Romping, empty-headed fun

Rating: 6/10 (18 April 2007)

Based on the Frank Miller (he of Sin City fame) graphic novel of the same name, 300 is set in ancient Greece. An army of 300 Spartans battled with a million-trillion-bajiillion Persian hoards long enough to save their modest city of Sparta from being pillaged. A cast of no-names, led by Glaswegian gladiator Gerard Butler, carry the film through the bloody battles, but it is the gory details of the film's visceral visuals that take centre stage. With lashings of baby oil, a whole vogue catalogue full of face piercings and not a single chest hair in sight, historians will bicker about both the film's blatant inaccuracies and apparent protofascist mentality. The truth is, it is neither of those things. It is a great big dumb action-adventure story, with a very annoying voice-over narrative, and lots of sweaty men in loin-cloths hitting each other (and occasionally shouting HAA-OOOHH!). None of 300 is meant to be taken seriously, as made apparent by the blatant lack of any substance to be found in the film. It is certainly true that, once the battles stop, the film stops too. But those battles are pretty sharp all the same.