visually elegant, but reads like a memo from the pentagon

Rating: 6/10 (19 July 2007)

I, personally, love the story of the 300 Spartans, it's really hard not to, so I was biased from the start. On one hand I want to point out the historical discrepancies and reference books and other films, you know: what they could have done better, changed, where they didn't need to fudge on history. But its unreasonable to judge a film about comic book visuals and video game violence based upon its historical relevance. That said it's not a bad movie. You get what you're looking for, amazing visuals, great landscapes, endless battles, homoeroticism, cheesy one-liners in the tradition of Die Hard. (I thought maybe they used up all the one-liners in the trailer, but was I wrong, there is a whole cache of them lined up for the audience.)
If all you're searching for is an engaging, mind numbing, gore filled two hours, this will surely do the trick. But if you're a sucker for a good story or solid acting you find this film a bit disappointing. The story of the 300 Spartans is spruced up a bit to be slightly more relevant for the modern, post 9/11 American audience. There are lots of politically induced soliloquies about freedom not being free and dying for your country. (Not that I'm attempting to pan the basic ideal here, that's another discussion entirely, but I think I might have heard these lines somewhere before) There is also an overwhelming sense of the propagation of the east/west binary. The east, obviously being the Persian army, is portrayed as enslaving barbarians, exotic, an object of observation and curiosity, to be pondered but not participated in. This is a point of historical departure that feels phony and deliberate. Truly at this point in time there is a sort of binary, but the Spartans are portrayed with American values and the Persians with no values but the hope of becoming gods in their own right. A concept that really has no place being perpetuated at any time. I'm not saying don't see this, or trying to condone censorship, but merely pointing out that this is a symptom of America's post 9/11 terror hysteria. The film is fun, and incredibly well shot. But the plot is problematic, at best, and is the kind fake "independent" film that Hollywood is beginning to churn out at a rapid pace to consume the growing video game/comic book demographic of film-goers that Tarantino has bred to believe that good films contain breasts and unrealistic amounts of blood. (not that it's always bad, I still love Oldboy and there is nothing there but senseless, gratuitous violence, it's just poorly done in 300)