Overrated, but still fun

Rating: Null/10 (31 December 2007)

Clearly the most popular R-rated flick of 2007, 300 proved to be one of the biggest hits of the year as well as a definite career booster for stars Gerard Butler and Lena Headey and director Zack Snyder. In less than twelve months, the sword-and-sandals epic has already cemented a place in modern day pop culture. It's not very hard to see why the picture became a monster hit. For starters, it was based on a popular graphic novel from Frank Miller, a name that became mainstream once the Sin City movie proved golden at the box office a few years ago. Plus, the fact that R-rated action films (or any R-rated films) are getting harder and harder to come by definitely got a few more people into the theater. Perhaps the biggest reason the theaters filled up for 300 were the visuals. Visually, 300 is ground-breaking. It may look similar in some ways to Sin City, but this is much more fascinating and colorful to look at. Judging from a visual standpoint, 300 is practically perfect. Unfortunately, from a writing standpoint, there is a lot left to be desired. The changes made to Miller's graphic novel were unnecessary and mostly completely gratuitous. The dialog, whether intentional or not, is extremely cheesy, taking away any emotional impact from scenes that are supposed to be dramatic. While the ineptness of some of the writing makes for a fun viewing, it doesn't provide the audience with strong characters. That said, 300 isn't a complete failure. It's just not a particularly good movie, certainly not deserving of the 8.0 IMDb rating it currently holds, especially with all the unintentional comedy ("This is Sparta" always get a huge laugh in addition to cheers. 5/10