Extremely flawed but stylishly appealing

Rating: 4/10 (24 March 2007)

300 was never meant to be a factual historical epic about Thermopylae but a fantasy vision of the battle as told in legend and myths. It is based on Frank Miller's artistically visionary graphic novel of the same title. The style of the graphic novel is closely mirrored by the film adaptation but unfortunately some of the more important themes seem to have have been ignored. There is a strong fascist bent to the entire film which wasn't what the graphic novel was about. Spartans were born and bred warriors no doubt but the principles and ideals they protected were just as much part of their own society as the larger Greek nations. The greater values of Greek society such as logic, philosophy, and the beginnings of free democratic republics were largely ignored or paid vague lip service in favor of mindless warfare, eugenics, and nationalism. The message it carries is flawed and it's a shame because the movie essentially rewrites its own source material in favor of mainstream American appeal. Spartans as shown to be almost invincible supersoldiers and the Persian army are hordes of mindless deformed minions of a crossdressing god-king.
As a fantasy epic 300 is entertaining but it doesn't address the deeper meaning in the graphic novel or even acknowledge its historical roots. The homophobic attitude of the Spartans is amusing because any historian would tell you that part of their esprit de corps involved close male bonding amongst Spartans which could be described in modern day terms as homosexuality. This is all addressed in the graphic novel but conveniently ignored here to appease the judeo-Christian white mainstream audience. As a piece of stylish art it's worth seeing but the message in the film is extremely biased.