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I gave a four-star rating to " Sin City ," the 2005 film based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller . Now, as I deserve, I get "300," based on another work by Miller. Of the earlier film, I wrote prophetically: "This isn't an adaptation of a comic book, it's like a comic book brought to life and pumped with steroids." They must have been buying steroids wholesale for "300." Every single male character, including the hunchback, has the muscles of a finalist for Mr. Universe.

Both films are faithful to Miller's plots and drawings. "300," I learn, reflects the book almost panel-by-panel. They lean so heavily on CGI that many shots are entirely computer-created. Why did I like the first, and dislike the second? Perhaps because of the subject matter, always a good place to start. "Sin City," directed by Robert Rodriguez and Miller, is film noir, my favorite genre, taken to the extreme. "300," directed by Zack Snyder , is ancient carnage, my least favorite genre, taken beyond the extreme. "Sin City" has vividly- conceived characters and stylized dialogue. "300" has one-dimensional caricatures who talk like professional wrestlers plugging their next feud.

The movie involves a legendary last stand by 300 death-obsessed Spartans against a teeming horde of Persians. So brave and strong are the Spartans that they skewer, eviscerate, behead and otherwise inconvenience tens of thousands of Persians before finally falling to the weight of overwhelming numbers. The lesson is that the Spartans are free, and the Persians are slaves, although the Spartan idea of freedom is not appetizing (children are beaten to toughen them).

But to return to those muscles. Although real actors play the characters and their faces are convincing, I believe their bodies are almost entirely digital creations. They have Schwarzeneggerian biceps, and every last one of them, even the greybeards, wear well-defined six- packs on their abs. I can almost believe the star, Gerard Butler , may have been working out at Gold's Gym ever since he starred as the undernourished Phantom of the Opera, but not 300, 200 or even 100 extras. As a result, every single time I regarded the Spartans in a group, I realized I was seeing artistic renderings, not human beings.

Well, maybe that was the idea.

The movie presents other scenes of impossibility. Look at the long- shots of the massed Persians. There are so many they would have presented a logistical nightmare: How to feed and water them? Consider the slave-borne chariot that Xerxes pulls up in. It is larger that the imperial throne in the Forbidden City, with a wide staircase leading up to Xerxes. Impressive, but how could such a monstrosity be lugged all the way from Persia to Greece? I am not expected to apply such logic, I know, but the movie flaunts its preposterous effects.

And what about Xerxes ( Rodrigo Santoro ) himself? He stands around eight feet tall, I guess, which is good for 500 B.C. (Santoro's height in life: 6 feet, 2.75 inches). He towers over Leonidas (Butler), so we know his body isn't really there. But what of his face? I am just about prepared to believe that the ancient Persians went in for the piercing of ears, cheeks, eyebrows, noses, lips and chins. But his eyebrow have been plucked and re-drawn into black arches that would make Joan Crawford envious. And what about the mascara and the cute little white lines on the eyelids? When the Spartans describe the Athenians as "philosophers and boy-lovers," I wish they had gone right ahead to discuss the Persians.

The Spartans travel light. They come bare-chested, dressed in sandals, bikini briefs and capes. They carry swords and shields. At the right time, they produce helmets which must have been concealed in their loincloths. Also apples. And from the looks of them, protein shakes. They are very athletic, able to construct a towering wall of thousands of dead Persians in hours, even after going to all the trouble of butchering them. When they go into battle, their pep talks sound like the screams of drunken sports fans swarming onto the field.

They talk, as I suggested, like pro wrestlers, touting the big showdown between Edge and The Undertaker. "Be afraid!" they rumble, stopping just short of adding, "Be very afraid." They talk about going on the "warpath," unaware that the phrase had not yet been coined by American Indians. Their women, like Gorgo ( Lena Headey ), queen of Leonidas, are as bloodthirsty as their men, just like wrestler's wives.

All true enough. But my deepest objection to the movie is that it is so blood-soaked. When dialogue arrives to interrupt the carnage, it's like the seventh-inning stretch. In slow motion, blood and body parts spraying through the air, the movie shows dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands, of horrible deaths. This can get depressing.

In old movies, ancient Greeks were usually sort of noble. Now they have become lager louts. They celebrate a fascist ideal. They assume a bloodthirsty audience, or one suffering from attention deficit (how many disembowelings do you have to see to get the idea?). They have no grace and wisdom in their speech. Nor dignity in their bearing: They strut with arrogant pride. They are a nasty bunch. As Joe Mantegna says in " House of Games ," "You're a bad pony, and I'm not gonna bet on you." That's right before he dies, of course.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film Credits

Rated R violence, nudity, sexuality

117 minutes

Andrew Tiernan as Ephialtes

Lena Headey as Gorgo

Vincent Regan as Captain

Gerard Butler as Leonidas

Peter Mensah as Messenger

Michael Fassbender as Stelios

Andrew Pleavin as Daxos

Dominic West as Theron

David Wenham as Dilios

Tom Wisdom as Astinos

Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes

Stephen McHattie as Loyalist

Screenplay by

• Michael B. Gordon
• Kurt Johnstad

Directed by

• Zack Snyder

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The word ‘Spartan’ nestles in the English lexicon as a synonym for words like ‘austere’ and ‘disciplined’. But while the Spartans of ancient Greece were all those things and more, none of these locutions captures the essence of this unique people. A better modern-day equivalent to ‘Spartan’ might be ‘belligerent nutcase’, and anyone in doubt need look no further than 300, which stands as an opulent, brutal and bloody declaration of that fact. An adaptation of Sin City creator Frank Miller’s graphic novel, 300 recounts the country’s finest hour: Sparta kicked plenty of ass over the ages, but it was at Thermopylae, in 480 BC, that she earned eternal renown. What those warriors achieved in life (and lots of death) still echoes through eternity.

Trumpeted by its makers as “Gladiator meets Sin City”, the cinematic rendition of 300 is fiercely loyal to its bronze-and-crimson-coloured graphic progenitor and, as such, is as far removed from reality as the last batch of Celebrity Big Brother housemates. Thermopylae was a real battle, the opening salvo of the Second Persian War no less. The Spartan king Leonidas, played here by Gerard Butler, did defend the ‘Hot Gates’ in Northern Greece with 300 hoplites, against an invading Persian army that Herodotus, the ‘father of history’, numbered at one million strong. While modern scholars insist that the Persian horde, vast as it was, totalled no more than 200,000 men, Miller and Snyder prefer Herodotus’ estimate. They also lift from his dialogue (“Then we’ll fight in the shade” is a line from the great historian, for example), although both happily depart from his source material when counting colossal elephants among the Persian forces.

Still, much like a football match between England and Brazil, 300 vs. 200,000 is hardly a fair contest, Leonidas and co. facing laughably overwhelming odds. Unlike the English football team, however, they offered a remarkable display of mettle — and indeed metal — against an army hundreds of times their size. Their story is the stuff of legend, and that thought was paramount in Miller’s mind when consigning his vision to the page. For Miller’s intention was that 300 should be historically _in_accurate — this was his bid to mythologize an actual event, lending to it the power and grace (and a healthy amount of exaggeration) normally associated with classical epic. If the battle at Thermopylae had occurred a millennium earlier, it would no doubt have formed the basis of a legend every bit as fantastic and entertaining as the works of Homer (much more lively than the pallid cinematic offering that was Troy, based on Homer’s The Iliad).

It’s somewhat ironic that whereas Troy, retelling a story rooted in myth, sought to present a world devoid of the unusual, 300, while recounting a story drawn from fact, is as fanciful as any Homeric yarn (cue fat freak with sharpened tusks for arms and a bard with a goat’s head). Snyder is entirely faithful to Miller’s intent, however, and he has cooked up an astonishing visual feast, spinning a tale that at times mimics the graphic novel frame-by-frame, the raucous content just what you’d expect to hear from some ancient, toothless sage telling hero tales around a campfire. In fact, the film is framed as a saga related by the storyteller Dilios (David Wenham, neither ancient nor toothless). It is this mythic conviction that underpins the film’s failings and informs its successes.

Chief among the latter stand the Spartans themselves, Butler and co. sporting as much muscle as a bouncers’ convention and offering a convincing portrayal of a Spartan crack troop. Fighting in nothing more than big pants, helmet and shield, there are more six-packs on show than at an Aussie off-licence, but they largely manage to convey hard-assedness rather than homoeroticism. The Spartan battle formations and fighting styles are entirely accurate, and some of the battle choreography ranks among the finest committed to film. Snyder makes us believe that these Spartans really could dispatch 100 inferior men apiece, and still have the energy to run a marathon afterwards. Crucially, Butler convinces as a leader of men, bellowing orders, wisecracking or bolstering confidence as the occasion demands, leading from the front and laying out several battalions’ worth of the enemy. Leonidas — noble, stubborn and deadly when roused — may be not be complex, but Butler has the conviction and charisma needed to carry it off.

Sadly, he’s hamstrung by the film’s structure and, ultimately, by its direction. The film shoots for epic from minute one, demanding our awe before it’s been earned and painting with strokes so broad that it’s hard to make out such niceties as character, motivation or period detail. Snyder came to the fore with 2004’s Dawn Of The Dead remake, after learning his trade in the world of commercials, and 300, at times, looks a little like a heavy metal video. At one point, when the Spartans trudge forward to engage their enemy, it sounds like one too, a raging torrent of testosterone that is as merciless in its stabbing delivery as the Spartans themselves. In truth, the music is more than a little overcooked throughout, especially in the Gladiator-lite scenes amid the waving barley. And Snyder loves that slo-mo button, ramping the speed of the action up and down during the fight scenes, the better to move smoothly from kill to kill — a technique which, used sparingly, works beautifully, but is indulged too much during the otherwise storming middle act.

That said, Snyder does bid to temper the testosterone levels by injecting a little oestrogen, courtesy of Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey). The Spartan queen is glimpsed in Miller’s work, but Snyder pushes her further to the fore. Her heartfelt speech to the Spartan assembly, while a little public school debating society, is at least couched in believable language, spilling from the tongue of a character who has some claim on our affection. Something which cannot be said of Leonidas and his Spartans.

Nothing is more epic than the tradition of the defiant David standing up to a mammoth and all-powerful Goliath — Homer knew it; Leonidas knew it; Frank Miller knew it; and after watching 300, you will know it too. But you’re unlikely to care, for such is the nature of myth and epic that characterisation and language exist only to serve the story. For all their bravery and bluster, Spartan deaths or injuries pluck no heartstrings — we neither know these men nor care about their fate. For all Butler’s verbal anguish and warrior dexterity, he and his 300 are cartoon characters, simple archetypes of ancient epic, spitting vitriol and wielding weapons but ill-equipped to connect to those watching them on screen. The result is that the conclusion of this, one of the greatest stories ever told, is sadly fumbled.

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• DVD & Streaming
• Action/Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi/Fantasy , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Gerard Butler as King Leonidas; Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo; Dominic West as Theron; David Wenham as Dilios; Vincent Regan as Captain; Michael Fassbender as Stelios; Tom Wisdom as Astinos; Andrew Pleavin as Daxos; Andrew Tiernan as Ephialtes; Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes; Stephen McHattie as Loyalist

Home Release Date

• Zack Snyder

Distributor

• Warner Bros.

Movie Review

“Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie.”

So says a stone epitaph in Thermopylae, Greece, commemorating 300 Spartan warriors who sacrificed their lives in an epic battle against the invading forces of the Persian king Xerxes in 480 B.C. Based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City) , 300 mythologizes and immortalizes these soldiers’ absolute commitment to secure their homeland from tyranny.

The story begins amid political discord. On the eve of Xerxes’ invasion, a Spartan oracle has foretold doom if the city’s king, Leonidas, sallies forth into combat during an important religious festival. But the ferocious Leonidas—the epitome of Sparta’s fiercely disciplined martial culture—puts little stock in the gods’ supposed warning. Defying the oracle and the city’s governing council, Leonidas takes leave of his wife, Queen Gorgo (a lioness in her own right), and marches with 300 men from his personal guard to meet the enemy.

Leonidas’ plan to defeat Xerxes’ 100-nation force—which numbers in the hundreds of thousands—requires defending a narrow mountain pass near the sea known as the Hot Gates— Thermopylae in Greek. Joined by 700 volunteer fighters from Thespiae, Leonidas and his professional soldiers prepare to take their stand. Defeat is likely, but they believe their sacrifice will buy time for the city-states of Greece to rally a larger army (a cause Gorgo pursues in her husband’s absence).

The Spartans’ fabled military prowess handily repels the first waves of Xerxes’ army. Neither Xerxes’ elite “Immortal” troops, cavalry, a rhinoceros nor even elephants can dislodge Leonidas and his men from the pass. Enter: treachery and betrayal. History (and this movie) tells the rest.

Positive Elements

Leonidas and Gorgo repeatedly make impassioned speeches about the values Sparta holds dear. These include glory, reason, justice, respect, family and freedom. Bravery is hardly a strong enough word to describe these warriors’ fearlessness. Dying on Sparta’s behalf is the highest possible honor, which yields statements such as Gorgo’s words to her husband as he departs: “Come back with your shield or on it.”

Spartan war tactics depend on interdependence. Leonidas says, “A Spartan’s strength is the warrior next to him.” The king’s willingness to sacrifice himself for his men contrasts with Xerxes’ megalomania; the Persian ruler willingly sends hundreds to their death with no concern for their welfare. The only men Leonidas invites to join his war party are those with sons, lest any family’s line be wiped out.

Leonidas and Gorgo enjoy a strong marriage as equals (in a culture that’s known for generally treating women as second-class citizens). Leonidas also displays affection for his 6-year-old son. And he teaches him, “Fear is constant. Accepting it makes you stronger.”

A soldier known as Captain regrets never telling his son, who’s perished in battle, how he truly felt. “I don’t regret that he died. I regret that I never told him I loved him the most. He stood by me with honor. He [represented] all that was best in me.” A mortally wounded Spartan says to his king, “It is an honor to die by your side.” Leonidas replies, “It’s an honor to have lived at yours.” The only words Leonidas wants delivered to his people are simply, “Remember us.”

Spiritual Elements

Spiritual content in 300 revolves around two axes: the Greek belief in a pantheon of gods and oracles who communicate with them; and Xerxes’ insistence that he is a god to be worshiped.

Leonidas visits an oracle, an entranced young woman who’s “tended to” (more on that below) by horribly disfigured men called Ephors. While there, Leonidas is told, “Trust the gods. Your blasphemies have cost us enough already.” The king dismisses the Ephors as “diseased old mystics.” In passing, Leonidas tells his troops to “pray to the gods.” A storm that sinks many Persian ships is attributed to Zeus’ wrath.

Xerxes is frequently described (by himself and his underlings) in divine terms, such as “god of gods,” and he mimics scriptural language when he says things about himself such as, “The lord of hosts is prepared to forgive all.” He speaks of his divine power and promises (almost like Satan’s temptation of Jesus) to make Leonidas the warlord of all Greece if he submits. His Immortals are described as “Persian ghosts, hunters of men’s souls.”

Sexual Content

The oracle is barely clothed in a gauzy sheet that reveals her breast. It’s implied that the Ephors use her sexually at will, and one licks the oracle’s neck as she delivers her prophecy. A graphic sex scene between Leonidas and his wife includes movement, his uncovered rear and several shots of her breasts. Xerxes invites Ephialtes into his harem and uses promises of sexual pleasure to get him to betray the Spartans. Several women are topless and kiss one another in this sensual, orgy-like scene; others are nearly naked.

Queen Gorgo’s chief opponent on the council is a devious man named Theron; in exchange for his help, she allows him to have his way with her. It’s implied (as he violently grabs her) that he’s virtually raping her. (We briefly glimpse her robe fall to the ground.)

Spartan women, especially the queen, wear cleavage-baring robes without undergarments. The Spartan warriors themselves fight shirtless, and the camera often focuses on their physiques. An offhand reference is made to Athenians being “boy lovers.”

Violent Content

Let’s put it this way: Neither torsos nor appendages fare well in 300 . Perhaps thousands of soldiers find themselves on the receiving end of spears, swords and arrows for about an hour and 15 minutes of this two-hour film. A giant is knifed in the eye. Extremities get hacked off (at least three heads, half-a-dozen arms, legs, hands, etc.). After one decapitation, the father of that soldier cradles his son’s headless body (the head lies nearby). Spartans repeatedly wander the battlefield skewering unfortunates who’ve not quite perished yet. (“No mercy” is a Spartan watchword.) Add to such brutality scenes depicting piles of corpses—some skewered on stakes, others “attached” to a tree with arrows and still others used to construct a defensive wall—and you’ve an epic amount of violent imagery in this film.

Non-battlefield violence includes Leonidas spearing a wolf in the mouth as a youth; 7-year-old Spartans-in-training pummeling and bruising each other; older boys receiving whip lashings to learn how to resist pain; a soldier’s wound being cauterized by white-hot metal; and Queen Gorgo stabbing (and killing) a traitorous Spartan. When a herald of Xerxes arrives in Sparta dangling a chain of skulls for emphasis, Leonidas shoves him and several members of his party into a seemingly bottomless pit. Xerxes’ executioner is a monstrosity of a man whose arms have been replaced with blades (which he dutifully uses to dislodge heads of failed generals).

Crude or Profane Language

In telling a story about a war hundreds of years before the time of Christ, filmmakers weren’t able to logically include abuses of His name. Likewise, they knew it’d be a pretty far stretch to include f-words or s-words. So this R-rated-in-every-other-way movie fades to credits with only one mild profanity (“h—uva) to its name.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Leonidas describes the oracle as “a drunken adolescent girl”—and she definitely looks as if she’s in an artificially induced stupor. During the orgy sequence in Xerxes’ tent, some of the people in the background hold goblets presumably containing wine.

Other Negative Elements

Sparta’s devotion to warcraft has a terrible dark side. When baby boys are born, they’re evaluated for physical defect. Imperfect newborns are discarded into a pit to die. (We see a pile of skulls indicating this happens regularly.) Spartan law also makes retreat from battle illegal. Not surprisingly, revenge and glory are closely connected. When Captain tells Leonidas, “I fill my heart with hate,” the king replies, “Good.”

Ephialtes is a disfigured, hunchbacked man whose father was a Spartan but fled the city because he refused to kill his misshapen son. He raised Ephialtes to be a true Spartan warrior. But the man’s deformities prevent him from functioning as an equal. Embittered, Ephialtes betrays his people.

The queen is greeted with derision by the Spartan ruling council, which normally would refuse to let any woman, even a queen, speak to them. When Theron betrays her before the council, she spits in his face. Both the Ephors and Theron are secretly taking bribes from Xerxes to keep the Spartans out of battle.

I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie so violent and tragic. But that’s only the first half of the sentence. Because afterwards, I watched as scores of moviegoers (mostly men) walked to their cars laughing and pounding each other on the back. You’d have thought we’d all just seen Top Gun for the first time. Such is the influence of the latest big-screen Frank Miller adaptation, a hyper-violent, hyper-masculine ode to honor and duty by way of blood, blood and more blood. Did I mention the blood ?

Stylistically, 300 ‘s melees recall the Wachowski Bros. Matrix trilogy and V for Vendetta . Just as those films raised the visual-effects bar, so 300 could well become a new cinematic benchmark. Combat feels dance-like in its choreography, alternating between real time and slow motion. This results in highly stylized violence—which is all the more emphasized by plumes of blood erupting from combatants’ wounds. Regarding the film’s look, director Zack Snyder commented, “It’s not trying to be reality. The blood is treated like paint, like paint on a canvas. It’s not Saving Private Ryan .” Snyder also admitted he was more interested in creating visually compelling shots than he was recreating historically accurate fight scenes. “It’s bulls—,” he said of some combat elements, “but it looks good.”

Looking good felt to me like Gladiator on steroids—with several graphic sex scenes tossed in to add titillation. Despite its consistent and at times moving emphases on duty and sacrifice, family and freedom, this blood-bathed epic remains so thoroughly saturated with visceral imagery that those virtues risk getting buried in battle.

Given that, I think I can safely say that the enthusiasm of the crowd I witnessed had much less to do with the film’s positive themes than the fact that the filmmakers have managed to make slaughter (and sensuality) look so very cool.

Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

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300: Rise of an Empire

2014, Action/Adventure, 1h 43m

What to know

Critics Consensus

It's bound to hit some viewers as an empty exercise in stylish gore, and despite a gonzo starring performance from Eva Green, 300: Rise of an Empire is a step down from its predecessor. Read critic reviews

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300: rise of an empire videos, 300: rise of an empire   photos.

While King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans have their date with destiny at Thermopylae, another battle against the Persians is brewing, this time at sea. Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton), a Greek general, sees the threat posed by the God-King Xerxes of Persia. He knows that he must unite all of Greece if he is to stand any chance of repelling the Persian invasion. Even if he accomplishes his mission, Themistocles must still face Artemisia (Eva Green), the ruthless leader of the Persian armada.

Rating: R (Nudity|A Sex Scene|Some Language|Stylized Bloody Violence)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Noam Murro

Producer: Gianni Nunnari , Mark Canton , Zack Snyder , Deborah Snyder , Bernie Goldmann

Writer: Zack Snyder , Kurt Johnstad

Release Date (Theaters): Mar 7, 2014  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Dec 14, 2015

Box Office (Gross USA): $106.6M

Runtime: 1h 43m

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Production Co: Cruel and Unusual Films, Mark Canton/Gianna Nunnari

Sound Mix: Datasat, Dolby Digital

Cast & Crew

Sullivan Stapleton

Themistokles

Lena Headey

Queen Gorgo

Hans Matheson

Callan Mulvey

David Wenham

Rodrigo Santoro

Jack O'Connell

Andrew Tiernan

King Darius

Andrew Pleavin

Peter Mensah

Persian Emissary

General Artaphernes

Ashraf Barhom

General Bandari

Christopher Sciueref

General Kashani

Zack Snyder

Screenwriter

Kurt Johnstad

Gianni Nunnari

Mark Canton

Deborah Snyder

Bernie Goldmann

Thomas Tull

Executive Producer

Frank Miller

Stephen Jones

Simon Duggan

Cinematographer

Patrick Tatopoulos

Production Design

Wyatt Smith

Film Editing

David Brenner

Alexandra Byrne

Costume Design

Original Music

Supervising Art Direction

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Critic Reviews for 300: Rise of an Empire

Audience reviews for 300: rise of an empire.

Did Frank Miller really approve this? Drawing from an unpublished sequel to 300, 300: Rise of an Empire (the title is meaningless) is a follow up to the first film where the Spartans have died. Now the other Greek city states must unite against the invading Persians and their allies. Eva Green was beautiful and she performed a role that is totally outcasted perfectly. Sullivan Stapleton had a good performance but his figure really didn't suit the role of Themistocles. Aside from the unnecessary gore and sex, it was quite entertaining.

The ties to the chronologically simultaneously happening original film are actually pretty well done. The story is not as straight forward and the visuals not quite as unique and striking, but still pretty impressive. The action is top notch, though and while some dialogs are just as shallow in their "die for honor" pathos the result is overall really entertaining. The end comes a little suddenly, while I would have been okay with following those battles a little longer. Still, pretty decent.

If you took the greatness of the first 300 film, watered it down, added Greek ships but still managed to toss in some good female nudity, you'd get this film. Not nearly as good as the first one, but still fairly entertaining if you have nothing to do on a rainy afternoon besides folding laundry.

Eva Green's performance is the only thing that will keep you watching.

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T he political and media classes of Iran are reportedly up in arms about this fantastically silly retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480BC, co-produced by Frank Miller, author of the pulpy shocker Sin City, and also the graphic novel on which this movie is based. With the kind of tremulous fervour that only prepubescent boys can work up on the subject of war, it recounts how the barbarous invading hordes of Persia were heroically held back by just 300 oiled and muscly Spartan warriors long enough for the Greek armies to regroup and for Athenian democracy - and by implication, all our inherited western values - to be saved for ever more. Iranian commentators, sudden and quick in quarrel, have found the slight intolerable. These people will presumably now redouble their commitment to historical sensitivity with another Holocaust Denial Conference.

And anyway, please. The Persians aren't made to look that bad. If they were, they'd be played by Brits. As it is, their leader, King Xerxes, is semi-nude (like everyone else) with loads of ethnic-looking body jewellery and he is played by pert Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro, last seen almost getting off with Laura Linney in Love, Actually and almost getting off with Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's multimillion dollar Chanel ad.

It's the Spartan King, Leonidas, who is played by a Brit: the grizzled, masculine, shouty figure of Gerard Butler, like a poor man's Russell Crowe. He's even shown in a rippling cornfield with his lady wife, like the great Gladiator of old. Like the other 299 warriors, he models an unattractive pair of trunks, looking like no one so much as the legendary 1970s English wrestler Mick McManus, although Mick never had those twin slabs of pecs and the kind of ripped abs that come from 1,000 crunches a day - or at any rate a fair bit of digital tweaking in post-production.

The biggest laugh comes when Leonidas, while striding purposefully around in his dun-coloured pants, gruffly denounces the culture of Athens as "poets and boy-lovers!" Oh Leonidas! Do you really want to go there, your Majesty? Do you really want to poke the lid of that worm-filled can with your great big Spartan spear? I had a feeling that, whatever the historical reality of the Spartans' sexual conventions, the Spartan armourer here should have been working overtime running up the 300 handbags necessary for the kind of martial contest for which this vast platoon of gym-bunnies is most obviously fitted. The Spartans were historically joined by Thespians, and frankly they are all Thespians in spirit. I don't think I have ever seen a more unintimidating bunch. Were they up against Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Hyacinth Bucket we would see 300 arses - that is to say 600 tastefully smudged, semi-revealed Spartan buttocks - getting well and truly kicked. The silliest-sounding one is the Australian actor David Wenham, who has a strangulated English accent, as if he is auditioning to be a commentator on Test Match Special.

Xerxes commands a vast force and moreover has at his disposal a number of gigantic beasts, real and legendary, along with weird claw-handed giants whose job is to decapitate underperforming generals pour encourager les autres. He arrogantly sends word to Sparta, demanding of Leonidas some token form of submission: a tribute of earth and water. Leonidas refuses, kicks the Persians' emissary into a well, and slaughters the rest of the messenger's entourage too, apparently reckoning that, in the richness and fullness of time, their non-reappearance back in the Persian camp will tell Xerxes all he needs to know. Yet a corrupt cadre of Spartan priests, given to slobbering loathsomely over beautiful dancing girls, tries to tell Leonidas that the time is not propitious for Sparta to go to war. These hideous misshapen old men - and I have never seen a film go in quite so enthusiastically for the ugly-equals-wicked equation - are in the pocket of Sparta's most duplicitous and corrupt politician Theron, played by Dominic West.

Theron's most abysmal act of wickedness, while the King is away, is to force himself upon Leonidas's queen, played in full spirited-filly mode by Lena Headey . "This will not be over quickly," he hisses malevolently into her ear. "You will not enjoy this." I checked my watch at this stage, and found that on this issue, Theron had a point.

And yet it has to be said that there is a level of cheerfully self-aware ridiculousness, which means that 300 is not entirely without entertainment value. Pundits might be pretty quick to invoke Leni Riefenstahl in connection with this movie, and certainly Nazi Germany did indeed have a belligerent-sentimental soft spot for the Spartans at Thermopylae. But no one could possibly take it seriously, and surely no one in their right mind in the US could find in Frank Miller's homoerotic battle fantasy of Thermopylae an incitement to war against Iran. Apart from anything else, the idea of America having the Spartans' underdog status is not plausible.

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By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

The ads tell you to “prepare for glory” as 300 Spartans go to war against an army of Persians, numbering 250,000, in the film version of Frank Miller’s graphic novel about the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae. My advice is to prepare your eyes for popping — hell, they just might fly out of their sockets — in the face of such turbocharged visuals. Those who saw Robert Rodriguez’s 2005 film of Miller’s Sin City , will have some idea of what’s in store: Actors perform against blank screens on which backgrounds are drawn to represent the panels Miller created for Dark Horse Comics in 1998. There are times when the process, however stunning, can suck the air out of a scene and make the viewer feel boxed in. But director Zack Snyder, who did a bang-up job on the remake of Dawn of the Dead , keeps the action roaring. Spears, swords and other handy phallic symbols pierce skin with startling regularity, causing great gushes of cartoon blood that make it really sticky for guys to walk in sandals.

And what guys! Decked out like gladiators in a gay fashion layout, the soldiers from the Greek city-state of Sparta look gym-ready for battle in crotch-squeezing ensembles that expose as much flesh as an R rating will allow. Manliest of all is The Phantom of the Opera ‘s Gerard Butler as Leonidas, the king with no patience for the cowards and boy-lovers on the Greek council. Dominic West plays Theron, a sleazy politician keen on stopping Leonidas from inciting war against the Persians. Theron denigrates the theory that the Persians intend to dominate the world and unleash their weapons of mass destruction, including mutant rhinos, elephants and a masked army called the Immortals. That leaves Leonidas no choice, after a short break to refresh the missus, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), but to round up 300 of his bravest bodyguards and embark on a doomed mission against the Persians. The king does everything but sing Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender” to rally the troops. The trick is to bottle up the pesky Persians in a narrow mountain pass.

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As you might guess, 300 dazzles as spectacle, but as history it’s dodgy. The film’s queer eye focuses hard on Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), the Persian king who fancies himself a god and keeps insisting that Leonidas get on his knees before him. Leonidas has more than a touch of Mel Gibson in him, and he will not comply. This causes Xerxes to pout and add more jewelry to his body armor. Meanwhile, back home in Sparta, Queen Gorgo tries to persuade Theron to rally the council to help her husband by submitting to Theron’s S&M sexual desires. He backs her against a wall, lifts her toga and drills away with few murmurs about how “this will not be over quickly, and you will not enjoy it.” But since we’re in Miller territory, you can bet Gorgo will make Theron gag on his words.

The rest is all battle, all the time. And fanboys will thrill to the carnage and presumably forgive the puffed-up dialogue and regrettable lack of characterization. 300 is a movie blood-drunk on its own artful excess. Guys of all ages and sexes won’t be able to resist it.

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Pretty close to being the ultimate "guy movie.".

I've waited a long time to see 300 , the movie inspired by Frank Miller's graphic novel about the Spartans. If nothing else, based on the trailers I was expecting a movie that at least visually, would blow me away. My only concern going in was that I had heard that there were WAY too many slow-motion scenes... in fact that every single battle sequence was in slow-mo. On the plus side, if ever there seemed to be a film that would connect directly into the testosterone center of the male brain this looked like it was going to be it.

For the most part, it delivers big time.

300 tells the (no doubt highly romanticized) story of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., where King Leonidas of Sparta made a stand against the self-proclaimed god-king of Persia and his massive army. Leonidas had 300 Spartan warriors and a few hundred other Greek conscripts as back up to go up against an army purported to be one million men strong.

Via narration the film opens with a short history lesson about Sparta and it's people, and you immediately get a sense of who they are. There are no wimps or physically inferior people in this civilization... only the strong are allowed to live. Both the men and women are forceful, proud people, with some male children destined to become ultimate warriors who begin training as soon as they can walk.

We see Leonidas (played with great gusto by Gerard Butler) as a seven year old in combat training where his instructor pulls no punches, and then at about 10 or 12 years old where he undergoes the rite of passage in the wild. He will either return as a man or he will not return at all. Cut to him at 40 and as king, where he and his beautiful wife Queen Gorgo (played by Lena Headey) obviously rule together. A messenger from the king of Persia comes to tell Leonidas he must kneel before King Xerxes (played by the insanely tall Rodrigo Santoro) and submit to Persian rule. Leonidas gives a typical Spartan response when he refuses... with feeling .

Sure, there is some political maneuvering going on as part of the story back in Sparta, where the Queen tries to convince the council to send the rest of the Spartan army to reinforce the 300, and there are a couple of erotic nude scenes to keep the male audience happy (that Oracle... woah). And the reason for the politics is that King Leonidas went against the wishes of the council and the creepy, lecherous and leperous high priests in deciding to attack the Persian army. He takes 300 men to face King Xerxes at Thermopylae, where a narrow canyon will allow him to hold off the hordes of invaders with relatively few men. And this, my friends is why you go see this movie.

But the BATTLE is what 300 is all about.

The fight scenes in this movie are incredible... the word "glorious" comes to mind. Yes, there is a lot of slow motion but it serves to accentuate the battle. It's mesmerizing to watch this small band of men go against everything Xerxes throws at them. No matter what, they don't back down. They take on regular foot soldiers, archers, creepy "immortals" who are Xerxes elite fighting force, a wierd giant mutant guy who apparently doesn't understand that getting stabbed hurts and is supposed to stop you, and on up from there. These men led by King Leonidas are the very definition of "Never Say Die."

The only thing that kept this movie from getting a NC-17 rating for violence is the fact that it's shot in sepia tones and the blood that appears onscreen look black (as it did in Lord of the Rings ). And there is a LOT of blood.

Now I'm not a big critic of the MPAA, but there are some things they decide that are just plain silly as far as I'm concerned. You can have gore galore in a movie, but as long as the blood isn't red they'll cut it some slack. Wierd, but I digress.

Aside from the amazing battles, I enjoyed the performances of the leads. Butler was intense and feral when required, yet still had a quiet side as Leonidas. David Wenham (who played Faramir in Lord of the Rings ) does a somber job as Leonidas friend and the narrator, and Lena Headey as Leonidas' queen was both beautiful and strong onscreen, plus with an outfit or two that rivals the famous Princess Leia metal "slave bikini." :-)

I've also never seen such a huge collection of six-pack abs outside of a bodybuilder competition. I imagine that Gold's Gym and 24 Hour Fitness are going to see spikes in new membership numbers for the next couple of weeks as this movie makes millions of coach potato men feel physically insignificant as they stuff popcorn in their faces.

On the negative side, I thought the film went on a bit too long and started to run out of steam towards the end. The political aspect of the film that takes place back in Sparta was not compelling when compared to what was going on at the battlefield. Much like watching an American Idol performance where a big finish can make you forget the mediocre beginning and middle, I had to remember how great the first 80% of 300 was and not judge it only on how it felt towards the end.

Overall, a great ride that will get you fired up if you're a guy, and although it's very bloody I suppose there is lots of eye candy for the ladies. :-)

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300: rise of an empire: film review.

Eva Green and Sullivan Stapleton star in director Noam Murro's sequel to the 2007 film.

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

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Playing the most vicious, and certainly sexiest, naval commander ever to ride the waves of the Aegean, Eva Green has a one-for-the-ages scene in 300: Rise of an Empire , in which she decapitates an adversary with two deft sword strokes, then, holding his head by the hair, kisses him on the mouth with pointedly derisive hunger. Given his condition, the man does not respond but, given the bestower, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had … just a bit.

Other than for the pleasure of watching Green try to conquer ancient Greece dressed as a distant forebearer of Catwoman, more is less and a little late in this long-aborning sequel to the 2007 bloodbath that was stylistically extreme and just different enough from anything else in its field to become an international action sensation. Centering on mostly aquatic battles that historically took place simultaneously to the Battle of Thermopylae so fancifully depicted in the earlier film, this follow-up slavishly adheres to the graphic comics-meet-video games look of the original. It would be a mild surprise if box-office results equaled those of the original, which came to $456 million worldwide (slightly more from foreign than domestic tills), but most fans will still probably want to check it out.

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Although Gerard Butler ‘s star has significantly fallen due to the 17 mediocre films he’s made since 300 , he’s missed here; his replacement at the top of the sequel’s cast, Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton , just can’t bellow on a par with Butler, whose cocky, over-the-top abandon and staunch physical presence leave big sandals to fill. Visually, there was clearly a mandate to hew close to the original’s look. All the same, it’s disappointing that, after all the years, no effort has been made to augment or riff on the style at all; in fact, the new film is more monochromatic and duller in appearance, lacking the bold reds and rich earth tones that are glimpsed here in brief visits to Sparta and the events at Thermopylae.

Original director Zack Snyder , who moved on to the Superman franchise at Warner Bros., turned the directing reins over to Israeli commercials ace Noam Murro , whose previous feature was the 2008 independent Smart People . However, Snyder stayed around to co-produce and adapt Frank Miller ‘s graphic novel Xerxes along with returning co-scripter Kurt Johnstad . Other top creative personnel are different, which hasn’t prevented the sequel from sporting the same bombastic, slo-mo, blood-in-your-face aesthetic.

Narrated by Lena Headey ‘s Spartan Queen Gorgo, Rise looks at the Persian invasion of Greece, in the late summer of 480 B.C., from a different angle than did the land-based 300 , concentrating on the purported 1,000-ship fleet that King Xerxes expected would have an easy time conquering the divided Greeks. It also provides some nifty illustrated backstory tidbits; that the arrow that killed Persian King Darius was fired by Themistokles (Stapleton), that Artemisia (Green) is a Greek who turned on her own people for what they did to her and her family, and that Xerxes (the returning Rodrigo Santoro ), in a vividly illustrated sequence, had himself transformed from man to golden god (who resembles a walking advertisement for a Beverly Hills jewelry store) so he could exact revenge for his father’s death by conquering the Greeks once and for all.

VIDEO: ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ Trailer Has More Blood, Guts and Glory

So while Spartan King Leonidas keeps Xerxes occupied at the “hot gates,” the non-aristocratic soldier-politician Themistokles dares to engage the mighty Persian navy with a far smaller force, but with much shrewdness. Although he’s managed to patch together a coalition of Greek states to try to ward off the Persians’ assault, his repeated attempts to persuade Sparta to join in are rebuffed by Gorgo, who insists that her city-state does not share the Athenian dream of a united Greece.

But in 300 — or is it 600 now? — 2,500-year-old geopolitics takes a back seat to ranting speeches, ripped torsos, manly-manness and the spurting, spilling and splashing blood, which is often aimed strategically at the viewer for maximum 3D effect. When Greeks wade into battle jumping from ship to ship, the film slips way over into video game mode as Themistokles, the father-son team of Scyllias and Calisto (Callan Mulvey and Jack O’Connell) and others implausibly cut through hordes of opponents with little trouble.

For much of the time, the Greeks have luck on their side, and director Murro and his team clearly visualize how low clouds and fog hide the straits into which the home team induces the invaders to unwittingly enter. They also show how the outnumbered locals effectively use a circling strategy to disrupt the Persians’ attack mode, sending many to a watery grave.

To be an unsuccessful subordinate to Artemisia is not an enviable position; her punishments, as we’ve seen, are most creative. But as her opponents’ successes mount, the imperious warrior develops an admiration — and maybe something more — for Themistokles’ skills. Implausibly, he accepts her invitation for a shipboard summit, at which their intense enmity crosses the line into craven lust, resulting in a contest of rough and varied sex that leaves them both with a heightened sense of competitiveness. That she doesn’t kill him afterward like a praying mantis seems entirely out of character.

Although Themistokles’ inspirational speech to his dwindling supply of troops is nowhere near as rousing as Leonidas’ was before the Spartans’ last stand in 300 , the result in the Straits of Salamis is quite the opposite. In their final armed face-off, Artemisia takes the opportunity to insult Themistokles’ lovemaking skills, but he has the last laugh.

If Rise proves to be anywhere near as successful as its progenitor, one or perhaps two films could follow that would be set in the following year, 479 B.C., when the united Greeks, this time with Spartan help, put an end once and for all to Persian dreams of local conquest with same-day land and sea victories at Plataea and Mycale, respectively.

More than in the original, it’s often easy to tell where the small foreground sets occupied by the actors end and the digitally created backgrounds begin. The score by Junkie XL is predictably orotund, although some unusual and arresting moments emerge here and there.

Production: Cruel and Unusual Films, Mark Canton/Gianni Nunnari Productions Cast: Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Hans Matheson, Callan Mulvey, Rodrigo Santoro, Jack O’Connell, Andrew Tiernan, Igal Naor, Andrew Pleavin Director: Noam Murro Screenwriters: Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, based on the graphic novel Xerxes by Frank Miller Producers: Gianni Nunnari, Mark Canton, Zack Snyder, Bernie Goldman Executive producers: Thomas Tull, Frank Miller, Stephen Jones, Craig J. Flores, Jon Jashni Director of photography: Simon Duggan Production designer: Patrick Tatopoulos Costume designer: Alexandra Byrne Editors: Wyatt Smith, David Brenner Music: Junkie XL Visual effects supervisors: Richard Hollander, John ‘DJ’ Desjardin

Rated R, 103 minutes

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• In the ancient battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fight against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. They face insurmountable odds when they are betrayed by a Spartan reject.
• In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army in the mountain pass of Thermopylae. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history. Persian King Xerxes led a Army of well over 100,000 (Persian king Xerxes before war has about 170,000 army) men to Greece and was confronted by 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans. Xerxes waited for 10 days for King Leonidas to surrender or withdraw but left with no options he pushed forward. After 3 days of battle all the Greeks were killed. The Spartan defeat was not the one expected, as a local shepherd, named Ephialtes, defected to the Persians and informed Xerxes that the separate path through Thermopylae, which the Persians could use to outflank the Greeks, was not as heavily guarded as they thought. — cyberian2005
• 480 B.C. When a Persian envoy arrives at the gates of Sparta, Greece, demanding submission to King Xerxes, brave King Leonidas sends word to the Persian ruler that Spartans will never give up their rights over their land. As enraged King Xerxes dispatches armed-to-the-teeth multitudes of Persian soldiers to Thermopylae, a narrow coastal passage of strategic significance, King Leonidas and just 300 of his finest royal bodyguards march against the invading army, refusing to bow to the all-powerful enemy. And although the Spartans were vastly outnumbered, King Leonidas' men crushed wave after wave of superior Persian forces--a fierce, winner-take-all confrontation that would go down in the annals of history as the legendary Battle of Thermopylae. — Nick Riganas
• In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers. The battle is a suicide mission, meant to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to prepare for the invasion. However, that doesn't stop the Spartans from throwing their hearts into the fray, determined to take as many Persians as possible with them. — rmlohner
• Spartan customs are harsh. The Spartans inspect each infant born to ensure it is whole - if it is deformed, the baby is abandoned to die. They raise their boys in the school of hard knocks, the agoge - in combat training, a small boy's loss of his weapon earns a bloody lip from the hand of his own father. At age 7, each young boy is torn from his mother and makes his own way in the wilderness, to return a man. Even the King endures this rite of passage. At age 15, young King-to-be Leonidas ( Tyler Neitzel ) lures a wolf into a narrow passage so that he can kill it. He returns home to be crowned King. Years later, messengers visit King Leonidas ( Gerard Butler ) requesting Sparta's submission to King Xerxes ( Rodrigo Santoro ). Insulted by their attitude, King Leonidas kicks the messengers into a well. Acknowledging the threat of Xerxes's invasion force, he visits the Ephors (priests) to obtain their favour before sending the Spartan army in battle. He proposes to repel the numerically superior enemy by using the terrain of the Hot Gates of Thermopylae, funneling the Persians into a narrow pass between the rocks and the sea, where their immense numbers will "count for nothing." The Ephors, wary of the plan, consult the Oracle ( Kelly Craig ). In her drugged trance she decrees that Sparta must not go to war, lest they interrupt the sacred Carneian festival. Leonidas departs in anger, and the priests receive their bribe of Xerxes' gold from the Spartan traitor, Theron ( Dominic West ), for their negative response. Leonidas is reluctant to defy the corrupt clergy outright, but his wife ( Lena Headey ) encourages him to think outside the box. Leonidas elects to take 300 of his best soldiers as his "bodyguard" on a leisurely walk to the strategic Hot Gates location. His wife says goodbye, telling him to come back "with his shield or on it", and gives him a necklace. On the road they meet some allies, who are shocked that the Spartans are sending such a small force. Leonidas asks the professions of the allied army, who are craftsmen and artisans. He points out that he has brought more soldiers than they. Joined by Arcadians and other Greeks, they arrive at Thermopylae. In sight of the approaching Persian army, they construct a wall to contain the Persians' advance. Strong storms destroy some of Xerxes fleet, but it is only a small percentage of the massive army they will face. A horribly disfigured man, Ephialtes ( Andrew Tiernan ), comes to see Leonidas to warn him of a disused goat path at the rear of his position. Ephialtes claims that his parents fled Sparta at his birth to save his life. He hopes to redeem them by fighting for Leonidas. Leonidas explains that each Spartan warrior is a key part of the phalanx, and asks Ephialtes to show that he can lift his shield high enough to properly defend his fellow warriors. When it becomes evident that he cannot, Leonidas gently tells him to care for the fallen instead. Ephialtes' fondest hopes are crushed. A Persian emissary arrives, and finds that the corpses of the previous scouting party now make up part of the large rock wall. The Persian states that their arrows will blot out the sun, and the Spartans agree they will simply fight in the shade. The emissary's party is killed. Prior to the battle the Persians demand that the Spartans drop their arms and surrender. Leonidas refuses and challenges the Persians to come and take their weapons from them. With their tightly-knit phalanx formation, the Spartans funnel the Persians into the narrow terrain, repeatedly rebuffing them and inflicting heavy casualties. Xerxes, impressed with Spartan fighting skill, personally approaches Leonidas to persuade him to surrender. He promises Leonidas wealth and power in exchange for his loyalty. Leonidas declines, promising instead to make the "God King" bleed, and turns to rejoin his army. Dismayed at the refusal, Xerxes sends his masked personal guard, "The Immortals", which name the Spartans also prove false. The battles continue, with the Spartans prevailing over soldiers and animals drawn from the vast reaches of the Persian empire: from Mongolian barbarians and Eastern chemists to African rhinoceroses and Indian war elephants. However, some of the brave Spartan warriors are killed, and it becomes clear that more will follow. Ephialtes goes to Xerxes, and agrees to show the goat path to the Persians in exchange for a uniform, along with promises of women and wealth. Xerxes will grant Ephialtes his wish if he will kneel before the god king. Back in Sparta, Queen Gorgo has been trying to convince the council to send help to Leonidas. A friendly councilman arranges for her to speak, but explains that she will need Theron on her side. Theron agrees to help her if she will sleep with him - so she does. At the Hot Gates, the Spartans learn they have been betrayed, and know their fight is doomed. The Arcadians retreat in the face of certain death. The Spartans refuse to follow. Leonidas orders a reluctant Dilios to return to Sparta and tell of their inevitable deaths. In Sparta, Queen Gorgo makes her appeal to the council. Instead of supporting her as promised, Theron betrays her, accusing her of adultery. Enraged, Gorgo snatches a sword and stabs Theron, rupturing a bag of gold hidden in his robe. As the coins stamped with Persian markings spill onto the ground, the Council realizes Theron's treachery and agree to unite against Persia. At the Hot Gates, as the Persians surround the Spartans, who have created a dome out of their shields. Leonidas stands along in front of the dome. Xerxes's general demands their surrender, declaring that Leonidas may keep his title as King of Sparta and become Warlord of all Greece, answerable only to Xerxes. Ephialtes urges this as well, to which Leonidas remarks, "May you live forever," an insult from a culture valuing death and valor in battle. Leonidas drops his shield and removes his helmet, seemingly bowing in submission. Stelios then bursts out of the dome and leaps over his king and kills the general. A furious Xerxes orders his troops to attack. As Persian archers shoot the remaining Spartans, Leonidas rises and hurls his spear at Xerxes, ripping open his cheek, thus making "the God-King bleed." Xerxes, visibly shaken by this reminder of his own mortality, watches as the remaining Spartans perish beneath the combined might of his army. Leonidas himself marks his final moments by telling his wife aloud that he loves her. A rain of arrows falls upon him and the screen goes black. Back in Sparta, Dilios gives the necklace to Queen Gorgo and tells her of her husband's fate. Concluding his tale before an audience of attentive Spartans, Dilios declares that the 120,000-strong Persian army that narrowly defeated 300 Spartans now faces 10,000 Spartans commanding 30,000 Greeks. Praising Leonidas's sacrifice, Dilios leads the assembled Greek army into a fierce charge against the Persian army, igniting the Battle of Plataea.

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — 300 Movie — A Review Of The Movie 300 By Zack Snyder

A Review of The Movie 300 by Zack Snyder

• Categories: 300 Movie Film Analysis Movie Review

About this sample

Words: 916 |

Published: Aug 6, 2021

Words: 916 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Table of contents

A glimpse into ancient history, cinematic mastery, cultural impact and reception, personal reflection, works cited.

• Snyder, Z. (Director), & Roven, C. H. (Producer). (2006). 300 [Film]. Warner Bros. Pictures.
• Miller, F. (1999). 300. Dark Horse Comics.
• Roach, M. (2007). Zack Snyder: The 300 Interview with Kam Williams. NewsBlaze. http://newsblaze.com/story/20070317093737tsop.nb/topstory.html
• Boucher, G. (2007). Spartan Movie Stirs Ties to History. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-mar-06-et-3006-story.html
• Rotten Tomatoes. (n.d.). 300 (2006). https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/300
• IMDb. (n.d.). 300 (2006) - Awards. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416449/awards
• Lane, A. (2007). The 300 effect: After its success at the box office, critics fear that Spartan-style fiction could damage relations with Iran. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/mar/29/iran.iran

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The Movie "300 - Rise of an Empire"

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26 March 2024

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The Movie “300 - Rise of an Empire” The worksheet consists of an information text. Based on this text, there are various exercises such as matching tasks, multiple-choice questions, open questions and true-false questions. You receive the material and solutions in PDF format for easy printing and in docx format for The worksheet consists of an information text. Based on this text, there are various exercises such as matching tasks, multiple-choice questions, open questions and true-false questions. You receive the material and solutions in PDF format for easy printing and in docx format for individual customization.

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‘Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World’ Review: A Wild Romanian Trip

In Radu Jude’s shambling, acidly funny movie set in Bucharest, a foul-mouthed gofer named Angela tours the troubled heart and soul of her country.

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By Manohla Dargis

Late in Radu Jude’s “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” the movie shifts tones. Our heroine, a funny, foul-mouthed gofer who’s racking up miles driving in Bucharest, has just told her passenger about a road outside the city that has more memorials edging it than it has kilometers. The movie then cuts to one after another roadside memorial — some stone, others metal, some with photos, others with flowers — for an astonishing four silent minutes, and this near-unclassifiable, often comically ribald movie turns into a plaintive requiem.

The woman, Angela — the sneakily charismatic Ilinca Manolache — is a production assistant toiling for a foreign company that’s making a workplace safety video in Romania. Among her tasks is interviewing men and women who have been injured on the job, the idea being that one will make a camera-friendly cautionary tale for workers. As she changes gears, and the movie switches between black-and-white film and color video, Angela flips off other drivers, acidly critiques all that she encounters, creates TikTok videos and effectively maps the geopolitical landscape of contemporary Romania. At one point, she meets the German director Uwe Boll , who’s known to have trounced a few of his critics in boxing matches.

I don’t think that Jude wants to beat up critics (even if the interlude with Boll, who’s shooting a “bug-killer film,” is almost endearing); among other things, his movies tend to be well-received. Jude’s shaggy provocation “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” for instance, earned high praise as well as top honors at the Berlin Film Festival in 2021. At the same time, there’s a pushy, borderline abrasive aspect to how Jude strings out Angela’s time behind the wheel in “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” forcing you to share in her tedium. The movie is overflowing with ideas — about history, capitalism, cinema, representation — but it also tests your patience before amply rewarding it.

It’s still dark when Angela stumbles out of bed one early morning, naked and cursing. (One of her favorite expletives is featured both in the first and final words in the movie, a fitting bookending blurt that seems like a cri de coeur and one of the movie’s more unambiguously authorial statements.) Before long, she’s dressed and out in the streets, making the first in a series of TikToks in which she takes on the guise of her bald social-media avatar, a bro named Bobita, an extravagantly offensive vulgarian who brags about hanging out with his pal Andrew Tate, the online influencer and self-anointed “king of toxic masculinity.”

Tate’s trajectory is lurid and gross, but the references to him are more symbolically than specifically germane to the movie. (Tate moved to Romania in 2017; he was arrested there in May 2023 on an assortment of charges, including human trafficking.) For Angela — for Jude — Tate basically functions as yet another emblem of Bobita’s grotesqueness and of a larger worldview, one that has reduced everything to its market value. Everything is part of his unending hustle, including the Maserati he brags about owning, the women he boasts about sexually conquering and, of course, himself. “Remember,” Bobita says, “like and share!” With her avatar, Angela entertains her audience with a very sharp sting.

The same can be said of “Do Not Expect Too Much,” which gradually gathers shape and force as Angela motors around Bucharest. As she does, Jude cuts between her and the title heroine of “ Angela Goes On ,” a 1981 Romanian film directed by Lucian Bratu about a taxi driver. Produced in the waning years of the Ceausescu dictatorship , the earlier film serves as a fascinating counterpoint to Jude’s movie visually and thematically. (The opening credits announce that this movie is a “conversation” with the 1981 film.) From one angle, not much has changed, but if the roads are still jammed and people hungry, it’s now capitalism rather than communism that keeps this world busily spinning.

At one point, as her endless work drags on, Angela drives to the airport to pick up an executive from the company producing the safety video. The executive, Doris, towers above Angela, and in a perfect bit of casting is played by the great German actress Nina Hoss. Casually if chicly dressed, Doris has come to Bucharest in advance of the video shoot, the team now having found a palatable star (its “raw material”). It’s a charge that she handles with impeccable manners and the kind of nonchalant, world-dominating hauteur that I imagine old-regime royals expressed with a lazy wave of the hand as they ordered someone to death.

Doris only makes chitchat with Angela, although in a killer touch — and in another of Jude’s sly comments about high and low culture, East Europe and West — the executive turns out to be related to Goethe. Eventually, Angela ends up in an alley, where many of the story’s pieces converge, including its wounded worker, the star of the Ceausescu-era film and, of course, Bobita. By that point, Jude has taken you all over, bridged the past with the present and shown the country’s many double faces, comic and tragic. He’s also come close to exhausting you with his movie, which is as relentless, pessimistic, heartbreaking and enlivening as the amazing Angela, who — like Jude, I suspect — keeps going because she must.

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World Not rated. In Romanian, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 43 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic for The Times. More about Manohla Dargis

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