Violent as it is breathtaking

“300”
Starring: Gerard Butler, David Wenham, Dominic West, Rodrigo Santoro
3 stars out of 4


“300” is a violent and testosterone filled digitally enhanced sword and sandel epic from the creator of “Sin City” and director Zack Snyder. While some harsh critics will dismiss it as another notch on the adaptation of graphic novels list, I will embrace it as doing what its does best, entertain. All the sets are glistened in spectacular CGI, much of the same that was used in “Sin City.”

This film puts Gerard Butler on the verge of breaking out in Hollywood, and in film period. His powerful and demanding role of King Leonidas shall put him on the map and garner future work for him. In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes (Santoro) sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers. The battle is a suicide mission, meant to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to prepare for the invasion. However, that doesn't stop the Spartans from throwing their hearts into the fray, determined to take as many Persians as possible with them.

The film soars in each battle scene, no matter how many be-headings we have seen before, or spears thrown through bodies, “300” makes every one feel brand new to its audience. The CGI is used so brilliantly in this kind of story, “300” is a ferocious epic soaked in blood over and over again. While some may compare it to “Troy” and epics of that sort, “300” has a fierce tempo and heart that rages through each scene and adrenaline filled speech made by Butler’s Leonidas. This type of cinema is by means groundbreaking, as “Sin City” has come before it and established a mark of its own, but “300” packs on the intensity, raw emotion of battle, and the fight for glory as these Spartans are down to there last breath in each scene. Although the dialogue could have been sharper, it’s damn entertaining to watch these built men pile on the violence when faced with adversity.

Some may comment that the film has homophobic and racial themes, but I recommend just taking every setting, display, and scene in. Although I admire “Sin City” more for its groundbreaking ambition and scope, “300” is a well spent $8 for any man looking for a jolt of violent eye candy.