300 is a 2006 action adventure film about King Leonidas of Sparta and a force of 300 men who fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
After having a pretty successful debut with the remake of Dawn of the Dead, director Zack Snyder officially burst on the scene with his film adaptation of Frank Miller‘s 300, a fictionalized reimagining of the Battle of Thermopylae during the Persian Wars. While it was much more of a fable than anything close to resembling authenticy – the point exactly in trying to bring to screen the legendary elements of it all – it was the striking visuals that won most audiences over, even if critics put it through the ringer. Gerard Butler stars as King Leonidas and Lena Headey as his powerful queen, the story told in flashback as a Spartan soldier (David Wenham) rallies troops for a coming battle. Doing so allows the introduction of fantastical monsters and exaggerated details to inspire the soldiers as the greater accomplishments of the King. At the time, this was a stunning visual effects-laden accomplishment and still packs punch for its storytelling prowess. It’s a bloody, violent ragtag tale but well worth watching.
THE LAST WORD
An absolute visual feast, this has some surprisingly effective emotional moments as well. If you love large scale battles loaded with wild style, this is the the topper.
It’s almost impressively thin with hardly a single character fleshed out beyond a lot of yelling and for historians, well, steer clear. Also, blood. Lots of it.