Review: Super Blockbuster Movie 300

The Movie "300" is an adaptation of the famous graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller. It is the story of the Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans that fought to the last man against Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his massive army of one million soldiers. Facing impossible odds, the Spartans' sacrifice inspires all of Greece to fight in unity against the Persian invaders. The film is directed by Zack Snyder with Frank Miller attached as an executive producer and consultant. Most of the shots in the film were taken with blue screen to duplicate the imagery of the original comic book.

All the characters in the movie are drawn with the broadest of strokes. So their scenes often generate more laughs than drama. The film is a big superhit and broke all the box office records, although critics were divided over its look and style. Some acclaimed it as an original achievement, while others criticised it for favoring visuals over characterization and its controversial depiction of the ancient Persians. However the box office records show that the movie was a huge success and its success can be attributed to its glorification of at least one dark desire of just about everyone. It unites us through our vices. The classic history lesson has a big moral behind the story- with plenty of gore and action to make it interesting.

Another key factor behind its success is marketing. The movie was marketing to Comic-Con, a comic convention. The popular website Myspace also endorsed the ads on its website for an ad campaign. It had stunning visuals in previews, and literally became a success before it came out. Overall, "300" definitely proves to be a crowd pleaser and there's a little something for everyone. Also the set design is very impressive with costumes getting special merit for the attention paid to both the weaponry and the shields of the soldiers (especially the Spartans). The music of the movie also proved to be a great success with each score as having, "beautiful themes on the top and large choir,"

As of June 19, 2007, 300 did a business of $450,234,156 worldwide (including $210,234,156 from North America). Studio executives were surprised by the overall business, which was almost twice what they had actually expected. They credit the movie's successes to its stunning visual effects, stylized violence, the strong female role of Queen Gorgo which attracted a large number of women to the movie and most important the message of unity it conveys to the society and its people.