300: Two-Disc Special Edition
Warner Home Video

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Plenty of blockbuster movies, from Superman to the Spider-Man trilogy, have been made by taking the concept of a graphic novel or comic book, throwing out the specific plot and starting from scratch to build a new story. But the largely computer-generated live action flick 300 -- the story of the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae where 300 Spartans nearly withstood a massive Persian onslaught -- hews fairly closely to the story of Frank Miller's graphic novel, bringing his singular vision to the screen with breathtakingly fabulous results.

Director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) not only sticks closely to Miller's tale, he also draws inspiration from 300 artist Lynn Varley's sumptuous color palette to recreate the spectacular CGI visuals of the novel onscreen. The movie -- like the novel -- doesn't let reality stand in the way of telling an epic story. The attackers who oppose the courageous, chiseled Spartan warriors are not mere flesh and blood fighters, but horrific immortals, ghouls straight out of the latest Doom game, lethal rhinos -- all led by the towering, larger-than-life Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro). Recent ancient battle epics Troy and Alexander failed because they were bound by reality, while 300 combines live acting and CGI to let myth and imagination run wild.

The extras kick off with an informative, entertaining featurette, "300 Spartans: Fact or Fiction." Scholars discuss the elements of 300 that draw from facts about Spartan society -- the embrace of freedom, the relative autonomy of Spartan women, the code of war -- as well as where the filmmakers stretch the truth (as in the unlikelihood that a woman would be able to address the governing council). But as Snyder points out, Miller is not interested in what really happened, but what will make the most compelling story.

A second, shorter feature, "Who Were the Spartans?" takes a more cursory look at the historical underpinnings of Spartan warriors. "Frank Miller's Vision Realized on Film" is an overview of Miller's career as a graphic novelist from Daredevil to Sin City, drawing on commentary from some of Miller's peers in the profession as well as the artist himself. It's an intriguing look at how Miller got his start and how he developed his distinctive style, including a look at the influence on crime novels and film noir on both his aesthetic and the kind of dialogue he created for the characters in 300.

by Sam Jemielity