Bad Movie, and Bad History

Rating: 2/10 (19 March 2007)

As we were leaving the movie, my wife made an observation that hit the nail on the head regarding what is wrong with the whole thing. "The last scene did't make any sense" was her observation. And she was right. The problem with this film is that it departs so far from history that, when it tries to get back in, it fails. The story falls apart. As I listened to others leaving the theater, it seemed that my wife was not alone. Many places in the film just didn't make sense.
The acting was unremarkable. Leonidas either broods or shouts. Xerxes is too cool for school. The rest of the Spartans are unremarkable. Early in the movie, one Spartan is hoping to find something in the upcoming battle. I can't tell you what it was, or if he found it, because I lost track of the guy. They all just became part of the scenery.
The only thing that makes this movie at all interesting is its visual aspect. It is very interesting to watch. However, everything seems a little too spartan (sorry, couldn't resist). That's probably because this film is primarily computer generated, and so it ultimately has the less than satisfying feel of a video game.
Finally, I found this movie to border on being sacrilegious. The story of the battle at Thermopolyae is, perhaps, the best war story of all time. Here we have this gift from history and the makers of this film have the nerve to think that they can do a better job. I cannot help but think that, on some level, the makers of this film understood this -- rather than using the name of Thermopolyae, they refer to the battle site as "The Hot Gates."