A beautiful and solid epic that delivers on action and spectacle.

Rating: 7/10 (2 April 2007)

A few days ago I bought the blu-ray of 300 and naturally I wanted to revisit the film that was a favourite of mine since I have seen it in the cinema. Well, younger me clearly loved it a whole lot more than older me. Read here what the thoughts of younger me were:
"300" is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen! This story based on the graphic novel is simply wonderful. The visuals are stunning. The music is great. The acting is superb. The drama is more than excellent. The action is epic. It is difficult to describe the feeling you get when you see this movie. When you look at the screen you know some things can't happen. But the way it is edited and filmed gives the impression that it is all real. "300" never gets boring! I never wanted this movie to end. It is a movie you can watch over and over again and enjoy every minute of it. This is a movie that should be playing in the theaters all the time. (Are you still here? Go rent or buy the movie already!).
While I admire younger me's enthusiasm, older me is a little more reserved. For one thing 300 does lose strength after several viewings. It is therefore not a movie you can watch over and over again without getting bored. Perhaps it is the fact that we are spoiled even more spectacle wise and that we gotten used to bigger and better. Although I have to say that some of the visuals still hold up and look mesmerizing. Especially in HD. But to be honest it is not exactly the spectacle that I am critical of. For what it offers it's solid to grand. It's more the non action scenes that pop out more than before. Of course it is understandable that the surprise factor of many of those plot related moments is diminished. However I do distinctly remember being more involved and immersed with the main characters and the odds they had to go against. A lot of the dramatic scenes now were lacking intensity. And I think it is because the films misses some memorable dialogue and stronger dynamics. Apart from the iconic quotes:
"This is Sparta!", "Tonight we dine in hell.", "A thousand nations of the Persian empire will descend upon you. Our arrows will blot out the sun! Reply from Stelios: Then we will fight in the shade."
The excellent cast hide the fact they don't have that much to say or to express. Instead of showing us we are told by narrator Dilios (played by David Wenham) what the emotions are and where our sympathies should lie. Highly effective the first few times. But now after having watched the film a couple of times the cracks are beginning to show. Is this is a bad thing? No, I don't think so. Although I had wished that 300 had a little more to offer next to the action and nice visuals. Still if you haven't seen this film yet then you will have a blast since the first time watching is splendid fun.