Seen it somewhere before

Rating: 2/10 (23 April 2007)

The only thing not plagiarized (from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, to Braveheart, and a bunch of others) was the sound. At least those all had a story line, this didn't, and that's the shame. This was one of those pivotal points in history. Had the Spartans not acted, at that particular place, and at that particular time, the Persians would have stopped Greece from becoming what it did and the world would not be what it is today. Instead of playing that card, or even developing the love story line, they went for the gore.
AND, then the sound  how sad. Maybe there was a story line, but I couldn't tell because of the mumble factor. I agree that the sounds of battle are loud and some lines must be spoken softly, but what I heard was either over-modulated screaming (so loud I put my fingers in my ears) or soft mumbling (followed by audience members asking one another, "What did they say?"). The overall effect was a silent movie  acting by facial expression  which in this movie was "glare at me and I'll glare right back at you". The dialogue, including the narration, could not be followed. And the music was poorly edited, which all too often distracted and was often inappropriate. What ever happened to sound as an integral part of the movie? Like lighting, sound is meant to enhance the experience of the final product. Seems to me that, somewhere along the way sound has become an afterthought.
Not such a great movie for me. If one star means asking for my money back, I give it two stars.