A testosterone fuelled epic

Rating: 10/10 (9 April 2007)

300 is a pinnacle film for all styles over substance. quotes are forever memorable and the way in which the film seamlessly flows makes this film easy to follow for those of you who don't want to use much brain power whilst chowing on popcorn in the cinema. the film itself is set at a dark time, the Persians are many an ugly bastard they're advantage in the war is numbers rather than skill, whereas the Spartans are the complete opposite, born and raised into fighting and death, bulging torsos and pretty permanent conservative faces. they simply annihilate anything in their path. You'll be laughing at points, not at nonsensical jokes but at how easily they trudge through any obstacle Xerxes throws at them. the fighting looks cool, especially with added effects like slow-mo which follows a certain warrior chopping up opponent after opponent. in between the fighting, you'll get scenes of pure creative interest, such as the be-header man, and all the other beasts that the Persians come up with. at home, you get a taste of the political life and the dodgy deals that went on, its these scenes which really develop the character of Leonidas' wife. overall the acting is great, each man having his place in the pack. the king of Persia, sees himself as a god and acts wonderfully at this. the way the wife of king Leonidas keeps him calm and acts as his guide is played extremely well, in most films the wife of these ancient civilisation has a pretty light role, but in this it shows how proud they are and that although the men do all the fighting, the women have their places as well. the only bad point about this film is that there isn't really all that much substance or meaning to it apart from the fact Spartans were very much the man's man. however this comes from a comic book and i don't imagine it even needed much meaning because it is in the end, a fun and violent story. A lot of historical films have a similar ending, one where the hero dies, however, in 300, its a tad bit similar but much more clever as the narrator comes in to play a very very important role. i don't want to give anymore away though. i thoroughly enjoyed this festival of a film, as did everyone else I've spoken to about it. make sure you watch it on the big screen with the big sounds because watching it on your laptop isn't going to do it justice. now I'm going to go to the gym and pump some iron.