Friday night I went to the AMC at Century City with Chris to watch 300. We got there about an hour early, and it was a sold-out crowd. The movie is based on the comic book by Frank Miller (also titled 300) which is in turn based on the Battle of Thermopylae from ancient Greek times.

Note: May contain spoilers.

The movies is about how King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartan men fought against the vast Persian army of Xerxes back in 480 BC. The tale is told from the point of view of Dilios, as he recounts the Battle of Thermopylae. Plot-wise, there is not much to say. Xerxes and his army of approximately 2.6 million (taken from wiki) want to invade Greece, so naturally, the Spartans decide to send their king and 300 men to stop them.

Apparently in Spartan, the men are not allowed to wear anything but a loin cloth and a red cape. Anything more, and you're consider a pansy politician. It is these very clothes-wearing, pansy politicians that refuse to send more soldiers to aid Leonidas. So the 300 march off to the north in order to fight the battle at a choke point called the Hot Gates, thus minimizing Xerxes' overwhelming advantage in numbers.

That's as far as it goes for the plot. The rest of the movie is a display of cinematography centered around violence, not that that's a bad thing. Limbs fly left and right, heads topple off still standing bodies, and one guy manages to jump 10 feet up into the air to lop off an arm. There is excessive usage of slow / fast motion, but I thought it was used fairly effectively. The fighting would be fast forwarded to the point right before a limb is about to be detached, upon which the speed does not return to normal, but instead goes into slow-mo to emphasize the steel cutting through flesh. It's like having TiVo, but for a movie.

The shading of the movie was bland and gray for the most part to depict the tensions of war. Important scenes, such as when Leonidas was giving a speech, are particularly grainy, while transitions, such as when the soldiers were marching or when the Persian messenger was riding to Sparta, were very smooth and well blended. I thought that the cinematography and visual effects of the movie were very creative, well planned, and meshed together to create a very visually appealing film.

Now I just wanted to talk about a few scenes from the movie, so there will be **SPOILERS HERE.*** At the very end, I was expecting more from the part where Leonidas throws his spear at Xerxes and grazes his face. Since Xerxes claims to be a god, he should be immortal. Once he starts bleeding from a spear thrown by a mere mortal, I would imagine that the rest of his minions would notice and turn on him. The majority of his army is made up of slaves and oppressed peoples; wouldn't it have been more dramatic if they had all turned around and saw Xerxes bleeding and decides to abandon his army? Xerxes would no longer be able to claim to be a god, and thus lose his power over his people.

I recommend this movie to anyone who likes action (guys), violence (guys), the slaying of countless people (guys), cool special effects (guys), and muscular men in loin cloths (girls). There is a feeble attempt at romance, but ends with the Queen becoming a whore. I think for the most part, this is a must-see for all guys, but girls may find it unappealing (unless you are a big fan of loin cloths).