300 is Evocative and Beautifully Raw!

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2007)

This movie is gorgeous to behold! There is bloodshed, but that is unavoidable in a tale that pits 300 Spartans protecting their right to live as free men against a massive army of invading Persians.
The bloodletting is not so much extreme as it is relevant and poetic and stylized. Zach Snyder has portrayed this battle - which includes skewered limbs and decapitations - with an artistic grace that removes the 'cringe' factor. The spattering blood is not overdone. It is relevant and understandable. It is elemental.
I am a woman and I drank this movie in. 300 strips away all the nonsense that we are sometimes subjected to in story telling and gets to the basics. There is no foolish fluff in this movie. It is raw! Every word, move, action, look and sound is relevant. The soundtrack blends flawlessly. There is nothing to distract you from the pure beauty of the visuals and the unprocessed emotion portrayed. 300 is about strength and honor and courage and even love. I knowthe twenty something males do not want to hear that but it is true. 'My queen, my wife, my love' Remember the line.
It's as though in preparing their bodiesstripping down to raw musclethe actors stripped down to raw emotion. Every character is an unfettered archetype. King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) is all a king should be. Power, authority, responsibility, and honor pulse around him and are reflected in his blazing eyes in a way I have never seen before. I did not see Gerard Butler on the screen. I saw King Leonidas and Gerard's portrayal of him was complete and flawless and ferocious. It was compelling enough that I wanted to follow him into battle. Stelios (Michael Fassbender) is the epitome of a strong young man, full of confidence and eager to do his kings will as honorably as he can. Michael was riveting on the big screen. The Captain (Vincent Regan) exhibited such raw emotion as to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Theron (Dominic West) made my skin crawl with his seedy smile and dishonorable intentions.
The fighting sequences are astounding. I don't recall drawing a breath during the sequence that involved Stelios and Astinos (Tom Wisdom). It was amazing and the cycle involving King Leonidas surging through a throng of Persians was magnificent in its choreography and flow. It was flawlessthe perfect ballet.
In 300, Zach Snyder has presented a movie devoid of extraneous and distracting garbage. There is a purity in the visuals, a purity to the soundtrack and a purity to the acting and dialogue that absorbs you, sucks you in and leaves you feeling the two hours where but a moment. To say this movie is cinematic falls flat. Visually, 300 is stunning - a moving piece of art. My biggest disappointmentit ended. This is the first movie in all my 36 years that I will go to the theaters to see again.
As far as a message in this movieI have to agree with Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro)The message is 'Go Buy A Ticket!' and loose yourself for a short time in a beautiful, evocative, refreshingly raw movie!