times when he gave actors freedom "to explore within the world and the confines that had been set". Headey said of her experience with the bluescreens, "It's very odd, and emotionally, there's nothing to connect to apart from another actor." Only one scene, in which horses travel across the countryside, was shot outdoors. The film was an intensely physical production, and Butler pulled an arm tendon and developed a foot drop.

Post-production, was handled by Montreal's Meteor Studios and Hybride Technologies filled in the bluescreen footage with more than 1500 visual effects shots. Chris Watts and Jim Bissell created a process dubbed "The Crush," which allowed the Meteor artists to manipulate the colors by increasing the contrast of light and dark. Certain sequences were desaturated and tinted to establish different moods. Ghislain St-Pierre, who lead the team of artists, described the effect: "Everything looks realistic, but it has a kind of a gritty illustrative feel." Various computer programs, including Maya, RenderMan and RealFlow, were used to create the "spraying blood." The post-production lasted for a year and was handled by a total of ten special effects companies.

In August 2006, Warner Bros. announced 300 's release as March 16, 2007, but in October the release was moved back to March 9, 2007. The MPAA gave the film an R rating for graphic battle sequences and some sexuality and nudity.

In July 2005, composer Tyler Bates had begun work on the film, describing the score as having "beautiful themes on the top and large choir", but "tempered with some extreme heaviness". The composer had scored for a test shot that the director wanted to show to Warner Bros. to illustrate the path of the project. Bates said that the score had "a lot of weight and intensity in the low end of the percussion" that Snyder found agreeable to the film. The score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and features the vocals of Azam Ali. A standard edition and a special edition of the soundtrack containing 25 tracks was released on March 6, 2007, with the special edition containing a 16-page booklet and three two-sided trading cards.

The soundtrack borrows elements from Elliot Goldenthal's 1999 soundtrack for Titus, giving rise to some controversy in the film composer community. '"Remember Us," from 300, is identical in parts to the the "Finale" from Titus, and "Returns A King" (300) is similar to "Victorius Titus."

The official 300 website was launched by Warner Bros. in December 2005. The "conceptual art" and Zack Snyder's production blog were the initial attractions of the site. Later, the website added video journals describing production details, including comic-to-screen shots and the creatures of 300. In January 2007, the studio launched a MySpace page for the film. The Art Institutes launched a micro-site to promote the film.

At Comic-Con International in July 2006, the 300 panel aired a promotional trailer of the film, which was positively received. The promotional trailer was then leaked to the Internet. Warner Bros. released the official trailer for 300 on October 4, 2006. The background music used in the trailers was "Just Like You Imagined" by Nine Inch Nails. A second 300 trailer was attached to Apocalypto, released in theaters on December 8, 2006, and online the day before. On January 22, 2007 an exclusive trailer for the film was broadcast during prime time television. The trailers have been credited with igniting interest in the film and contributing to its box-office success.

In April 2006, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced its intention to make a PlayStation Portable game, 300: March to Glory, based on the film. Collision Studios worked with Warner Bros. to capture the style of the film in the video game which was released simultaneously with the film in the United States. The National Entertainment Collectibles Association produced a series of action figures based on the film, as well as replicas of weapons and armor.

Warner Bros. Pictures promoted 300 by sponsoring the Ultimate Fighting Championship's light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, who made personal appearances and participated in other promotional activities. The studio also joined with the National Hockey League to produce a 30-second TV spot promoting the film in tandem with the Stanley Cup playoffs.

300 was released in North America on March 9, 2007, in both conventional and IMAX theaters. It grossed $28,106,731 on its opening day and ended its North American opening weekend with $70,885,301, breaking the record held by Ice Age: The Meltdown for the biggest opening weekend in the month of March. 300's opening weekend gross was the 19th best in box office history, coming slightly below The Lost World: Jurassic Park but higher than The Incredibles. It was the third biggest opening for an R-rated film ever, behind fellow Warner Bros. release The Matrix Reloaded ($91.8 million) and The Passion of the Christ ($83.8 million). The film also set a record for IMAX cinemas with a $3.6 million opening weekend. 300 opened simultaneously in Greece, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, with a total overseas gross of $6.2 million. The Greek gross of $2.9 million set a new box office record. 300 grossed $127.5 million by its second weekend, again topping the box office despite a 56% drop off. 300 is now projected to make 180-190 Million from the North American box office.

Studio executives were surprised by the showing, which was twice what they had expected. They credit the movie's stylized violence, the strong female role of Queen Gorgo which attracted a large number of women to the movie, and the MySpace advertising blitz which also sparked interest. Producer Mark Canton said, "MySpace had an enormous impact but it has transcended the limitations of the Internet or the graphic novel. Once you make a great movie, word can spread very quickly."

Since its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 14, 2007, in front of 1,700 audience members, 300 has received generally mixed reviews. While it received a standing ovation at the public premiere, it was reportedly panned at a press screening hours earlier, where many attendees left during the showing and those who remained booed at the end.

In North America, critical reviews of 300 are divided, while polls of movie goers indicate strong approval. On Rottentomatoes.com, it has a 60% approval rating from listed critics, a 51% from its "Cream of the Crop" column, and a 88% approval rating from users. On MetaCritic.com, 300 recieved a 53/100 based on 32 reviews, resulting in "Mixed or Average Reviews" status. Over 39,700 Internet Movie Database users had rated the movie by March 19, 2007 with the weighted average being 8.3/10, putting the movie at #186 on their top 250 list.

The two major industry trades published generally positive reviews. Variety's Todd McCarty describes the film as "visually arresting," while Kirk Honeycutt, writing in The Hollywood Reporter, praises the "beauty of its topography, colors and forms."

300 was also warmly received by websites focusing on comics and video games. Comic Book Resources' Mark Cronan finds the film compelling, leaving him "with a feeling of power, from having been witness to something grand." IGN's Todd Gilchrist acclaims Zack Snyder as a cinematic visionary and the "possible redeemer of modern moviemaking."

A number of critical reviews appeared in major American newspapers. A.O. Scott of the New York Times, describes 300 as "about as violent as Apocalypto and twice as stupid," as well as criticizing its color scheme and suggesting that its plot includes racist undertones. Kenneth Turan writes in the Los Angeles Times that "unless you love violence as much as a Spartan, Quentin Tarantino or a video-game-playing teenage boy, you will not be endlessly fascinated."

Some Greek newspapers have been particularly critical and Greek film critic Robby Eksiel said moviegoers would be dazzled by the "digital action" but irritated by the "pompous interpretations and one-dimensional characters."

The film's director Zack Snyder states that "The events are 90 percent accurate. It's just in the visualization that it's crazy.... I've shown this movie to world-class historians who have said it's amazing. They can't believe it's as accurate as it is." He continues that the film is "an opera, not a documentary".

However, Ephraim Lytle, assistant professor of Hellenistic History at the University of Toronto, states that 300 selectively idealizes Spartan society in a "problematic and disturbing" fashion, as well as portraying the Persians as monsters and non-Spartan Greeks as weak. He suggests that the film's moral universe would have seemed as "bizarre to ancient Greeks as it does to modern historians."

Military historian Victor Davis Hanson, who wrote the foreword to a 2007 re-issue of the graphic novel, states that the film demonstrates a specific affinity with the original material of Herodotus in that it captures the martial ethos of ancient Sparta and represents Thermopylae as a "clash of civilizations". He remarks that Simonides, Aeschylus and Herodotus viewed Thermopylae as a battle against "Eastern centralism and collective serfdom" which opposed "the idea of the free citizen of an autonomous polis".

However, Touraj Daryaee, associate professor of Ancient History at California State University, Fullerton, criticizes the central theme of the movie, that of "free" and "democracy loving" Spartans against "slave" Persians. Daryaee states that the Achaemenid (Persian) empire hired and paid people regardless of their sex or ethnicity, whereas in fifth-century Greece "less than 14%" of the population participated in democratic government, and "nearly 37%" of the population were slaves. He further states that Sparta "was a military monarchy, not a democracy," and collectively owned slaves (the Helots).

Greek movie critic Dimitris Danikas has suggested that the film portrays Persians as "bloodthirsty, underdeveloped zombies," writing that the filmmakers "are stroking [sic] racist instincts in Europe and America." American critics, including Steven Rea, have argued that the Persians are a vehicle for an anachronistic cross-section of Western stereotypes of Asian and African cultures. Dana Stevens points out that the Persians, as the "bad guys", are depicted as black people, brown people, handicapped and/or deformed people.

Prior to the release of 300, Warner Brothers expressed concerns about the political aspects of the film's theme. Snyder relates that "There was a huge sensitivity about East versus West with the studio." Media speculation about a possible parallel between the Greek-Persian conflict and current events began in an interview with Snyder that was conducted before the Berlin Film Festival and later published on Wired.com. The interviewer remarked that "everyone is sure to be translating this [film] into contemporary politics." Snyder replied that, while he was aware that people would read the film through the lens of contemporary events, no paralells between the film and the contemporary world were intended.

At a press junket following a February screening in Los Angeles, Snyder was again asked about the film's political implications. At the Berlin screening, Snyder claims that a reporter asked, "Don’t you think it’s interesting that your movie was funded at this point?" Snyder clarifies, "The implication was that funding came from the U.S. government."

Outside of current political parallels, some critics have raised more general questions about the film's ideological orientation. The New York Post's Kyle Smith writes that the film would have pleased "Adolf's boys," and Slate's Dana Stevens compares the film to The Eternal Jew. Roger Moore, a critic for the Orlando Sentinel, matches 300 to Susan Sontag's definition of "fascist art." David Kahane of the National Review praises the movie for valorizing "Real all-American stuff," in which "heroes [stand] up for God and country".

However, Newsday critic Gene Seymour dismisses such reactions as misguided, writing that "the movie's just too darned silly to withstand any ideological theorizing." Snyder himself dismisses ideological readings, suggesting that reviewers who critique a "graphic novel movie about a bunch of guys...stomping the snot out of each other" using words like " 'neocon,' 'homophobic,' 'homoerotic' or 'racist' " are "missing the point."

The film's portrayal of ancient Persians sparked a particularly strong reaction in Iran. Various critics, journalists, and officials of the Iranian government have denounced the film. As in the graphic novel, the Persians are depicted as a barbaric and demonic horde, and King Xerxes portrayed as androgynous. This is designed to stand in stark contrast to the masculinity of the Spartan army.

Azadeh Moaveni of Time reports that Tehranis were "outraged" following the film's release. Moaveni identifies two factors which may have contributed to the intense reaction: its release on the eve of Norouz, the Persian New Year, and a common Iranian view of the Achaemenid Empire as "a particularly noble page in their history." Various Iranian officials, including the president of Iran's Art Affairs Advisory, Javad Shamqadri, government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham and four Iranian Members of Parliament condemned the film. The Iranian Academy of the Arts submitted a formal complaint against the movie to UNESCO, claiming that the film is an attack on the historical identity of Iran.

A Warner Bros. spokesman said: "The film 300 is a work of fiction inspired by the Frank Miller graphic novel and loosely based on a historical event. The studio developed this film purely as a fictional work with the sole purpose of entertaining audiences; it is not meant to disparage an ethnicity or culture or make any sort of political statement."