300 (10/10)

2007
Directed by Zach Snyder
Gerard Butler
Lena Headey

Another revolutionary and beautiful film that challenges so much about us as people and our country but does so in a way that inspires rather than angers. This film almost captured me alone in its sheer disregard for me as its viewer. Zach and ultimately Frank Miller (writer of the original graphic novel) show so little concern for what is acceptable or politically correct in America today, and instead release a film that is easily as influential as The Matrix, if not more so, and easily more beautiful.

300 is a not-so-accurate interpretation of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. in which 300 Spartan soldiers took on over a million of Xerxes Persian Army rather than submitting. It's an amazing story of courage and honor, challenging so much of what America has come to accept as the truth.

The entire film was shot in front of a green screen, which I would normally despise (see Star Wars: Episode I), but the backgrounds are so beautiful and so realistic- I can't imagine what the budget for this film was, but it must have been sky high. Anyway, this lends so such a surreal atmosphere, adding the perfect mood to the film. Gerard Butler's performance also just makes the film- there's no way I could not say anything about it, he's pretty much the definition of courage in man, enough to make me want to start working out 25 hours a day.

The film challenges modern perception of honor, of loyalty, of marriage, of battle, of selflessness, of submission, of a man, of a woman, and ultimately points toward our own lack of moral fiber and will. We have become so complacent when we could be so firm. We bend when we could be like pillars. That's what I got out of it. Go see it. I'll shut up.