Movie Review

Movie Review - "300"

Cast - Gerard Butler as King Leonidas, Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo

300 is a spectacular visual feast for the eyes and senses with the art of blood splatter taken to new heights. This is one hell of a war epic loosely based on the Greek legend of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The movie directed by Zack Snyder is true to Frank Miller's vision in his graphic novel "300" published by Dark Horse Comics http://www.darkhorse.com/. Miller was inspired by the 1962 film "The 300 Spartans" as a young boy.
When King Leonidas receives word from a Persian emissary that Sparta and all of Greece should pay homage to King Xerxes or face elimination by his massive army. Not only did Leonidas refuse to yield, he promptly returns a message of defiance and incurs the wrath of Xerxes. He consults the Ephors and Oracle who warns him of mass destruction if Sparta ever goes to war. The council without knowledge of a traitor in its midst, concurs and forbade him from fighting the Persians. Believing in his own destiny, Leonidas left his wife and son to fight for freedom with a selected group of 300 Spartans.
We follow the 300 Spartans who were joined by an army of 700 Arcadians (Thespians & Slaves) to make a last stand at "The Hot Gates" where the passageway is narrow and favour to their numeral disadvantage. Battle scenes were intense and stylish with each thrust of the spear impaling bodies in a combination of slow-motion and fast-forward camera speeds. Imagine blood droplets hanging in mid-sequence while limbs are sliced through the air. Head decapitation is even more graphic in a ballet of squirting blood vessels.
Alternating between battle sequences, we see Queen Gorgo's valiant attempts to rally the treacherous Theron to her side and convince the Council to send reinforcements to her husband. The Queen's determination and self-sacrificial acts are matched by the Spartans' discipline, superior fighting techniques and combat strategies. Armed with their javelin-like spears, sword and shield, they were killing everything in their path without fear nor mercy, absorbing waves of attacks and holding the enemy for 3 days with body count piling up like bricks in the background. However, they cannot hold on any longer when a local Shepherd, Ephialtes betrayed them and lead the Persian troops to an old sheep path around the hot gates. Sensing a final showdown, Leonidas sent an injured Dilios back as a storyteller to regale their tale of victory. Although the 300 Spartans and King Leonidas perished - their honour, valour and sacrifice unite the whole of Greece against the Persian army. The cries of "This is SPARTA" still rings in my ears.

5 out of 5 for cinematic brilliance.