From the mind of Frank Miller who gave us Sin City, The Dark Knight Returns and Daredevil: Born Again, definitely regarded as one of the greatest Writers in comic book history.

A film that presents an amalgamation of flawless visual effects and spectacular action sequences that makes it breathtaking, leaving your jaws ajar! Director Zack Snyder brings to life the story of 300. Depicted from the battle between one state against an Empire in Thermopylae, Greece. His forte in this genre comes from his instinctive imagination and how he brings this world to the big screen is always palpable to the senses!

I may give him a pat on the back for his creativeness but he really needs to work on his pace of storytelling, he has a grandiose take on every movie he has made, which gives him a distinctive type from the likes of Michael Bay who tends to slow down capture motion sequences to enhance its subtle and brutal delivery. To add, I am easy to please with comic based films, I do have a soft spot for them but I still take it with the right attitude when it comes to its story not just lacing it with sugar coated toppings and sprinkles, good thing there are those who provide the cavalry in his conquest in filmmaking.

Since most of my reviews have more take on the story. Now, I tweaked this process a little bit more on the side of people at the back of the camera, of course casts are always instilled in the picture but let us see how the stories are made from different angle and standpoint.

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Screenplay: Kurt Johnstad and Michael Gordon gave the story a worthy take; it was on the right pace and was decent enough to hold together what Frank Miller and Lynn Varley had set to put in his work. The entry of the harbingers of death, to the day in and out slaughtering, conception of the finale and demise was specifically laid out to make the story tell its tale by itself.

Director of Photography: Larry Fong who has worked with Zack from his previous films has a real eye for the intricate details needed to show the beauty and awesome display of backgrounds and landscapes! We can say that his in depth take of capturing scenes is well worth to watch though still short on films he was great in the series Lost which was a certified hit.

Production Designer: James Bissell had made a lot of impression with works like Jumanji, The Rocketeer and The Spiderwick Chronicles which are well themed and suited for him and for his collaboration with Zack since both have the fantasy element in their projects so why stop...

Editor: William Hoy should really choose his projects well but his name gave more credence to his work in Dances with Wolves, Patriot Games and Bone Collector now these are called films that have content. He was able to provide the intended storyline that makes this film acclaim its glory.

Music: Tyler Bates has a portfolio of films that concerns more of the horror and dead rather of the living it must have been insightful for him to engage his music from such pieces of work where I could perceive it to be half-rated, B movies and series. Daunting and profound I still have faith with this guy since he gave 300 the energy and in sync its gut wrenching battle scenes with palpitating music and vibe!

Visual Effects: Chris Watts gave films from Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban, The Day after Tomorrow and the lovable Where the Wild Things Are, just like James from Production gave fantasy based films more colour and life, his work with 300 CGI and practical elements is like a walk in the park.

CAST:

Michael Fassbender as Stelios, one of the soldiers whose last stand with their King gave way to a revolt! This guy came a long way; I can see him as star with projects in his belt such as the Academy Award Winning series Band of Brothers, films like Inglorious Basterds, X-Men: First Class and upcoming projects like Prometheus and Haywire. Commendable as he is ardent in his roles, I consider his villainy Burke remarkable for the wasted DC comics film Jonah Hex!

Gerard Butler (Law Abiding Citizen) rules Sparta as King Leonidas, a wise ruler and a man of honour; confident as he is fierce in combat! He assembled an army of 300 to head north towards "The Hot Gates" to stop the Persian army from advancing. For his leading lady, Lena Heady (The Brothers Grimm) as Queen Gorgo gives a splendid performance as interim head of their city while she awaits her husband's return.

Rodrigo Santoro (Che, Rio) is the egotistic King Xerxes. He outdid himself, a fool's errand for Leonidas to take advantage, he might have won the battle but the war was far from over!

Dominic West (Chicago, Punisher: Warzone) plays Theron, a councilman whose cowardice and lack of faith in his King made him a very reputable man (for his own sake).

Packed with blood and gore, this ball to the wall extravaganza comes in its glorious fruition that makes this epic story truly a masterpiece. Seamless waves of fight scenes provide adrenaline rush while its morals of integrity and honour gives it full circle for the audience to digest! Intense moments of being adamant as they stood their ground, even one scene after blotting the sun with arrows gave it more meaning of being defiant as they hacked everyone, everything without remorse while laughing on a given metaphor! creating a 10-page document explaining how to treat gore in the film: these are the sorts of kills we have, these are the situations where we want to see a lot of blood, these times we don’t want to see any at all. What ended up happening is each vendor went away. Some of them adapted our 2D blood technique, some of them went with 3D particle system and others ended up shooting blood and then treating it in 2D, but the result is that none of the blood in the film looks like real blood but it looks kind of cool and stylized.

Finally, this film gives significance and respect to all those who have given their lives, as courage bequeaths who are able to stand up for many and be able to fight suppression, greed and lust for power, this will be just an understatement to what Leonidas and his soldiers have done for their country since their actions speak louder than words!

Compelling and with full of promise, Frank and Lynn certainly did instil vision from this farce, piece of history! For Zack and his team, a film brilliantly made...soldier on!