Visually stunning, but not a wholesome experience

Rating: 5/10 (17 April 2007)

300 is an entertaining film. So let's start with the good.
The visual style of this film is unlike anything witnessed in cinema before. Every frame is a work of art, and at any point in the movie, you could freeze it and hang it on a wall in a museum. Even simple scenes of conversations between characters feature excellent cinematography. Battle scenes (which make a good portion of the film) inspire awe and adrenaline. The almost inhuman strength and skill of the Spartans is dramatic and sweeping. They are almost God-like in nature when in a fight. If you have any appreciation for good choreography, the battle scenes in this are quite amazing.
Unfortunately, every other part of 300 is less than stellar. The characters one dimensional, emotionless people. The story is older than dirt, and the way its told is fairly boring. The entire plot is predictable to a fault. Cheesy dialog and lack of any real humor doesn't soften up the movie's blindingly strong and pointless pace. The music is standard run-of- the-mill epic movie music complete with "oh so cool" electric guitar riffs.
This is definitely a crowd pleaser and if you're looking for some crazy fight scenes and a sappy (but weak) love story so your girl can tag along, 300 is a good flick. But aside from raping the box office (thanks to Frank Miller's name all over every piece of advertising for the film), 300 will not be remembered the way the true Spartans were.