Zack Snyder's brilliant vision

Rating: 8/10 (20 February 2014)

It's 480 BC and the Greek city states are faced with a massive invading Persian army. The Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and a force of 300 men march to the Hot Gates at Thermopylae to face King Xerxes and his army. The cliff narrows to a small opening to negate Xerxes' numerical advantage. They would hold the pass until they are betrayed.
This is all about director Zack Snyder's vision to adapt this Frank Miller graphic novel. It is a cinematic full screen representation of a comic book. He's taken the beauty and essence of a 2-dimensional artform onto the big screen. He has taken the successful 'Sin City' style to the next level.
The story is fairly basic. It's a lot of machismo and lots of abs. Gerard Butler holds the movie together in a thankless job in this visual vortex. The dialog can be very stilted, but it fits the story well.