Thoroughly nasty little film

Rating: 1/10 (24 March 2007)

This film is quite grotesque in many ways. Firstly, it seems pretty homophobic (Athenians are insulted as 'boy lovers') and Xerxes is portrayed as some sort of bizarre, make-up-wearing effeminate. It teeters on the brink of racism (references to "asian hordes" are pretty disturbing and there is the slight stench of fascism about the whole thing) and the enemy are dehumanised headscarf-wearers. It's a pain to watch, lots of dull, cipher characters stomping about and shouting before a load of CGI-heavy violence takes place. Tiresome, slow-motion effects are over-used, the CGI often looks fake, and the sub-plot involving the Queen is bolted on and uninteresting. Everything is a gigantic cliché. Some critics have defended the film by saying that 300 does not really take itself seriously - (but if you read some of Frank Miller's post 11/9 interviews he expresses a lot of the sentiments echoed by the characters and themes in the film). If you do choose to view it without believing it's a joke then you are confronted by a nasty, spiteful little film that rants on meaninglessly about freedom without any context. It does seem weirdly like propaganda and no doubt will be popular with the U.S military. Everyone involved with this production should be thoroughly ashamed they were involved in this visually, aurally and intellectually unpleasant little film. It must be a miserable place inside Frank Miller's head. This production contributes absolutely nothing, not one micron to the sum total of human artistic endeavour or experience. And to finish on a lighter note, how annoying was David Wenham's narration? Was his voice played backwards through a faulty tape recorder? What's that accent all about?