Breathtaking but a little annoying.

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2007)

I had really high expectations on this one for several reasons, it was based on Frank Millers work, it had a very promising story, and when I saw the trailer it looked awesome (although trailers tend to always look awesome).
The movie truly was awesome, but unfortunately it made some unnecessary and annoying errors. For example, it felt totally wrong that the Persians would have ogres in their army, stick to the history as much as possible I say. The other element that bothered me was the one about good vs evil, the Persians was monsters, without human feelings, wile the Spartans was a tough but fair and democratic people. I'm sure that in the reality it wasn't that black and white. For example, although the Spartans truly were democratic, only 14 % of the people could actually vote. Also, I think that the film could have tried to avoid some of the worst clichés.
One thing that may bother a little is that the creators of the movie has exaggerated the numbers of the armies, for example that there was only 300 Spartans. However i checked it up, and it actually seems that the numbers in the movie are quite true to the real historical battle. The only thing that has been changed is that the Spartans had support from about a thousand more men from different allied Greek states, and this men withdrawed after the second day. It is also true that the numbers of the Persians were huge, for example at day one 10000 men from the Persia army died, wile only about three from the Spartans fell!
The fighting scenes of course are breathtaking with slow-mo cameras and really cool stunts. All the scenes but one (some men comes riding on horses) are recorded in a studio which allows the director to go wild wit angles and locations. The film also has a grey, antique color, it looks really special, not exactly like the last film that was based on Frank Millers work, Sin City, which had a comic black and white style, but something like that. Also just like in Sin City, you can tell that it is based on Frank Miller because of the narrator who not mainly describes what happens, but the feelings of the characters.
The acting is very good, especially Lena Headey plays convincing in role who easy could have disappeared totally in between the battle moments. Gerard Butler also does a good job, but his role is more of the easier kind.
A very cool film, with some annoying elements.