Beautiful, Gory just lacking in soul

Rating: 8/10 (23 March 2007)

I am a big fan of the epic genre, when Ridley Scott gave life back into a long believed dead genre with Gladiator all those years ago I was very excited. Due to the financial and Oscar success loads more of those flicks were made. We had Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and Alexander. However out of those three only one of which I found any good, that surprisingly is the critically mauled Troy. Kingdom of Heaven and Alexander were overlong dull pieces of work that took themselves way too seriously. Now you see the faults I listed there, they've basically took those faults, corrected them, added loads more gore and loads more cheesy dialogue and that is pretty much what 300 is. Now that makes it out to be a bad movie, but 300 really isn't a bad movie. You see, what it lacks in heart and soul it more than makes up for in sheer bloodlust and sheer coolness. This is a movie that never even comes close to taking itself seriously, in fact when limbs and heads aren't being cut off you usually find this movie has a good sense of humour. My personal favourite scene involves King Leonidas calmly eating an apple during the battle. Its a small moment but its also a fairly funny moment as well. However, this is not to say that 300 is without its faults. With a clear focus on entertainment rather than being a good movie the faults become very clear. Matters aren't helped either by the fact that the beginning, while looking gorgeous verges on boring.
Lets talk about the action then, as that's what 300 is truly about and when the action does eventually kick in 300 becomes one of the best movies in a long while. Most epic movies fights look beautiful, but none of their beauty comes close to the beauty of this movie. While all the backgrounds and a lot of other things are special effects that doesn't prevent them from looking both startlingly real and being beautiful. Its clearly taken ideas from Sin City (apart from the story which was also done by Frank Miller), and these ideas pay off much better in this movie in terms of visual treats. The actual action itself is pretty violent and pretty intense, but it also has a strange beauty to it all. No matter how many heads you see cut off it never affects you, in fact seeing the blood splash across the battleground is all part of the sheer enjoyment. This isn't a movie for the faint of heart and if you're not a big fan of violence its probably best to avoid this movie.
Next thing I will mention is the performances. Now I suppose most of them are pretty average, clunky dialogue just adding to already clunky characters. However amongst some of the dull mannequins of characters there are a few that do stand out. Most noticeable is Gerad Butler as King Leonidas. Butler has had his fair share of pretty rubbish roles, Tomb Raider 2 and Phantom of the Opera are two of many of the bad movies he's featured in. But here he seems perfectly at home, sure he's not likely to win Oscars like Russel Crowe did for Gladiator, but he does a damn good job and makes his character both likable and also semi-believable. The other two performances of not have to be Lena Headey as Leonidas' wife having her own problems back in Sparta, and David Wenham as Dilios.
Now then I have to mention the faults I suppose. Unfortunately the are many. The beginning as I have mentioned is a huge fault, and in my eyes the thing that nearly made this movies rating a bit lower. You see despite the beauty of it all, and the good narration, not a lot really happens, and it seems more of a dull way to set up what is to follow than anything else. It was in the beginning that my disappointment kicked in, and admittedly 20mins into the movie I thought I was in for a bitter disappointment. Thankfully it grew on me to the extent I adored the movie by the end. The other moan has to be that apart from the general battle and the fact that Spartans are really hard, there's not much else on display here. The side story in Sparta feels more put together at the last minute than anything else and it never really gels with the rest of the movie. Still 300 is an exhilarating piece of cinema, that while never living up to expectations manages to thrill in its run time.