When Zack Snyder’s “300” was released in March 2007, no one could have possibly predicted the success it would enjoy at the box office. $456 million later and Warner Brothers still isn’t done milking the property for all its worth. It’s been just over a year since the film first became available to buy in a number of different versions (ranging from the barebones single-disc effort to the two-disc special edition that came with a Spartan helmet or Immortals mask), but that hasn’t stopped the studio from putting out yet another version just in time for the holidays.
The “300: Limited Collector’s Edition” is supposed to be the ultimate DVD release for fans of the film, but with an even bigger and better Blu-ray released scheduled for early 2009, is it really worth it? Sadly, no. Most people already own multiple versions of the movie, and the exclusive goodies included in this edition simply aren’t exclusive enough to warrant a double-dip. For starters, all of the bonus material (save for the new 30-minute documentary, “To the Hot Gates: A Legend Retold”) can be found on the original two-disc release. The new featurette is actually pretty interesting, as it covers some aspects of the film in more detail, but it should have been included the first time around. The fact that it gets its own disc only makes its appearance here even more ridiculous.
The presentation of the set itself is pretty nice (the three discs are housed inside of a 52-page hardcover art book), but the included goodies leave much to be desired. The art book is little more than an abbreviated version of 300: The Art of Film (which most diehard fans probably already have), while the “lucite display with motion film image” is essentially a glorified paper weight. Why they didn’t include the actual graphic novel in is beyond me, but that seems like something that any fan would want to own, and it would have fit perfectly inside the elongated packaging. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t the case, which only makes the “300: Limited Collector’s Edition” seem less like a must-have collector’s item and more like a shady cash grab by Warner Brothers. I thought the studios were finally done with this silly double-dipping, but apparently not.
