review: 300 (Blu-ray)

Warner Home Video  //  Buy from Amazon.com Sin City author Frank Miller's sweeping take on the historic Battle of Thermopylae comes to the screen courtesy of Dawn of the Dead director Zack Snyder. Gerard Butler stars as Spartan King Leonidas and Lena Headey plays Queen Gorgo. The massive army of the Persian Empire is sweeping across the globe, crushing every force that dares stand in its path. When a Persian envoy arrives in Sparta offering King Leonidas power over all of Greece if he will only bow to the will of the all powerful Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), the strong-willed leader assembles a small army comprised of his empire's best fighters and marches off to battle. Though they have virtually no hope of defeating Xerxes' intimidating battalion, Leonidas' men soldier on, intent on letting it be known they will bow to no man but their king. Meanwhile, back in Sparta, the loyal Queen Gorgo attempts to convince both the skeptical council and the devious Theron (Dominic West) to send more troops despite the fact that many view Leonidas' unsanctioned war march as a serious transgression. As Xerxes' fearsome "immortals" draw near, a few noble Greeks vow to assist the Spartans on the battlefield. When King Leonidas and his 300 Spartan warriors fell to the overwhelming Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, the fearless actions of the noble fighters inspired all of Greece to stand up against their Persian enemy and wage the battle that would ultimately give birth to the modern concept of democracy Despite the fact that the trailers had me salivating & forgetting to blink, I didn't get the chance to see "300" in theatres (young kids at home, tough to steal away at night to go see a movie.) As the DVD/Blu-ray release date for this film loomed, I decided to take the plunge and dive into Blu-ray, as I wanted to make sure I could see this amazing film with its amazing cinematography on the first day it was available to be seen, at home, in HD. So I did, it was, and I loved it. Once I was able to collect my thoughts after the first (of several thus far) viewing, the best summation I could come up with was "every scene is like a painting" - literally, every single scene (if not every frame) was like a high-definition painting... No surprise, given that every scene (save for 1) was shot against a green screen and was then superimposed into CG-created backdrops, but the style and flair with which director Zach Snyder crafted this epic film is truly original, mesmerizing and visually addictive. I found myself aching for this hyper-realistic style when I watched some other HD movie afterwards - the best compliment I could give this film is that it made "regular" HD look plain & boring. Damn. "This is Sparta!" has already become a rallying cry for me & my (mostly male) co-workers, and this film is an adrenalin-fueled action spectacular painted by computer and delivered via the magic of Blu-ray. Hands-down, the best looking film I have ever seen, and a damn fun ride to boot. Video The uber-stylized and hyper-realistic cinematography of this amazing film is presented in razor-sharp detail for this Blu-ray release. Given a 1080p transfer, the 2.40:1 aspect ratio perfectly delivers this perfect film in perfect fashion, with not even a single artifact, imperfection or blemish to take away from the jaw-dropping vieiwng experience. Absolutely reference quality! Audio With a Dolby True HD lossless soundtrack, it would be a tremendous understatement to say that the soundtrack is booming or immersive - despite the fact that I had my receiver turned (relatively) low to review at night while my kids slept, the battle sequences rattled the walls so loudly that my 4-year-old was woken up. I couldn't help but grin... Extras Many extras, and nearly all are 1080p HD quality themselves! audio commentary w/ director, cinematographer & writer "The 300: Fact or Fiction" featurette "Who Were the Spartans" featurette "Preparing for Battle" original test footage "Frank Miller Tapes" featurette making-of featurette webisodes deleted scenes Closing Thoughts Best film of 2007 in HD quality + tons o' fascinating extras = MUST OWN!!