A collection bigger than the Persian army
There is little doubt that you have heard of the movie 300. It was first a Frank Miller classic and now it resides as a Zack Snyder masterpiece. Haven’t seen it? Here’s what to expect.
King Leonidas, as Sparta, are threatened by Persian invasion. He must gather as many troops as he can to ward off the tens of thousands Persians trying to tear down his land. Persia has everything they need in the mix to equal complete domination. Leonidas and his Spartans don’t believe in backing down, so unlike everyone else, he collects his 300 men and fights off the armies of Persia. Using strategy, strength and wit, he ends up almost pulling off the impossible.
Simple to the bone and carrying what could be considered the biggest ‘brass balls’ in the history of action films, 300 is unique to the bone. Gerard Butler’s screaming can still be heard and the shear amount of manliness of the movie makes you want to scream yourself. I personally wouldn’t scream, “Tonight we dine in HELL!” at Thanksgiving time, but it would make one more manlier. Anyway, getting back on topic, the movie pays complete homage to Frank Miller’s work and keeps it intact. Miller keeps his work close to him, so picking Snyder to direct it took quite a bit of convincing. Thankfully, everything that Miller brought to the story, made it to the film.
The only griping that you could possibly do about 300 is the historical accuracy is slightly exaggerated. Honestly, I would rather be entertained than informed. If I can get both, as you can do in this movie, then I’m golden. And guess what? I’m golden.
Now, what’s really impressive about the film is how it was shot. Mostly shot on a bluescreen in a soundstage, the look and raw feel to the feature lends an eery environment where only a tough man lives. Again, not to keep harping on this,300 shines very brightly in the manliness department. There’s nothing un-tough about the film, even the way it was shot. Snyder’s vision, or rather translation of Miller’s tale can be compared to the likes of another Miller book, Sin City. It’s nearly perfect and it feels very much right. Because of Snyder’s attention to detail and his new way to bring the epic scale of the story to a small location for shooting, this probably earned him the spot for Watchmen.
So what should you expect? Expect drama, expect power from Butler and his men, expect a lot of emotionally drive slow motion scenes of violence (take that Michael Bay!) and expect to be entertained from beginning to end. Also, expect one helluva narrator (one of the soldiers, great voice for the movie).
Collector’s Edition indeed
Now, from the photos that Warner Brothers posted in their press release, I really couldn’t tell the scale of the Collector’s Edition box. It seemed big, but how cool could it actually be? Very damn cool. The box is gorgeous! I’ve never been so honored to put such a delight on our DVD shelves at work. It’s stylish, like a giant box of Godiva candy… if it had a canister of whoop-ass inside. The box holds two pieces. The first piece is a hardback photo gallery book, with the two DVDs at the front of the book and a bonus DVD in the back. Now, there’s nothing new on the first DVD, as it still has some old advertisements from the original release attached, but the gorgeous gallery of photos make it seem special. The rectangular shape of the book lends a lot of praise to how the Miller’s tale was presented (epic pictures in rectangular fashion). There’s all sorts of cool things inside the picture gallery.
As for the second package, you get a 3-D motion captured picture card that has Leonidas throwing his spear towards the Persian God/Prince/King. It’s incased in a large piece of plastic and very neat for putting somewhere or keeping safe. Again, it’s damn cool for the packaging. Also, you get a package of cards with the set that have different characters and different quotes. I’m sure someone will use one as a post card, as I am thinking about sending my grandmother the “Spartans! Tonight we dine in hell!” card for a Thanksgiving invite. She would probably get a kick out of it. The cards are glossy and just very nicely done. Kudos to Warner Brothers!
As for the content on the discs, here’s what you’re looking at:
Disc One
– Commentary
Disc Two
– The 300 – Fact or Fiction? –
– Who Were The Spartans: The Warriors of 300
– Frank Miller Tapes
– Making of 300
– Making 300 in Images
– Webisodes
– Production Design
– Wardrobe
– Stunt Work
– LenaHeadey
– Adapting The Graphic Novel
– Gerard Butler
– Rodrigo Santoro
– Training The Actors
– Culture of The Sparta City/State
– A Glimpse from the Set: Making 300 the Movie
– Scene Studies from 300
– Fantastic Characters of 300
Disc Three (New stuff)
– To The Hot Gates: A Legend Retold –
– Bonus Digital Copy of the film
So, you still get all the features from the original DVD release, but now you have a couple of more to add. The To The Hot Gates feature is neat. I also have to mention, like I’ve done before, how valuable I think it is that there is a digital copy of the film included. For such a nice collection, it’s nicer when people don’t have to touch the DVD too often (or if you have kids who like throwing DVDs everywhere). It may not take care of piracy either, but it helps I’m sure.
So is it worth it?
Honestly, outside of it being on Blu-ray, I think this is as good as it gets when it comes to having a copy of 300 in the household. It makes you proud to own the movie, and proud to bare witness to 300 men struggling to be badasses against an overpowering opponent. I think that the packaging alone will call your name and make you happy you own the collector’s edition of the film. The small amount of perks come in such stylish fashion that you’ll wonder why most studios don’t lend so much love to their popular films, like Warner Brother’s has. Though you could find it cheaper I’m sure, $49.98 isn’t bad for such a nice set of collectibles.