Are you.... are you kidding me?

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2007)

I'm appalled how many people gave this movie a "10". Has the entire community completely forgotten all the criteria that makes up a good film? Perhaps after several years of exposure to painfully awful titles movie goers have lost all sense of a reference point as to what defines a good movie. Maybe I need to remind some of you.
This isn't MTV, and this isn't a music video. You need far more than pretty visuals and a soundtrack to award a movie a "10". You need more than to be simply entertained to award a movie a "10". I hope after coming to your senses a lot of you revisit the scores you awarded this movie.
Why the movie didn't deserve a "1": 1. Aesthetically, this movie was brilliant. Spotless. I can recall very few movies that were put together so well visually. From the fight sequences to the angles chosen, I was impressed with almost every decision that was made.
2. It had its moments. There were a handful of choice scenes that actually affected the story in a meaningful way. Namely the opening sequence showing the training of a Spartan.
3. It was under 2 hours.
Why this movie didn't deserve a "10": 1. I don't care if the movie wasn't intended to be historically accurate, the dialogue should stick to a given time period. The dialogue in 300 had no regard for a given time period; sometimes it seemed like we were in the middle ages, sometimes it seemed we were in the present day.
2. The plot failed to develop, and was utterly transparent. You could basically guess within 5 minutes of being introduced to a character exactly what his or her role was in the story. There was absolutely no character development. Movies from the bottom 100 of the IMDb have more character development than 300.
3. Far too many parts of the movie were overdone. The Oracle sequence was a good example of this. It was basically a tasteless excuse to show some nudity and visual effects.
4. The acting was spotty at best. Gerald Butler's performance was good, everyone else needed some better direction.
In conclusion, if you don't care at all about story, dialogue, and acting, but have eyes with which to watch the screen, you'll love this movie.
If you like war epics, but care little about their veracity, you'll probably enjoy this movie.
If you didn't agree with this review, you most likely rated this movie a "10". I give it a 6/10 for being fun to watch, aesthetically accomplished, but overall severely flawed.