Not Taxing but Definitely Pleasing.

Rating: 8/10 (22 October 2007)

OK, firstly I consider myself pretty hard to please when it comes to action movies. The normal case is that there is no intricate plot, great acting or taxing brain-work required. And then, half the time, the action is something we've all seen before and isn't really up to much. Action movies tend to be a watch and throwaway genre in my household. That said, although 300 fits the first couple of criteria, it's definitely a movie worth watching again and it's also not your typical action movie - it is "pure" action. By that I mean everything (and I do mean everything) else is secondary. Visually, this is one of the best movies you can see at the present time. Whether it stands the test of that time as technology moves on is another matter, but for what it's worth at the moment, there isn't a lot out there that can touch it. And that's what 300 basically is - it's a visual roller-coaster. It offers a feast for the eyes that outweighs all of the negatives that you can throw at it. People may complain that it's historically inaccurate, racist, badly acted or homo-erotic but one can answer those points without even going into great depth with two words - So What?!!!
But if like me, you do need a little more detail, let's address those points one by one. Historically, I'm ambiguous. The movie doesn't do a great job with factual evidence, but it also doesn't do that bad a job either. It is based on an event that occurred thousands of years ago and, although it does take liberties (which movie based on history doesn't) it's overall theme is true to the point - some of the really corny lines were actually said by the real Spartans!! With a movie such as 300, you are never going to get 100% historical accuracy as it just wouldn't sit right, but to those who say that the Spartans weren't fighting for liberty? Wrong!!! Although they weren't a particularly liberal society, they were under no illusion that Sparta would merely become a Persian satrap if Greece fell.
So is it racist? Well the first thing to recognise here is that this movie isn't about Christians versus Muslims, Europeans versus Asians or even Iranians versus Yanks for that matter. When Thermopylae took place, none of the above existed. I've seen people here saying that this movie is insulting to Iranians? How so if Iran didn't even exist back then and isn't even mentioned in the movie? There is such a huge difference between the country of Iran and the empire of Persia that the two can only be compared with a very tenuous geographical link. To say that the movie insults one country or another is akin to saying that Ben Hur is an insult to all Italians because it shows Roman oppression. Absolutely ridiculous. So some of the Persians are portrayed as demon-type figures - in most war movies, we have to pick sides and the enemy is never an Adonis. But in saying that, we've already decided that these aren't the historically accurate Spartans or Persians so does it really matter??!!!
Badly acted? Well, I'd disagree with this. The actors ARE given corny lines (some historically accurate as I've pointed out) but in general, they do carry them off OK. Having a script that doesn't meet expectations is not the same as giving a poor impression of a character.
Which brings us onto homo-erotic (ooer!!). Well, when you get a bunch of semi-naked men cavorting around your movie screen, someone is always going to level that accusation. In fact, homosexuality was almost certainly an accepted part of Spartan culture. If the director (or the comic book writer) truly wanted a "gay movie", they would only have had to appease some of the historical buffs and portray real Spartan life. They didn't do this, so really, the levels of homo-eroticism aren't really with any solid ground. That said, who cares? I'm heterosexual, but it doesn't mean to say that I can't admire an actor's biceps or 6 pack!!
But as I said at the beginning - So What? These criticisms are made by people who don't seem to get what this movie is about. There's no point arguing about the type of sword the real Spartans used, whether or not the bad guys are an insult to a modern-day nation or whether the actors should get a job in "Hamlet". 300 isn't about that. 300 is what all action movies aspire to be and it succeeds admirably. It's about tearing out your eyeballs as you look frantically at the eye-candy all over the screen. It's about making you gasp in awe at what technology can do. It's about making you wonder what feast your eyes will get to feed on next - making you impatient for it's next scene and then rewarding you with another treat. Go watch it for that alone. It's worth it.