Spartans fight for Greece, or maybe Middle Earth?

Rating: 5/10 (16 September 2007)

"300" follows a format that resembles the Mel Gibson formula for historical films: Take historical events, adapt them so that one character that represents the fight for freedom against tyranny and hence is compelled to fight in large scale battles. Unfortunately, "300" is not as engaging as "Braveheart" (1995) or even "The Patriot" (2000).
The film's casting was fine, and Gerard Butler stood out as King Leonidas. The film's cinematography was of high quality and the soundtrack was appropriate other than the segments of rock music. The film starts off well with some details about Sparta and King Leonidas' personal history before the conflict between Spartans and Persians. However, before the conflict can proceed, the film delves into unnecessarily long sex scene.
As the Spartans march to conflict with the Persians, it seems that "300" will launch to great heights. It still seems that way as the first engagement proceeds, which introduces the well-staged battle sequences of the film. However, the film doesn't really ever soar from there.
The film has a tendency overuse slow motion effects and sometimes linger overly long on shots or scenes. There weren't any great story developments to retain my interest for the film's duration. There are some semi-interesting plot developments back in Sparta during the conflict and some great speeches and moments on the battlefield, but overall not much. This would be more tolerable if the developments in the battles were interesting, but the battles become ridiculous after the first few engagements. I didn't expect perfect historical accuracy from this film, but it seemed like the Spartans were fighting Sauron's forces from the "Lord of the Rings" movies rather than the Persians. This is because of the fantastic creatures that the Persian army manages to field. I half expected an Orc regiment to attack the Spartans as a final blow. Another odd point about the battles is that the film takes its time to iterate the importance of the phalanx, only to have a number of shots of Spartans out of formation.
There are films such as "Gettysburg" (1993) and "Waterloo" (1970) that effectively capture a particular historical conflict. There are films such as "Braveheart" (1995) or "The Patriot" (2000) that embellish history to create an engaging film. "300" disappointingly falls into neither of these categories.