300 is a meal without calories

Rating: 3/10 (31 May 2008)

It's not that I totally dislike the film. Give the CGI its due, some of the scenes are brilliantly conceived and rendered, and it's hard not to want to watch this sort of imagery. But every movie must be grounded both in visual aesthetics as well as plot & substance for one to feel as if they have had a " cinematic meal". 300 did not give me indigestion as much as it leaves me feeling empty and unfulfilled.
The story plays out in a slow mendacious fashion which creates a growing impatience as the minutes tick away sans plot. It seems that the director had a great movie in his mind and he throws out all of the visual stops to tell his story. But he lacks a plot around which to seamlessly move his characters. Hence a very nice scene at the end in which the dead Leonidies roams a golden field of wheat with his wife and son comes off more as a rip off from Gladiator than as a poignant, culminating moment. Once again, some very appealing visuals, but by the time you get to the end, you can't wait to get out as even the battle scenes grow mundane.