spartans 300 movie reviews

Spartan Special at CGI Friday’s

Vincent Regan, left,and Gerard Butler star in "300."

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.

• Lena Headey as Gorgo
• Andrew Tiernan as Ephialtes
• 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

• Kurt Johnstad
• Michael B. Gordon

Directed by

• Zack Snyder

Leave a comment

Now playing.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

The Six Triple Eight

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Room Next Door

The Brutalist

Mufasa: The Lion King

September 5

The Last Showgirl

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Dirty Angels

Latest articles.

It’s Time to Give a FECK: Elevating Humanity through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion and Kindness (book by Chaz Ebert, with Foreword by Tamron Hall)

The Great Performances of 2024, Part Two

The Great Performances of 2024, Part One

Peacock Turns the Rom-Com Into a Game of Death in the Charming “Laid”

The best movie reviews, in your inbox.

• Warner Bros. Pictures

Summary Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, 300 is a retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian enemy, draw ... Read More

Directed By : Zack Snyder

Written By : Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, Michael B. Gordon, Frank Miller

Where to Watch

Gerard Butler

King leonidas, lena headey, queen gorgo, david wenham, dominic west, vincent regan, michael fassbender, andrew pleavin, andrew tiernan, rodrigo santoro, giovani cimmino, pleistarchos, stephen mchattie, greg kramer, alex ivanovici, kelly craig, oracle girl, leonidas at 7, 8 yrs, tyler neitzel, leonidas at 15 yrs, tim connolly, leonidas' father, marie-julie rivest, leonidas' mother, sebastian st. germain, fighting boy (12 years old), critic reviews.

• All Reviews
• Positive Reviews
• Mixed Reviews
• Negative Reviews

User Reviews

Related movies, seven samurai, the wild bunch, crouching tiger, hidden dragon, the french connection, mad max: fury road, the incredibles, star wars: episode iv - a new hope, house of flying daggers, assault on precinct 13, gangs of wasseypur, captain blood, foreign correspondent, letters from iwo jima, black panther, wolfwalkers, related news.

2025 Movie Release Calendar

Jason dietz.

Find a schedule of release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2025 and beyond, updated daily.

DVD/Blu-ray Releases: New & Upcoming

Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray (updated weekly) as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video.

The Worst Movies of 2024

We rank the lowest-scoring films released in 2024.

December 2024 Movie Preview

Keith kimbell.

The month ahead will bring a new Robert Eggers horror film, likely Oscar contender The Brutalist, a Lion King sequel, a Bob Dylan biopic, and more. Get details on these and all of the other notable films debuting this month.

The 15 Best Ridley Scott Movies

We rank the highest-scoring films directed by Ridley Scott from throughout his entire career.

• Cast & crew

User reviews

A two-sided piece of art

• Mar 30, 2007

Forget the Naysayers, 300 Delivers!

• CrassActionHero

A great movie!

• shoukanmahou
• May 20, 2007
• deadmonkeys
• Mar 12, 2007

The Evolution of Epic Battles

• Alex_Priest
• Feb 14, 2007

300 Worldpremiere Berlin

• Feb 22, 2007

An Epic Film

• walken_on_sunshine
• Jan 22, 2007

Fantastic comic novel brought to screen

• kowgraphics
• Dec 23, 2006

Cute Guys Those 300

• Mar 24, 2007

Awesome, breath-taking film.

A little disappointed.

• cfhussain20
• Mar 25, 2007

Stupendous movie making!! A masterpiece!!!

• Feb 11, 2007

what 's all the fuss about?

• saniyababinski
• Mar 18, 2007

300 is rubbish

• lollygirl3333
• Oct 16, 2008

Standing ovation at the Berlinale Film Festival

• Feb 15, 2007

300 Watch it, make up your own mind

• thewayforward10
• May 15, 2007

Always catching the coat-tails of...

• Jun 8, 2007

Visceral, violent and visually stunning to the point where the lack of much else doesn't really matter

• bob the moo
• Nov 17, 2007

Intensity, flair and passion. This is film is a beast.

• Mar 27, 2007

visually elegant, but reads like a memo from the pentagon

• hereontheoutside
• Jul 18, 2007

Childhood dreams realized.

• steveo12251
• Mar 17, 2007

Beautifully crafted film but just too "hollywood"...

• Apr 15, 2007

Despite Several Flaws A Very Memorable Movie

• Theo Robertson
• Feb 20, 2008
• Mar 8, 2007

300=big lie

• Mar 21, 2007

More from this title

More to explore, recently viewed.

Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

• 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.

Positive Elements   |   Spiritual Elements   |   Sexual & Romantic Content   |   Violent Content   |   Crude or Profane Language   |   Drug & Alcohol Content   |   Other Noteworthy Elements   | Conclusion

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 & Romantic 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 & 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 Noteworthy 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.

Latest Reviews

Mufasa: The Lion King

The Six Triple Eight

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Weekly reviews straight to your inbox.

Want to stay Plugged In?

Our weekly newsletter will keep you in the loop on the biggest things happening in entertainment and technology. Sign up today, and we’ll send you a chapter from the new Plugged In book, Becoming a Screen-Savvy Family , that focuses on how to implement a “screentime reset” in your family!

We sent an email to [email protected]

Didn't you get the email?

By joining, you agree to the Terms and Policies and Privacy Policy and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• About Rotten Tomatoes®
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening This Week
• Top Box Office
• Coming Soon to Theaters
• Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most Popular Streaming Movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 87% Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Link to Sonic the Hedgehog 3
• 93% The Brutalist Link to The Brutalist
• 86% The Room Next Door Link to The Room Next Door

New TV Tonight

• 100% What If...?: Season 3
• -- Squid Game: Season 2
• -- Doctor Who: Season 1.1
• -- Call the Midwife: Season 13.1
• -- Queen Woo: Season 1
• -- Maestro in Blue: Season 3
• -- The Flipping El Moussas: Season 2

Most Popular TV on RT

• 93% Black Doves: Season 1
• 85% One Hundred Years of Solitude: Season 1
• 96% Laid: Season 1
• 79% No Good Deed: Season 1
• 90% Star Wars: Skeleton Crew: Season 1
• 67% Secret Level: Season 1
• -- La Palma: Season 1
• 86% The Day of the Jackal: Season 1
• 70% Dune: Prophecy: Season 1
• 75% Dexter: Original Sin: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV

Certified fresh pick

• 96% Laid: Season 1 Link to Laid: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

100 Best Movies on HBO and MAX (December 2024)

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming.

Awards Tour

Upcoming Video Game Movies and TV Adaptations

2025 Golden Globe Awards Ballot: Complete with Tomatometer and Popcornmeter Scores

• Trending on RT
• Awards Season
• Verified Hot
• Renewed and Cancelled TV
• Happy Holidays

300 Reviews

Zack Snyder’s incredibly stylized telling of the Battle of Thermopylae gives nearly any other film on this side of the century marker an insurmountable standard to claim the title as the most mythological storytelling display in 21st-century cinema.

Full Review | Jul 3, 2024

300 claims some impressive visuals, but the narrow-mindedness of the plot and the childishness of the writing made this film hugely disappointing.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Mar 8, 2024

Forget realism, this is Greek history as a macho fantasy that privileges brute force over intellect and turns war in an epic gladiator battle.

Full Review | Aug 19, 2023

Stylized violence at its finest.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 24, 2020

If you're looking to see the rich, deep imagery of 300 play out in the most beautiful, bone-crunching way possible, this 4K offering is absolutely a must-have.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 19, 2020

Butler encompasses the demeanor of a mighty and powerful king/warrior whom men would follow into battle.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Oct 8, 2020

Very violent, but rich in atmosphere and amazing visuals.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 4, 2020

300 isn't up to the same level as Sin City, but it is still quite entertaining. Fans of blood, gore, and comic book violence won't be disappointed.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Nov 21, 2019

By no means great art, but it most certainly is fantastic trash.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 6, 2019

A highly stylised fantasy, its colour palette both lush and gloomy. Leonidas is inspiring and practical and as usual when Butler's playing someone who isn't from Scotland, 50% Scottish. Headey is terrific, put her in charge of the Ancient World right now.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 19, 2018

What's really striking about the film is that it doesn't even have the aesthetics of a comic book, to say nothing of a graphic novel-the best examples of which, at least, show considerable concern for subtle narrative rhythms.

Full Review | Aug 23, 2018

If you're in the mood for dumb, rousing, visceral excitement, you're not going to find anything on the big screen right now to rival it.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 6, 2018

There is an intelligent movie to be made about Spartan warrior culture, but 300 is not it. It is a fun ride, though, as long as you don't see it on a full stomach.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 22, 2016

Our instinctual desire to sneer at the implausibility of the story is stalled by a sense of ambition that seems unmatched even by the standards of the Hollywood assembly line.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 13, 2013

So manly it makes Troy look like a Mary-Kate and Ashley adventure.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 3, 2012

Wallowing in the same adolescent nihilism as his Sin City, this adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel suffers from a similar lack of momentum.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 9, 2012

Despite a cracking central premise and outstanding visuals, 300 ultimately leaves you feeling more gutted than some of the disemboweled soldiers on display throughout the movie.

Full Review | Jul 6, 2010

As the first blockbuster of the year, 300 sets the bar high enough, and is enjoyably silly.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 6, 2010

If 300 represents an evolution in 'virtual' cinema, then at the same time it tells a story that transports us back to the violent roots of western civilisation.

Full Review | Original Score: A+ | Jul 6, 2010

• Skip to main content
• Access keys help

Let's give Frank Miller his due: he's the cartoonist who tamed Hollywood. While the work of revered writers like Alan Moore is routinely shredded on film, Miller's high-contrast style arrives almost untouched, first in Sin City and now in 300, a bloody, hugely entertaining take on the Battle of Thermopylae. This is the story of 300 Spartans, led by Gerard Butler's King Leonidas, who took on a million invading Persians with nothing more than spears, shields and excellent muscle tone.

It's refreshing, having sat through innumerable movies about the horrors of conflict, to find one that genuinely thinks war is ace. In the hands of director Zack Snyder ( Dawn Of The Dead ), 300 is a hurricane blast of epic energy - two solid hours of big, beefy men stabbing each other and yelling "RAAAAARGH!" as loud as they can. It's a film written entirely in capital letters, shot with a visual flair that rivals Zhang Yimou in a palette so stylised that it might as well be animation. Like Sin City, 300 is all about the look - and like Sin City, it has the moral sophistication of a lynch mob. The glorificaton of the body, the dehumanised enemy, the sheer relentless carnage presented as poetry and ballet - 300 is almost fascistic in its devotion to war and heroism.

300 is a valentine to violence, hilariously macho and eye-poppingly homo-erotic. It's also the best thing that Gerard Butler has ever done. Resplendent in his scarlet robe and sixpack, sporting a beard like a furry popcorn tub, Butler's warrior king brings both a sense of humour and a brooding intelligence to the slaughter. He's well supported by Lena Headey as his queen, who is thanklessly stuck at home to fend off Dominic West's slime-coated politician.

"A VALENTINE TO VIOLENCE"

300 is not a complicated film. It's going to be widely ridiculed and rightly so, because viewed with the slightest critical distance it becomes extremely funny, but taken on it's own terms - as Greek myth meets Looney Tunes - it's kind of a masterpiece.

300 is released in UK cinemas on Friday 23rd March 2007.

End Credits

Cinema Search

New Releases

Average rating: 4 from 9284 votes

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

The Frank Miller experience continues with the mythology of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. where, according to legend and his graphic novel, 300 Spartan warriors went up against the barbarous hordes of the Persian god-king Xerxes.

By Kirk Honeycutt , The Associated Press February 14, 2007 8:00pm

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Send an Email
• Show additional share options
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Whats App
• Print the Article
• Post a Comment

This review was written for the festival screening of “300.”

BERLIN — The Frank Miller experience continues in “300.” This is the second movie to transfer a muscular story and visuals from a Miller graphic novel to the screen. Instead of the neo-noir, pulp-fiction theater of cruelty in the Robert Rodriguez’s 2005 film “Sin City,” “300” dives into the mythology of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Here, according to the graphic novel by Miller and Lynn Varley, 300 Spartan warriors went up against the barbarous hordes of the Persian god-king Xerxes and died valiantly defending Greek notions of freedom and justice.

Related Stories

Art evans, 'die hard 2' and 'a soldier's story' actor, dies at 82, joe alwyn explains 'the brutalist' ending and that trump-esque invincibility: "it makes me angry".

Those turned off by the sex-and-violence cartoonery of “Sin City” can embrace “300,” which screened Out of Competition here. In epic battle scenes where he combines breathtaking and fluid choreography, gorgeous 3-D drawings and hundreds of visual effects, director Zack Snyder puts onscreen the seemingly impossible heroism and gore of which Homer sang in “The Iliad.” A raging hero mowing down multitudes with sword, shield and spear suddenly seems plausible.

The designed look of this alternative world, the abstraction and beauty of its topography, colors and forms, open up the human action to larger-than-life deeds and grand gestures that in a more realistic context would be pure camp. The film, which opens domestically March 9, will attract a sizable worldwide audience, skewering heavily male, of course.

Greece in the 5th century B.C. is a land truly favored by the gods, bathed in rich, harmonious dark chocolate, beige and gray colors. A prologue swiftly establishes the austere warrior city-state of Sparta, whose men are trained from birth to fight, to never retreat and never surrender.

The film’s hero, King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), has lived his entire life to fight this battle against the Persians. Its sole survivor, Dilios (David Wenham), is the one who narrates the tale. Messengers from the Persian army arrive in Sparta, arrogantly offering either capitulation or annihilation. Leonidas kills the messengers.

But political opportunism rules the Spartan Council, which insists that Leonidas consult the Oracle. This consists of beautiful young and drugged women controlled by sickly, corrupt priests. The Oracle refuses to release the Spartan army to its ruler as no battle can occur during an upcoming religious celebration.

So Leonidas has little choice but to “take a stroll” to the north with 300 of his best warriors as “bodyguards.” He chooses to engage the Persians in the Thermopylae pass, a narrow corridor between the steep cliffs of the Aegean Sea. Here the vast numbers of the enemy count for little since only a few can go up against Sparta’s best at any one time.

The stage is thus set for a cinematic meal: A succession of charges by Persian forces — slave warriors, physical oddities, African animals, magic wizards and an elite guard called the Immortals in black Darth Vader masks — is slaughtered by the 300. Snyder instinctively knows when to shift to slow motion or quick stop-action to catch the brilliant athleticism of his fighting choreography. This is thrilling stuff.

Then comes Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) himself, a bejeweled, depraved giant carried on a high tower by his slaves. The god-king tries unsuccessfully to seduce Leonidas in a homoerotic passage as the ancient world stands still.

But it is a deformed and pathetic creature, Ephialtes (Andrew Tiernan), an outcast Spartan, who betrays the 300 by showing Xerxes a hidden path leading behind Spartan lines. The 300 are doomed yet die “beautiful deaths.”

Adapting Miller’s take on Spartan battle wear, Snyder and costume designer Michael Wilkinson strip the warriors down to essentials: a helmet, shield, red capes, loin cloths and scandals in warm colors. All the rest is manly flesh. The Persians, by contrast, are dressed in all sorts of jewels, peacock color, gold, purple, black — a hooker’s ball of exotic, foreign and decadent costumes.

Snyder and his writers Kurt Johnstad and Michael B. Gordon open up a second front of villainy back home as wily politician Theron (Dominic West) manipulates the council against sending reinforcements and crudely takes Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) sexually. This is weak and unconvincing, but it does get the writers around the historical fact that the expedition against the Persians, fully supported by the city-state, probably numbered around 7,000 rather than 300.

Butler is a paragon of manhood as the fine warrior-king, but in a Frank Miller world there is no time for introspection and doubt, making him a two-dimensional creature in this 3-D world.

Headey, looking alarmingly skinny, seems more like a fashion model than reigning queen. Vincent Regan as the Captain is a man with a ferocious appetite for killing. All other roles are somewhat perfunctory as Spartan ideals overrule much of an inner life.

Obviously, the true stars here are the armies of technicians, designers, fight choreographers and cinematographer Larry Fong, who collaborate on this stylized vision of the ancient world. Then add Tyler Bates’ robust, haunting and soulful music.

What isn’t clear after two Frank Miller graphic novel movies is where this technique is leading. So far it has served only exaggerated blood, guts and sex. “300” suggests that it might create worlds of myth and fantasy not necessarily ruled by mayhem. If not, though, it’s going to get old, even ancient, very fast.

300 Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures in association with Legendary Pictures and Virtual Studios present a Mark Canton/Gianni Nunnari production Credits: Director: Zack Snyder Screenwriters: Kurt Johnstad, Michael B. Gordon Based on the graphic novel by: Frank Miller, Lynn Varley Producers: Gianni Nunnari, Mark Canton, Bernie Goldmann, Jeffrey Silver Executive producers: Frank Miller, Deborah Snyder, Craig J. Flores, Thomas Tull, William Fay, Scott Mednick, Ben Waisbren Director of photography: Larry Fong Production designer: James Bissell Visual effects supervisor: Chris Watts Music: Tyler Bates Costume designer: Michael Wilkinson Editor: William Hoy Cast: King Leonidas: Gerald Butler Queen Gorgo: Lena Headey Dilios: David Wenham Theron: Dominic West Captain: Vincent Regan Stelios: Michael Fassbinder Astinos: Tom Wisdom Xerxes: Rodrigo Santoro Ephialtes: Andrew Tiernan Running time — 117 minutes MPAA rating: R 

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Art evans, ‘die hard 2’ and ‘a soldier’s story’ actor, dies at 82, joe alwyn explains ‘the brutalist’ ending and that trump-esque invincibility: “it makes me angry”, box office: ‘sonic 3’ bounds over the hedge with $62m opening, ‘mufasa’ limps to $35m, justin baldoni dropped from wme after blake lively files complaint accusing him of sexual harassment, cate blanchett lauds metropolis cinema reopening in beirut: “this is a remarkable achievement”, ‘sing sing’ screenwriters on how to write a movie about prison.

23 Mar 2007

NaN minutes

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.

Related Articles

Movies | 11 12 2016

Movies | 08 08 2016

Movies | 11 06 2013

Movies | 09 04 2013

Movies | 13 09 2012

Movies | 15 03 2012

Movies | 16 02 2012

Movies | 09 02 2012