300 (Film)

An incredibly faithful adaptation of the comic book mini-series by Frank Miller. While I found this to be much more watchable than the previous movie adaptation of Miller's Sin City, I still feel there are times when what really works on the printed page, a two dimensional environment, does not always translate successfully to the moving world of cinema. I do feel that this film represents the future of spectacle film making on a budget as a vast majority of the film was shot on a stage in front of large green screens with the background to be added in later. As impressive as the film looked, it still had that odd sheen of digital perfection. In fact, I would say the biggest gripe I had of the film was how pristine the film looked. As grimy and sweat covered everything was, it all looked as if was a hair from being over art directed. I can't help but wonder how this film would have looked if they actually filmed on location. Minor quibbles aside, I give this spartan epic a B.