A movie on the edge of greatness (SPOILERS)

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2007)

I went to see this movie the day it came out in my local cinema, today, after seeing the trailer. The trailer for the film made me think that the story line would be quite cliché as a small army battling ridiculous numbers is a very common concept, yet the fact it was connected to Frank Miiler was enough to grab my interest and the style looked good enough to win this over.
Anyway, about the film. There were many great aspects of this film which simply weren't used to their full potential. I shall start with the cons so as to get them out the way. I did not like the wolf story which matched the battle strategy of the war a little too much for my liking. One thing that struck me about this film was the rating of this film, which is a "15" here in the UK. I do know certain conditions that can be met for this certificate such you can normally get away with a flash of breasts or a particularly saucy sex scene that doesn't show everything. However, at points in this film I did start to think that this was going to become a porno. The oracle's nudity was understandable if not over-elaborate but the the amount of time overall with nudity did seem excessive. The only other real criticism was the use of slow-motion. Each individual incident with slow-motion was used rather well and at just the right time. On the other hand, I believe that it was used far more than necessary. The wave of the first few Persians is the worse part where there is what seemed like at least 5 minutes of normal speed to a slow death to another, to another, to another, etc....
Now for the good points which won back the film for me. I found that the musical score was brilliant and suited the genre and the scenes very well. When we needed to feel the rush of the battle, thats what it delivered and when we had to feel a sense of despair and loss, we got that too. Graphics and all the cgi in this film were fantastic. Absolutely state of the art and really convincing. Apart from the Persian ruler being enlarged, the graphical deaths and beautiful creatures looked really natural and in sync with the rest of the scene. The story, which as I mentioned before seemed cliché at first glance, work really well for me as it was compelling and kept you thinking about how it will really end. And I am glad that there was a moral rather than physical victory.
Finally I would like to say this film is well worth a watch if you like action films and don't mind a little excessive violence. Probably one of the best films out so far this year. I am looking forward to seeing more form Snyder.