Pretty video-gamish movie with lots of visual style but no substance

Rating: 5/10 (10 March 2007)

This is one of those movies that completely rely on visual styles to impress the audience. Unfortunately, if you can get past the eye candy, there isn't much beneath it.
It's one of the most pompously idiotic movies I've ever seen. There is almost no acting save for some over the top bellowing from the main characters. The action scenes are well done, but after a while it gets repetitive and pointless. And at times, it almost feels as if I'm watching someone play a latest Xbox 360 video game.
And somehow the movie makers decided to inject the 'fight for freedom' theme into the Spartan mind set. This obviously doesn't make any sense, since Sparta was one of the most totalitarian societies of the time. The movie makers decided to glorify one of the most ruthless societies in the history, while making a mockery of one of the greatest empires the world has known.