Beautifully done !

Rating: 9/10 (4 April 2007)

This movie is as good as the positive comments suggest. Sure, there was some artistic license used with the movie - but - it can be attributed to the way in which the film is laid out. It starts (and finishes) as a Captain regaling the tale of King Leonidas to his troops - so it's meant to be a tale of glory and inspiration to motivate his own men into battle. After all, if 300 Spartans could stand against the Persians - surely his 1000's should have nothing to fear? As noted by someone else, "foreign" things to the Spartans such as the Rhino and the Elephant, the Immortals etc would appear to be different than "we" would expect as this is a something the Spartans have never seen before, and again - it's a tale being told by one man to motivate his troops. Would King Leonidas be so great if the tale teller were to say that he fought "not so fierce animals that were 3 foot tall"? No.
I didn't know anything about the movie or the history before going to see it - and was surprised how much is actually historically accurate. The parts that weren't I put down to Dilios' rendition of the story for his men. I won't ruin the movie any further by saying what was "fact" but it's good to realise that the Spartans didn't actually write anything down so there isn't a lot of historical data from Sparta itself - but other nations "took notes".
Visually I thought it was awesome. I loved the look and feel of the movie. My ever-the-critic husband didn't even notice the overall finish of the movie, he was so drawn in by the story, the slow motion scenes and acknowledging the choreography. Casting I thought was great... (bien sur! I am Scottish and a girl!) ... and I thought it knocked the socks off Gladiator. A colleague of mine just argued with me - he thinks Braveheart and Gladiator were far superior movies. *sigh* Braveheart. Where do you start with that movie? And Gladiator I enjoyed, but then again it was Spartacus in sexier loin cloths without the pinnacle "I'M SPARTACUS!!!!" moment. ;D Finally, for me, the soundtrack added to the experience rather than take away from it. I barely noticed it as it blended in with the visuals so well, accenting the experience.
Great stuff. People who think it's racist etc... please. This is, literally, ancient history. Perhaps you should google "Thermopylae" and learn something.