All the elements of a great film, but not quite there

Rating: 7/10 (10 March 2007)

I loved the movie and looking back on it I cannot think of a single thing about it I did not like, but somehow I cannot give it higher than a 7. The action scenes were beyond amazing and I actually enjoyed how much historically accurate some of the stuff was. Everything from the quote "come back with your shield or on it" which is an actual phrase Spartans said to each other when they went to battle, to the battle formations that they used. The acting was what I expected and everything lived up to my expectation, but the movie did not seem to flow as well as it could have. This may be the first time that I think the editing actually took away from the movie. All of the action sequences were beyond bad-ass, but the scenes did not flow into each other that well. The scene where Butler's and Headley's character make love seemed over the top, but looking back at it I realized it was them saying good bye to each other, but it was not obvious in the moment. I did not expect the Spartans to leave the next day and it seemed as if they could have made the impact of their final good bye more powerful. I have to mention that this is one of the best looking films I have seen in a long time and it did an amazing job of creating an entirely new world based in our world and went well with the tone of the movie. The movie being loosely based in reality, but the movie was more of an excuse to have some beautiful images (some of them extremely gory) set to some powerful emotions. I think everyone should see this movie, because it is one of the best looking films out there, but it did not quite do it for me and I think it was the editing.