A review on the movie ‘300′. Sunday was a good day to catch a movie and I decided to watch 300. I got to know about the movie somewhere back in November 2006, watched the trailer and felt instantly in love with the movie. Finally, another great movie since Gladiator, which is one of my favourite movies too.

Based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, “300″ is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the invader in one of history’s most famous last stands.

300 (2006) - Gerard Butler

I’ll leave the historical bit to your own reading. Let me tell you what I don’t like about the movie most… NOTHING! Yes, I love every bit of the movie. From the cinematography to the fight scenes, It’s just awesome! You just can’t deny Frank Miller’s awesome work that totally inspired the whole movie. This ancient historic tale was uniquely told by combining live action with virtual background, a distinct vision of Frank Miller who is also the man behind Sin City.

Personally I think that 300 is the best film of its kind. It’s got a faster pace than Lord Of The Rings, is more accurate than Troy, more compelling than Tristan and Isolde, and more violent than Gladiator. This movie so far deserves the academy award for best picture and without a doubt deserves the academy award for best cinematography for the originality and sheer beauty put into it’s visuals.

The fight scenes are awesome! The stunts are nicely pulled off without much exaggeration. Ok, what do you consider as exaggerated stunts? Hmm… lemme think. Yes… Dragon Tiger Gate. That’s exaggerating! There’s no flying Spartans or Persians but there’s quite alot of weird character appearing from the Persian troop. There’s even on weird monster that looks like Pudge, a hero character from Warcraft (DOTA).

300 (2006) - Lena Headey

I can’t imagine anyone else making a better King Leonidas other than Gerard Butler (Phantom of the Opera). His built frame and strong feature makes him the best candidate as King Leonidas. Lena Headey (The Brother Grimm), who plays a good role as Queen Gorgo, the King’s beloved wife. There’s also Dominic Theron, who plays a corrupted politian who betrayed the King and Greece. He tried to manipulate the queen but got killed in the end with a sword piercing through his body by the queen herself. Xerxes, a tyrant and self-proclaimed King of Kings and Lord of the Gods, is played by Rodrigo Santoro. Rodrigo is a tall good looking Brazilian actor but he looks really faggity acting as Xerxes. Perhaps that’s how the producer wants him to be.

If you have watched Lord Of The Rings, you would probably remember Faramir, which was played by David Wenham. He acted as Dilios, one of the brave Spartan that made it back alive to tell the story. He later led an army of tenth of thousands to fight back against the Persians. This time, the Greeks outnumbered the Persians 3 to 1.

Well, if you’ve have known the history of the Battle of Thermopylae, you would have known that the movie has a sad ending. But nevertheless, it’s a touching and inspiring ending too. I give it a 9 out of 10 stars on my rating. Totally worth the RM10 I paid for the almost 2 hour long movie. Oh ya, to all the ladies, these Spartans got bod!