300
The Hound of the Baskervilles was sighted in theaters across the moors of America this weekend, as he stalked a young Spartan prince in the movie “300.” The Hound (with a capital “H”), is of course, a legendary creature and as we put no stock in such flights of fancy here in the Holmes family, I feel obliged to warn the viewing public.
Knowing the fans of my great-grandfather as well as I unfortunately do, I am sure that at least one of them will draw some connection to the legend of Sir Hugo Baskerville and claim that his lineage goes back to King Leonidas of Sparta, and that the Hound was still seeking revenge for the young Leonidas’s killing it back in 500-and-something B.C.
This, of course, has nothing to do with the movie “300,” the historical event from which it sprang, or the over-priced, hardcover, coffee-table comic book by Frank Miller upon which it is so lovingly based.
The “Hound” in the movie itself is actually a wolf. Like everything else in “300,” it is a stylized, exaggerated wolf that is more a piece of art than a record of a real thing. Like the Hound, however, what we are seeing on the screen is a legend, a legend being told by the sole survivor of the battle of the Hot Gates. It should be larger than life.
The makers of “300” do their best to make their tale a legendary tale of manly men facing their end in a manly fashion, and they succeed. It’s too violent and graphic for children, but much like Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” gave glory to those horsemen in the Crimea, so too does Zack Snyder’s film bring the glory of the Spartans to life.
For those who can tell legendary detail from historical ones, and those who have the parental approval to watch be-headings, be-armings, be-leggings, and the squirmings of a topless oracle, there’s good entertainment to be had in “300.” To everyone else, perhaps your time is better spent watching the dog in “A Bridge to Terrabithia.”
What Great-grandfather Sherlock would say:
“It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty.”
Past Investigations
An Introduction to
Mr. Sherlock Holmes IV