With a fantastic storyline, and tremendous effects, 300 is a film that fails to satisfy in the end. 300 tells the story of the famous Battle of Thermopylae which took place in 480 B.C. where 300 Spartans took on an army of 250,000 Persians. The Spartan army would not receive the backing of the council to go off to war, so King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) takes it upon himself to do what he sees as the right thing, and takes 300 of his best bodyguards out to meet the Persian army. With superior battle planning, he feels that his 300 can actually defeat the much larger force. Meanwhile back in Sparta, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) Continues to try and persuade the council and Theron (Dominic West), a Sleazy Politician who’s doing all he can to keep Leonidas from waging full war with the Persians.

The rest of the film is where it begins to lack. It’s a total blood bath where almost every body part conceivable is chopped off 1 or 100 times with one battle after another. Set against the most amazing backgrounds I have ever seen in a film, 300 has such little depth, both in story and in character. The filmmakers tried to make this more like the graphic novel than the actual battle itself, and what hurts the film the most is when they try to add to much fantasy to it. From Mutant Rhino’s, men with crab hands, abnormally giant/deformed monsters, to Unrealistically Deformed men this movie just seemed more like a fantasy action film than something with any historical truth to it. You get a small taste of the actual story, but make no mistake about it, this film is about visual effects and not much more. Although there is truth in the story, it seems to get lost or put aside for more and more stunning effects. The film also has some narration at times. Sometimes the narration fits the story and makes it flow much better, and even fills in pieces of the story that have been missing. However at other times, it just seems to slow down the action to an unbearable pace.

Where this film succeeds is both in visual effects, and in Acting. Both Gerard Butler, and Lena Headey are tremendous. With sometimes overblown, dialogue, these two perform at the highest levels. What will hurt them both come Oscar time is that lack of story and sometimes poor writing. The acting was tremendous with little to work with.

300 is not a film for young kids, or for those who look for completely accurate historical films. What it is though is a visual masterpiece filled with action and gore. Those of you who have seen Sin City, also based on a Frank Miller graphic novel should know what to expect. For me, I just wish they would have focused as much on the story as they did on the visuals, and then this might actually be a great film instead of just being a decent film.