Comparable to Sin City and Gladiator, but is a shallow patch on both those far superior films

Rating: 4/10 (20 December 2007)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Once upon a time, there were these nice people called the Spartans, who lived by respect and honour, and were raised from a young age to defend their people and their country at all costs. But then these nasty little meanies called the Persians came along and tried to overtake their land. But the brave spartans were having none of it, and lead by their brave leader Leonidas (Gerad Butler) stood up to them, had lots of big bloody battles and fought right to the end. Did they win? You'll have to find out...
Following the success of the brilliant Sin City, another Frank Miller 'graphic novel' has been adapted to the big screen, with identical style and visual flair. While SC was set on rainswept, dinghy backstreets featuring characters who shot at each other with guns and knives, 300 is set on wide-open battlefields featuring armies of opposing characters, who clash with swords and shields and fire at each other with hundreds of arrows. The style is just as cool, with slo-mo/sped up shots and flashy, realistic battle violence, and it's a style of filming I'm still getting used to. But somehow, it's never as thrilling as in SC.
Butler is clearly aiming to ape Russell Crowe's 'what we do in life...echoes in eternity' speech with his character Leonidas's 'tonight we dine in hell' battle cry but he's a poor man's Maximus Aurilius. The film has a surprising and sometimes effective use of humour in some scenes, but while this is a welcome addition, it doesn't distract from the slow, uninvolving story, the bland script and poor dialogue (as witnessed above.)
This is okay at best, really, some nice battle scenes and neat touches here and there, but never the sum of it's parts. Apparently it's historically inaccurate, too. This will only really bother those who study the history the film is based on, of course, but there's plenty more to bother everyone else. **