The story of the 300 Spartan soldiers led by their King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) defend their land an army of thousands of Persian invaders at the height of Greek Civilization as King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) conquered much of the known world. Meanwhile back home in Sparta the Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) tries to gain the senates approval to provide troops to support the 300 Spartan soldiers that are fighting to protect their freedom and land. ***

A well made action adventure film based on Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's graphic novel of the same name, Zack Snyder manages to create a digital graphic novel in his presentation of the same material. Well made with powerful performances, "300" has one major flaw-a lack of character development. Certainly the film is indebted to Ridley Scott's stylish "Gladiator" (which was no doubt influenced by Miller's graphic novel as well) but the film still has its own personality. Visually the film is beautifully realized and is a marvelous thrill ride with sequences of violence that border on pornography at times. Anybody expecting a historical epic true to what really occurred will be disappointed but the "300" is darn entertaining.

Image & Sound:

A marvelous transfer that captures the rich epic look of the original theatrical version, "300" has plenty of digital grain which is quite intentional and is used as part of the texture and look of the film. Colors are bold where appropriate almost stylized, again recalling Miller and Varley's rich, colorful graphic novel. Audio sounds marvelous with a very active 5.1 mix that has lots of activity in the surround speakers that will put you in the center of the action.

The commentary track by Director Zack Snyder, Writer Kurt Johnstad and Director of Photography Larry Fong is probably the least inspired extra on the set. Snyder, Johnstad and Fong point out the obvious for the most part. They do occasionally discuss ideas lifted from other films and from history but for the most part it's a pretty sedate commentary track. I found that I was constantly switching between the dialogue track and the commentary track because, well, I found the discussion to be pretty boring. ***

"The 300: Fact or Fiction" features historian Dr. Richard Victor Hanson, Classics Professor Bethany Hughes, graphic novelist Miller, director Snyder, actor Butler and others discussing the facts that are known about the real event and the historical context of Leonidas' defense of Sparta and, in a sense, all of Greece (at least metaphorically). They also discuss lines of dialogue drawn from Greek literature of the event and also the fighting style presented in the film. What's known about the Spartans is that they were a warrior culture that valued both physical and mental prowess forcing their male children to undergo rigorous training that created the ultimate warrior who could just as easily goad his enemy with wit as he could kill him with brute force. ***

"Who Were the Spartans?" focuses on the warriors themselves and how they defined themselves within their culture. Miller discusses how he tried to portray how the Spartans appeared in their artwork in battle. Although not much is known about their fighting style, the little that is known combined with a modern sensibility make the film very visually appealing. How can warriors work on their skills and fight all the time? They had servants that did their farming allowing the warrior caste to practice their skills. Bethany Hughes suggests in this featurette that in many respects the Spartans were almost communist like in their belief in equality among each other. While that might be a bit of hyperbole certainly some of it is true. ***

"Frank Miller Tapes" features editors/writers/creators of comic books and graphic novels discussing Miller's impact on the art form. It's a nice tribute to Miller by his friends and colleagues. Miller discusses his beginning in the industry, his mentor Neal Adams discusses his development. Miller also recognizes his other mentor Will Eisner ("The Spirit") and what he learned from him in terms of storytelling. ***

We also get a "Making of" featurette that focuses on how Snyder and his crew managed to create such a visually stunning epic on very little money with almost the entire film shot on a soundstage. Most of the outdoor scenes were created using background plates shot for the film that digitally integrated with the studio footage and enhanced. "Making 300 in Images" are exactly that 300 still images put together created a montage of the activity that went on in creating the film. It's a novel glimpse into the production of the film. ***

We also get deleted scenes with introductions by Zack Snyder. The scenes are complete or nearly complete in terms of the backgrounds and visual effects for the sequences so they could have been reintegrated into the film. Snyder makes a good case for keeping them out of the film as he feels that most of the scenes cut either slowed the pacing or become too outrageous. ***

We also six of the webisodes carried over from the website while the film was in production and post-production. Primarily consisting of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, some of this material also makes its way into the other extras on the second disc. Lena Headey isn't included all that much in most of the extras so it's nice to have the Webisodes since she gets a chance to discuss her character and the making of the film from her perspective. ---

Final Words:

An entertaining adventure epic that borrows from history but puts enough fiction into the mix to keep it as entertaining and over-the-top as possible, "300" will please the fan-boys that read Miller and Varley's original graphic novel and even those totally unfamiliar with the book. The extras (and the film itself) may entice viewers to check out some of Miller's other works as well. ***

I'm not sure if the HD-DVD/DVD combo format will have all the same features as the Blu-Ray edition and I should note that the review of the extras are based on the DVD extras included on the second disc of the standard DVD edition. The Blu-Ray and HD-DVD editions will utilize the same high definition transfer encoded for the appropriate format.