If you have the choice, you want to pick up the HD-DVD version.
The digital transfer holds up nicely. The 2.4:1 widescreen picture is mastered with the VC-1 codec and looks quite stunning. When I had originally watched "300" in the cinemas, I left feeling a slight air of disappointment at the visuals. I expected something that was pure beauty and had expected the CGI blood to nearly land in my lap. The film does not feel three dimensional, but the Blu-ray never feels overly flat. It is hard to explain, but "300" can feel both warm and cold at the same time. There aren´t any major flaws in the transfer. It holds up remarkably well. Not once could I point out a flaw in the digital transfer to the high definition format. It is just that the stylistic choices made during the creation of this film has resulted in a stylistic experience that is different from anything else you will see. It just doesn´t lend itself well to the world of high definition.
Sound:
While the visuals of "300" may not be awe-inspiring due to stylistic choices, the sound quality of the disc is superb and during the entire picture, you will find yourself wandering if a spear had just flown over your shoulder. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack provided on the Blu-ray disc is among the most dynamic tracks I´ve yet to hear on either of the high definition, next generation formats. And if the inclusion of a Dolby TrueHD track wasn´t enough, Warner has also provided an Uncompressed PCM 5.1 mix. Comparing the two, I heard very little differences. The PCM track sounded nearly identical to the Dolby TrueHD mix. In the end, I decided they were similar enough that I allowed the majority of the film to play with the TrueHD mix and simply did not switch back to the Uncompressed track. I´m sure there will be plenty of debate about these mixes, but I could hardly tell a difference. Compared to the provided Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes in English, French and Spanish, the two next-gen sound formats were marked improvements.
Any way you slice the soundtrack for "300" with a sword, you come up with a clean and powerful sounding mix. The film absolutely rises to the occasion when combat is in the air. The metallic clanking of swords clashing are sharp. The sound of flesh being slashed is clean. Lightning crashes loudly. The sound of war drums beating is deep and foreboding. Dialogue is clean and intelligible, although not many words are spoken when the blood shedding is occurring. I loved the separation between channels, but also enjoyed how fluid the channels passed information between one another. Tyler Bates musical score is eerie and haunting in adding depth to the film´s soft moments and fierce battle scenes. I have heard a few other titles that were perhaps more impressive in their soundtracks, but "300" is among the best titles when it comes to sonic performance. This disc is definitely a treat to the ears.
Extras:
We are in the middle of a format war. It is HD-DVD versus Blu-ray. One benefit of not being able to write my review prior to the street date is that I know that the Blu-ray disc outsold the HD-DVD disc by a 2-1 margin in its first week. Sadly, this is only because of the installed base of players. I´m going to tell you right now that the HD-DVD disc is easily the superior version. It contains a few incredible supplements that are completely absent on the Blu-ray release. A complete Bluescreen Picture-in-Picture Version of the film is present and shows the entire picture before the bluescreen effects were added. Some uber-cool web features are also present on the HD-DVD disc and completely absent here. I won´t spend time listing them here. John J. Puccio´s excellent review of the film does a great job of that. I for one, will be spending money to purchase the film on HD-DVD and my Blu-ray disc will sit idle.
The Blu-ray disc does contain a nice set of offerings that are also contained on the HD-DVD disc. The Audio Commentary by Director Zack Snyder, Writer Kurt Johnstad and Director of Photograhy Larry Fong is a dry commentary track that provides a good number of details on the making of the film. With three people behind the microphone, I felt the amount of white noise present in the track was a little much. It seemed the threesome were either having difficulty in having things to say or just enjoyed the show. There was a great deal of things to learn on this commentary, but I have a feeling the HD-DVD video commentary was the real deal and where Snyder put most of his efforts.
The 300 – Fact or Fiction? (24:36) is a great little feature that looks at the film´s true roots in history. A lot of time spent in this documentary finds the cast and crew discussing other films based upon the story of the three hundred Spartans and the various incarnations over time on the big screen. Discussions are made about how this was Frank Miller´s adaptation of the mythology and not intended to be fully faithful to the story. Artistic license was taken and pointed out here. Who Were the Spartans?: The Warriors of 300 (4:32) is a short look at the main characters in the film and a comparison to the real Spartans that existed in history. The interpretation of Frank Miller on Spartans is again discussed. These two supplements are provided in high definition.
After the making of footage, the "Behind the Story" supplements continue with a few smaller bits. Preparing for Battle: The Original Test Footage (6:43) is shown in high definition and a sit down with Frank Miller and the filmmakers and they discuss the rough version created to help sway the money men into greenlighting the film. The Frank Miller Tapes (14:42) discussed the graphic novel creator and his influences on the look at the film and also at his visual style. Much of this feature talks about bringing the story from print to film. Making of 300 (5:51) is a very short EPK styled making of featurette. Featuring a strong musical score and snippets from the film, it doesn´t add much that you didn´t already discover in the supplements. The last "Behind the Story" vignette, Making 300 in Images (3:40) is a time-lapsed collection of photography showing sets being built and scenes being shot. It is an interesting and extremely quick photo gallery.
The Webisodes (38:23) section contains twelve different web based episodes that were shown during the film´s production. These webisodes cover production design and wardrobing. They touch on the stunt work involved and discuss the film´s translation from the graphic novel to the big screen. Time is spent with Gerard Butler and other actors. The full experience takes nearly forty minutes and each webisode is only about three minutes long. As a whole, it is not a bad supplement, but some of the individual pieces feel overly short. This is easily the best making-of feature on the Blu-ray disc, but doesn´t quite make up for the missing material contained on the HD-DVD title. Under "Additional Footage," some Deleted Scenes (3:23) with introductions by the film´s director are included. There are only three scenes and they are short. I enjoyed them though. They didn´t deserve to be kept in the film, but it was additional material for this interesting picture.
Closing Comments:
"300" is an intriguing film. I was overly disappointed with the film after seeing it in theaters. However, the picture has grown on me after watching it a second time on Blu-ray. The visual style of the film is unique and although it doesn´t necessarily create jaw-dropping visuals on Blu-ray, it is a technically sound transfer. The soundtrack, however, is very impressive. This easily ranks among my top five Blu-ray titles in the sound department. Where the Blu-ray disc stumbles greatly is in the list of Supplements. The HD-DVD release is a true next generation experience with a unique video commentary and groundbreaking web-based content. The Blu-ray release only receives high definition versions of the same supplements contained on the special edition DVD release. If you have the choice, you want to pick up the HD-DVD version. However, if you only possess a Blu-ray player, then this isn´t a bad title to add to your collection.
Sound:
While the visuals of "300" may not be awe-inspiring due to stylistic choices, the sound quality of the disc is superb and during the entire picture, you will find yourself wandering if a spear had just flown over your shoulder. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack provided on the Blu-ray disc is among the most dynamic tracks I´ve yet to hear on either of the high definition, next generation formats. And if the inclusion of a Dolby TrueHD track wasn´t enough, Warner has also provided an Uncompressed PCM 5.1 mix. Comparing the two, I heard very little differences. The PCM track sounded nearly identical to the Dolby TrueHD mix. In the end, I decided they were similar enough that I allowed the majority of the film to play with the TrueHD mix and simply did not switch back to the Uncompressed track. I´m sure there will be plenty of debate about these mixes, but I could hardly tell a difference. Compared to the provided Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes in English, French and Spanish, the two next-gen sound formats were marked improvements.
Any way you slice the soundtrack for "300" with a sword, you come up with a clean and powerful sounding mix. The film absolutely rises to the occasion when combat is in the air. The metallic clanking of swords clashing are sharp. The sound of flesh being slashed is clean. Lightning crashes loudly. The sound of war drums beating is deep and foreboding. Dialogue is clean and intelligible, although not many words are spoken when the blood shedding is occurring. I loved the separation between channels, but also enjoyed how fluid the channels passed information between one another. Tyler Bates musical score is eerie and haunting in adding depth to the film´s soft moments and fierce battle scenes. I have heard a few other titles that were perhaps more impressive in their soundtracks, but "300" is among the best titles when it comes to sonic performance. This disc is definitely a treat to the ears.
Extras:
We are in the middle of a format war. It is HD-DVD versus Blu-ray. One benefit of not being able to write my review prior to the street date is that I know that the Blu-ray disc outsold the HD-DVD disc by a 2-1 margin in its first week. Sadly, this is only because of the installed base of players. I´m going to tell you right now that the HD-DVD disc is easily the superior version. It contains a few incredible supplements that are completely absent on the Blu-ray release. A complete Bluescreen Picture-in-Picture Version of the film is present and shows the entire picture before the bluescreen effects were added. Some uber-cool web features are also present on the HD-DVD disc and completely absent here. I won´t spend time listing them here. John J. Puccio´s excellent review of the film does a great job of that. I for one, will be spending money to purchase the film on HD-DVD and my Blu-ray disc will sit idle.
The Blu-ray disc does contain a nice set of offerings that are also contained on the HD-DVD disc. The Audio Commentary by Director Zack Snyder, Writer Kurt Johnstad and Director of Photograhy Larry Fong is a dry commentary track that provides a good number of details on the making of the film. With three people behind the microphone, I felt the amount of white noise present in the track was a little much. It seemed the threesome were either having difficulty in having things to say or just enjoyed the show. There was a great deal of things to learn on this commentary, but I have a feeling the HD-DVD video commentary was the real deal and where Snyder put most of his efforts.
The 300 – Fact or Fiction? (24:36) is a great little feature that looks at the film´s true roots in history. A lot of time spent in this documentary finds the cast and crew discussing other films based upon the story of the three hundred Spartans and the various incarnations over time on the big screen. Discussions are made about how this was Frank Miller´s adaptation of the mythology and not intended to be fully faithful to the story. Artistic license was taken and pointed out here. Who Were the Spartans?: The Warriors of 300 (4:32) is a short look at the main characters in the film and a comparison to the real Spartans that existed in history. The interpretation of Frank Miller on Spartans is again discussed. These two supplements are provided in high definition.
After the making of footage, the "Behind the Story" supplements continue with a few smaller bits. Preparing for Battle: The Original Test Footage (6:43) is shown in high definition and a sit down with Frank Miller and the filmmakers and they discuss the rough version created to help sway the money men into greenlighting the film. The Frank Miller Tapes (14:42) discussed the graphic novel creator and his influences on the look at the film and also at his visual style. Much of this feature talks about bringing the story from print to film. Making of 300 (5:51) is a very short EPK styled making of featurette. Featuring a strong musical score and snippets from the film, it doesn´t add much that you didn´t already discover in the supplements. The last "Behind the Story" vignette, Making 300 in Images (3:40) is a time-lapsed collection of photography showing sets being built and scenes being shot. It is an interesting and extremely quick photo gallery.
The Webisodes (38:23) section contains twelve different web based episodes that were shown during the film´s production. These webisodes cover production design and wardrobing. They touch on the stunt work involved and discuss the film´s translation from the graphic novel to the big screen. Time is spent with Gerard Butler and other actors. The full experience takes nearly forty minutes and each webisode is only about three minutes long. As a whole, it is not a bad supplement, but some of the individual pieces feel overly short. This is easily the best making-of feature on the Blu-ray disc, but doesn´t quite make up for the missing material contained on the HD-DVD title. Under "Additional Footage," some Deleted Scenes (3:23) with introductions by the film´s director are included. There are only three scenes and they are short. I enjoyed them though. They didn´t deserve to be kept in the film, but it was additional material for this interesting picture.
Closing Comments:
"300" is an intriguing film. I was overly disappointed with the film after seeing it in theaters. However, the picture has grown on me after watching it a second time on Blu-ray. The visual style of the film is unique and although it doesn´t necessarily create jaw-dropping visuals on Blu-ray, it is a technically sound transfer. The soundtrack, however, is very impressive. This easily ranks among my top five Blu-ray titles in the sound department. Where the Blu-ray disc stumbles greatly is in the list of Supplements. The HD-DVD release is a true next generation experience with a unique video commentary and groundbreaking web-based content. The Blu-ray release only receives high definition versions of the same supplements contained on the special edition DVD release. If you have the choice, you want to pick up the HD-DVD version. However, if you only possess a Blu-ray player, then this isn´t a bad title to add to your collection.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]21295[/release]