300 – Movie Review

I originally turned down an invitation to go see this movie as the inviters had a record of wanting to see bad movies (eg Snakes on a Plane). I earned a reprise and was invited again. I decided to go this time as I had heard interesting reviews from various people since the initial knock back

I’m unsure as to whether this is a piece of history or Greek mythology. Some of the characters make me think mythology.

It is the story of how 300 Spartans battled against King Xerxes army. The Spartans were hugely outnumbered but as the introduction shows, Spartans are trained for battle. Xerxes had no idea how resilient the Spartans were, but I’m not about to spoil the ending.

It’s really gory in some parts, but what do you expect from a battle flick. Decapitations and severed limbs are common place.

I was warned that there were a lot of nipples. Interesting comment but relevant once you see the Spartan war attire. You would think they should wear a bit more than that.

The cinematography was fantastic. It’s hard to describe but it’s clear that they put a lot of work into the post production to make the scenery look spectacular. As weird as it sounds, I like how they made the blood look. It’s different than other movies like Gladiator, it’s almost cartoonish.

Look out for Aussie actor David Wenham who is more famous to a lot of people as Diver Dan in ‘Seachange’. I know him mainly from the Aussie low budget flick called Cosi. To see him in this vastly different role was strange to begin with. It just goes to show how versatile our good actors are.

A movie not for the faint hearted. If you can put up with the gore then I recommend it. Could even initiate discussion about what is masculinity. Southern cross media touched on it in their latest publication.