A highly stylised, very violent epic ...

Rating: Null/10 (31 March 2007)

I saw this in the cinema on Tuesday, as you guessed, cause of hype. You couldn't turn a corner without seeing the poster on some bus passing by, and with the trailers being shown nearly every ad break on the telly together with the fact that there was nothing else showing that interested me, I decided to buy a ticket and I didn't regret it.
King Leonidas is born to fight, and feels it's his destiny to lead 300 Spartans to battle with the Persians - cue the gruesome bloody fights as the 300 men fight for their country, regardless of being so small in number when compared to their enemies.
The extensive use of CG(which is amazingly done, like the sequences with arrows shooting through the air) and slow-mo shots ads to the comic-book and stylised feel of the film, seeing as it's based on a graphic novel I've not read but who also wrote Sin City which I also saw nearly 2 years ago and enjoyed.
There are some shocks along the way as certain characters do the unexpected things. You really get into it when watching, fully behind the King's army, hoping for victory. Gerard Way gives a great performance as the main character Leonidas, and the supporting actors also hold their own.
OK, it does look like an 18-rated high-end violent next generation video game, and may seem like a very masculine film, with the war cries and very toned soldiers, but this film has a deeper message than any superficial stuff - it's quite inspiring in a way, to think that these men, against all odds risked their lives for freedom.
Overall, it does contain some funny lines that are shouted by it's main character("Tonight, we dine in hell!") but this is good, being a visual feast and not completely daft.