After reading Raven's discussion about "300" at http://greyorm.livejournal.com/86401.html I decided to rent the movie when it came out on DVD yesterday. The first notable thing is that I didn't find the visual style as offensive as it seemed in the trailers. At first glance the movie looks like it's been rendered by a video game engine. The reality is more that of high-contrast lighting with a lot of color filters, and I quickly adapted to it.

The movie was filmed entirely on bluescreen sets, and it suffered from a lot of the same problems as other movies filmed this way, such as the last 3 Star Wars movies (episodes I, II & III). The concentration of the movie seemed to be on action and special effects, and the story suffered. Or in the case of 300, the story was pretty much ignored. Plotting was very simplistic and there were only a handful of characters in the movie, all with roughly the depth of their theater-lobby cutouts. What I was left with was a lot of cool action scenes that I'm sure look wonderful in the video game undoubtedly made from this movie.

The plotting problems are exceptionally unforgivable since they're making a movie about one of the most notable bits of heroism in recorded history. If a footnote to the battle of Stalingrad can produce something as excellent as Enemy at the Gates then I expect something pretty awe-inspiring from the battle of Thermopolae.

On the good side, I really liked the portrayal of the Persians. The movie made is clear that this was a massive army that drew on the resources of an enormous empire. I've heard critiques that some people were offended by the apparent femininity of Xerces, that Frank Miller had turned him into a pansy. I'm not sure which movie they were watching, but it wasn't this one. Xerces was cool, he was smart and on the screen he was visually impressive.

So overall, I'm glad I didn't spend money to see this at the theater. I also can't say that I'd recommend running out to get the DVD. If it's a slow night and you're looking for a variation on the gladiator flick, you might pick this one up. Otherwise, skip it.