Mindless mix of nudity and gore

Rating: 4/10 (28 February 2009)

This is one of the worst period-action-war movies I have ever seen.
The director seems to think that all it takes to make a period-action movie is to employ state-of-the-art technology and make it all wild.
The movie is set in a permanent painting like scenery which makes you think that the movie just came live out of a Middle Ages painting.
The movie goes on in a monotone with adrenaline pumped high throughout. There is no build-up of story, just war-mongering. The characters look all artificial with their fake ribs and metallic bodies.
It seems the director has taken the Greek dictum of 'male body being perfect' too much to the heart. There is unnecessary nudity (both male and female). A little less ugly characters would also have done.
The worst thing is, there is no line drawn between history and mythology. Greek priests and the Persians are shown as mythological demons. The movie 'Troy' is also set more than two-thousand years ago, but still it is clearly a historical movie and not a mythological one. You cannot make such distinction in 300.
I was particularly disgusted by the portrayal of Persians. They are shown as the ugliest creatures, straight out from Hell! And for Pete's sake! Persians were and are white in skin-color! Why on earth, did the director decide to let black men play for them! The movie is low on emotions. You never feel loss on the death of a character. The story simply fails to build up due to the bad direction.
300 has got nothing in common with movies like Gladiator, Braveheart, Troy etc.
Only if you want to see a mindless mix of stupidity, nudity and gore then this movie is fit for you.