Movie Review: "300" (2007)

This Lord-of-the-Rings-meets-Gladiator flick tells the tale of a Spartan king who is threatened with invasion by neighbouring Persia unless Sparta hands over their natural resources. He goes around the bureaucracy of the Spartan council to wage pre-emptive war against the enemy with his best 300 men while his loyal queen, attempting to sell the philosopher kings on the merits of sending a bigger force to support him, works against the underhanded machinations of her husband's rival who, of course, has interests of his own.

Is "300" as buzz-worthy as water cooler talk has made it out to be? I'd say so. Graphically, it's extremely impressive, and although there is the odd beheading and severed limb, the violence isn't pointlessly gratuitous like other abominations such as the ridiculous "Kill Bill" films of a few years back. I also have to give it points for clocking in at an economical two hours as the director and producer kept their egos in check and didn't tack on a completely unnecessary 45 minutes, as seems to the common practice these days for any film that can possibly be construed as "epic". Oh ... and if you don't get a chance to see it on the big screen, I wouldn't bother, because your home theatre can't possibly do it justice. Besides, if you're going to annoy the Iranian government by viewing "300", why not go all out?

Overall rating: 8/10