In early 2007 , I toured Ellis Island with a chemical group of Canadian middle schoolers . ( Do n’t necessitate why . ) As we waited for the ferry , the fry would n’t stop attacking one another with tree branches and screaming about Sparta . When I asked what was up , they regaled me with the tale of Leonidas I and the Battle of Thermopylae .

An unwritten tradition nearly 2,500 eld old continued with boundless excitement on that bright , cold day . shortly thereafter , I buy a just the ticket to Zack Snyder ’s masterpiece300and realize that those young men ( potential brave warrior of the North , the lot of them ) were right-hand . The motion-picture show kicked ass and , more importantly , commute picture show incessantly . Nine years later on , it ’s even clearer how influential this picture truly was .

Just twenty-four hours from the premiere of Zack Snyder ’s a la mode , Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice , we already know that fans of DC ’s grimdark style will be the unfeigned victors . critic , on the other deal , seem ready to treat this a la mode accounting entry worse than Superboy - Prime care for Thanagar ( i.e. , not full ) . I remain ever affirmative . I know Zack Snyder is n’t some hacky vid - bro only right for makingEuropean tiffin meat commercials with Sylvester Stallone . He is an auteur , and his best work,300 , should earn him your unending esteem . And even if you do n’t like it , you have to live with that300didn’t just change movies , it may have change the world . Here ’s why :

300 movie still

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300introduced us to virtual studios

300was subversive for its concluded consumption of blue and greenish screen door . The decision not to shoot on location , between the Spercheios River and Maliakos Gulf , but rather in a magnanimous , empty room in Montreal , was n’t just foraccess to insipid beigel . Doing aside with realism helped Snyder emulate the original funny - book control board instance by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley . The output company ’s name , Virtual Studios , may have just been a coincidence ( green screen were conspicuously absent in other notable 2007 releases , such as Woody Allen’sCassandra ’s Dreamand the Emma Roberts vehicleNancy Drew ) , but at the time , take care a naturalistic - but - not - quite - real environment was fresh and innovative .

Snyder and his cinematographer , Larry Fong , expire nuts hyperbolize the food grain , blast out colour , and popularizing the now avowedly overused proficiency of letting shots spin down to slo - mo , then ramp up back up again once someone ’s been slugged in the fount . The " tale handed through time " concept allowed for this more dreamlike style , and the only things in the flick that were really ground were tactile objects like helmets , swords , and the unbelievable six - packs of all those Spartan soldier . Snyder was n’t the first to shoot a feature with this aesthetic ( we ’ll always sleep together you , Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ) , but his film was the one that landed , and still resonates .

The cast was ridiculously stacked

Admittedly , it ’s a tad ridiculous to believe about these obscenely caramel brown , barely clothed men shouting at one another in a Canadian storage unit . At the time , the roll were a great deal of unknowns – but see again , and you ’ll find that one of the most maniac warriors with the tiniest of loincloths is none other than two - time Academy Award candidate Michael Fassbender . ( He ’s the one who , along with King Leonidas , pulls the Hellenic interlingual rendition of the ol’Statue of Liberty Playto kill one of Xerxes ' generals . )

King Leonidas , of course , was played by Gerard Butler , whose career course has n’t been quite as noble , but at least he keeps busy . Right before300he was inThe Phantom of the Opera , which means he was very accustomed to shouting . The sleazy pol was played by Dominic West , thus making300the first in a very foresightful serial of cinema where audiences would turn to each other and say , " Wait , Jimmy McNultyis ENGLISH ? ! " And Lena Headey first catch mass attending as Queen Gorgo ; since then , she ’s appeared in no famine of fanboys ' regal fantasy as Cersei Lannister onGame of Thrones . We ’re not read all these actors owe their whole careers to300 , but what other pic would have have them sashay their poppycock in such a provocative , half - au naturel manner at a such a clutch moment in their inchoate vocation ?

“Remember this day, for it will be yours for all time!”

We did n’t know it back then , but March 2007 was a meter of great change . Two tremendous pa - cultivation shifts were pass off , and300was there to capitalize on both . unforesightful critics tried to shoo off away Snyder ’s brilliance bycomparingittoavideogame . They were n’t wrong , they just did n’t realise this was part of the illusion .

The so - called seventh coevals of TV - game console table ( Sony ’s PlayStation 3 , Microsoft ’s Xbox 360 , and Nintendo ’s Wii ) had been in the marketplace for around three and a half months and were radically changing the face of gaming . Not long after300 ’s success at the box authority , Halo 3 ’s gargantuan first step ( $ 170 million on its first solar day ) meant that even Montgomery Burns eccentric were calling their brokers and asking , " Tell me , what is a joystick ? "

The point is , no one could make TV game were just for twerps in their basement . We all play them and we all knew them , so we all gasped when a conflict sequence an time of day into300broke with cinematic formula to become roughshod , beautiful footage of a side scroller . Take a step back , and you ’ll realize the serial publication of sports meeting - ups between Leonidas and Xerxes ' minions prior to their eventual showdown is fundamentally a string of incremental boss battles .

I

But it was n’t just video games that made March 2007 a time of glory that warriors will sing about for eons hence.300isn’t a superhero movie in the distinctive signified , but it is a comic - book movie , and I say unto you that its success help ground the pump for the Marvel juggernaut and ecumenical " the oddball have taken over " narrative that has been enjoy some and depressing others for years . Yes , yes , X - Menwas already a hit andBatman Beginshad been taken very seriously ( wait , comic books can be foradults ? ) , but300 ’s winner was a forward line of approach ; our tentpoles were coming from funny Scripture now .

The movie crystallized a new era of American politics

300hit theatre just after President George W. Bush announced his call for a flock surge in Iraq . The vibe at the sentence was bleak . So the release of a jingoistic action - adventure mental picture with lots of nerveless , slo - second muscle men butcher thousands of nighttime - skin , hemipteran - eyed crazies was obviously go to raise some questions alongside Bush government propaganda about " sinner . "

From its first showing at the Berlin Film Festival through its successful opening weekend , Zack Snyder importune his moving picture wasapolitical , or at least not a commentary about current events . It ’s quite potential that he was assure the truth , but the rake that was slop in this digital Thermopylae seeped into our collective grime . Unlike Paul Verhoeven’sStarship Troopers , a fascist filmwell mindful of its ethosand mould within those rule for the higher purpose of satire,300doesn’t deal in refinement or subtext . These are warriors , there is a crisis , and they are survive to do things theright way . ( If Leonidas made compromises like those " boy lovers " in Athens , we ’d all be speaking Persian right now . )

300doesn’t just impersonate a harsh , militaristic populace in which babies bear with defect are hurled into a pit to die , it celebrates it . King Leonidas and his men engage in low talk of the town as they thrust the battle - wound with spears – there ’s no humane captive - pickings happening here . When Leonidas see the deformed Ephialtes , who wants nothing more than to help the Spartans in conflict , he hit him with microaggressions : you seem like a decent cat , you may peradventure fetch us water , but there ’s no style you may fight . The Spartans win because of their phalanx formation . Ephialtes ' deformity literally wo n’t fit in . Sorry , Ephialtes , there ’s the door : we ’re Making Sparta Great Again .

Soldiers being epically kicked off a ledge in 300 the movie

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For a moment,300head - fakes that Ephialtes will somehow save the day , and both he and King Leonidas will feel redemption through victory . But no . Ephialtes turns traitor and side with Xerxes . We in the audience , groomed as we are on wussified Hollywood motion-picture show , might suppose , " Who can blame him ? " but part of what makes300so impress is that by the end , he is served up as a weasel and villain .

This unembarrassed , unashamed rejection of good gustation in the service of " getting it done " is exactly what Trump supporters froth about when they cry , " We do n’t win anymore ! " and blame so - squall political correctness . They hallucinate visions of Xerxes ' ships at our shores and warfare - beasts thunder across our borders , and , perhaps thanks to a few later - dark viewings of300 , know that only a ruthless figure who make no excuse for his triumph can protect us .

It ’s a bit of a stretch , I know , to give Zack Snyder total credit for electing the next president and terminate the humanity ( if I may anticipate ) , but not evenPattonpresented such a hagiographic portrait of the ends justify the means . And for sure not in such a badass manner .

Fassbender smiling really creepily in 300 the movie

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300as the most influential movie of the new century ? Let ’s hope history does n’t reprise itself .

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Villains fighting in 300 movie

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Villain in 300 Movie

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Angry people in 300 movie

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