For people dreading this movie... (you'll be surprised)

Rating: Null/10 (26 March 2007)

I'm not too much of a typical 'chick' - I don't own a lot of makeup, I think 2 pairs of shoes are sufficient, and I love action movies. However I knew I would hate this movie for many reasons:
1) I hate historical/war-type movies. I barely made it through the LOTR movies, I hated Gladiator, and after six close-ups of Brad Pitt's 'deep, far-off stare' in Troy, I was feeling nauseous.
2) I hate gory movies, especially when there's no point to it. Long, drawn out close-ups of heads flying off? No thanks!
3) I hate going to the movies. Stuffy, cramped theatre; you can't talk to anyone; overwhelmingly loud volume. Plus, its hard for me to last 2 hours without a bathroom/cigarette break.
For all these reasons, I was not thrilled about seeing this movie. The only reason I did was for my fiancé's birthday, since he'd been salivating over this movie for weeks.
After seeing it, I have to say - WOW, WAS I WRONG. 300 was a fantastic movie, from storyline to visuals to dialogue. Everything was wonderful. Even the gore was portrayed in a rather gorgeous manner. During those 'long, drawn out close-ups of heads flying off', I was thinking, "this is the most beautiful movie I've ever seen". I felt excited, and passionate throughout the entire film, and was fighting off tears at the end.
And, as an added bonus, this movie has great female roles. There aren't many shown, but they are strong characters! I'm usually fine with typical comic-book movies where the women are pretty dumb - "Ooh, who is that mystery man flying around in tights? Oh well, I guess I'll never know..." - but in this movie, women are just as strong, loyal, and 'Spartan' as the men are.
For anyone else, female or not, who is dreading '300', I guarantee you will be blown away. I can't put into words how amazing it is, except that it really is a work of art.