Book Review: 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE THE ART OF THE FILM

Author: Peter Aperlo                                          Film Pulse Score: 8.5/10

Anytime a film is released that focuses heavily on the visual style, there’s inevitably and art book to accompany it.  Such is the case with the upcoming release of 300: Rise of an Empire.  Fortunately, this art book got the Titan treatment and the end result is a fantastic looking hardback coffee table book that is most assuredly more enjoyable to look at than the movie itself. 

Housed within its 160 pages are just about anything and everything one could want to know about Frank Miller’s not-quite historically accurate tale of blood and power.

The level of detail is astounding, and ranges from giant double page spreads of some of the breathtaking sets, to production stills and interviews with the filmmakers and producer Zack Snyder.  There’s also plenty of stills from the film, concept designs, storyboards, and plenty of plot information about the movie.

However the film may turn out from a critical perspective, one thing is for sure, it will look good and that’s what this book highlights.  The elaborate set pieces and costuming, and of course, the epic battles are all pictured in a glorious high-quality finish.

With an MSRP of $34.95 however, this is a book that will only appeal to die-hard fans of the films.  With some art books, one can marvel at the designs even if they aren’t the biggest fan of the movie, but I can’t see any crossover happening here.

Some of the more interesting pieces in the book come in the form of the behind the scenes photos.  I knew nearly everything in the film would be CG, but had no idea almost everything, including the water, is computer generated.  These production stills prove to be far more appealing than the bevy of film stills, and are placed nicely within the chronological flow of the book.

There’s a foreward written by director Noam Murro and an afterward written by producer and director of the previous film Zack Snyder which are nice little additions that say “Hey, we made this movie and we approve this book.”

If you were a fan of the first 300 and can’t wait to see the sequel, this is the book for you.  It contains everything you could ever want to know about Rise of an Empire and looks pretty damn cool on your coffee table as well.  This would make a good companion to the original graphic novels, which sadly don’t make an appearance anywhere within the book, as it would be cool to see some of those side by side comparisons, but it’s still worth checking out nonetheless.