the 300 movie review

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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

Gerard Butler as Leonidas

Lena Headey as 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

Peter Mensah as Messenger

Stephen McHattie as Loyalist

Directed by

• Zack Snyder

Screenplay by

• Kurt Johnstad
• Michael B. Gordon

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• Common Sense Says
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Common Sense Media Review

Bloody, fanboyish retelling of an ancient battle.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this is no Masterpiece Theater rendition of ancient history. Like Sin City , 300 is an ultraviolent tale based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. There's blood galore as the Spartans -- trained war machines -- defend their land against Xerxes' massive Persian army…

Why Age 17+?

Extended love scene between Leonidas and the queen; viewers can see her nude bre

Over-the-top battle-scene violence, including graphic decapitations, severed lim

Colorfully worded insults like: "motherless dogs," "philosophers and boy-lovers,

Any Positive Content?

Themes of underdog heroism and not bowing to corruption get a little lost in the

Even in the face of sure defeat, brave soldiers stand firm against tyrannous thr

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Extended love scene between Leonidas and the queen; viewers can see her nude breasts and his butt. The adolescent Oracle writhes and sways while wearing a sheer cloth that reveals her breasts. A character unwillingly has sex to procure a politician's favor. Although no nudity is shown in that scene, the aggressor whispers menacingly: "This will not be fast. You will not enjoy this." Xerxes' lair is depicted like an orgy, with various half-dressed Persian women kissing, moaning, and having sex.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Over-the-top battle-scene violence, including graphic decapitations, severed limbs, mutilated bodies piled high, arrow-filled torsos, etc. Young Spartan boys are forced to furiously fight each other. The Spartan mottos are "No retreat, no surrender" and "No prisoners, no mercy."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Colorfully worded insults like: "motherless dogs," "philosophers and boy-lovers," etc.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Themes of underdog heroism and not bowing to corruption get a little lost in the blood and gore.

Positive Role Models

Even in the face of sure defeat, brave soldiers stand firm against tyrannous threats to freedom. A corrupt Spartan councilman is exposed as a traitor and brought to justice. But also some stereotyping based on Asian culture, as well as one character's physical disability.

Parents need to know that this is no Masterpiece Theater rendition of ancient history. Like Sin City , 300 is an ultraviolent tale based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. There's blood galore as the Spartans -- trained war machines -- defend their land against Xerxes' massive Persian army. Battlefield valor and violence is glorified by the Spartans, who take no prisoners and show no mercy. Heads literally roll, blood splatters, exotic animals are sliced and speared. Many, many soldiers on either side die gruesomely. If on-screen death and war -- even one so stylized and cartoonish at times -- is too disturbing a subject matter for your kids (or you!), this bloodfest isn't a safe bet. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (35)
• Kids say (109)

Based on 35 parent reviews

It's soooooo heavy handed

What's the story.

Adapting Frank Miller's graphic novel 300, Snyder takes a hyperstylized visual approach to depicting the famed Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas ( Gerard Butler ) and his 300 elite personal guards defied their Oracle and the odds to wage war against Xerxes' huge, unrelenting Persian army. Faced with the choice of submitting to Xerxes (Brazilian Lost regular Rodrigo Santoro, rendered nearly unrecognizable in earrings and eye makeup) or waging war, Leonidas makes the only choice a warrior-king can: fight. Leonidas and his personal detachment, led by his captain (fine character actor Vincent Regan) and Dilios (David Wenham), discover that although they're grossly outnumbered, they can funnel the enemy into the Hot Gates (the literal translation of "Thermopylae"), a narrow pass where the Spartans' special-forces skills will crush wave after wave of the Persians. And, oh, how they crush. It's impressive and disarming to see the 300 delight in the "glory" of warfare. The Spartans, so drunk on warlust that they dismember, skewer, decapitate, and spear the enemy -- whether it's human, animal, or something in between -- are brave, but also a bit mad. What the Spartans want (unlike the Arcadians, a group of fellow Greeks that joins them) is not to survive but to "die a beautiful death" in battle.

Is It Any Good?

At times engrossing and at times laughably over-the-top, 300 is entertaining as an extended war sequence. However, the film falls short of reaching the revolutionary Matrix -like status that the film's creators claim. The whole segment in Xerxes' lair, with its hedonistic sensuality, smacks of stereotypical Orientalism, not to mention some of the grossly depicted Persian soldiers and the disfigured hunchback who plays a central role.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the Spartans' upbringing and values. Why are 7-year-olds forced to fight each other -- and adults?

Xerxes offers Leonidas what sounds like a sweet deal; why does the king, facing certain death, turn it down?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 8, 2007
• On DVD or streaming : July 31, 2007
• Cast : David Wenham , Gerard Butler , Lena Headey
• Director : Zack Snyder
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 117 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : graphic battle sequences throughout, some sexuality and nudity.
• Last updated : July 24, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

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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

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.

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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: 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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Good quotes

To Athens and Sparta he did not send heralds to demand earth for the following reasons. On a former occasion, when Darius sent for the same purpose, the former having thrown those who made the demand into the barathrum [a deep pit in Athens in which certain criminals were thrown], and the latter into a well, bade them carry earth and water to the king from those places.

Elements of Spartan culture

The overall plot, omissions and unnecessary additions, errors and anachronisms, the monstrous persian army, an army of slaves, portrayal of king xerxes, closing remarks.

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Opinions on "300"

Ok so I rewatched 300 a couple months ago for the first time in id say 10 years and i want to know others opinions on it.

I personally love the movie. Its over the top, exaggerated, and drips of pure testosterone, and i love it for that. Its essentially a blockbuster epic, and i wont deny that there isnt much to analyse in it, but i would be lying if i said i didnt enjoy every minute of it.

Anyway, what are others opinions on it? Ive seen some people argue that its misogynistic because of how masculine it is but personally i see those arguements as dumb, unless im missing something.

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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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• In the ancient battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fight against Xerxes and his massive Persian army.
• 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
• 300 starts with a voice over explaining how Spartan boys turn into real Spartan men. When the child is born, he is observed thoroughly by a Spartan baby inspector over a cliff where hundreds of feet below lay the bones of dead babies who did not make the cut. If there are any signs of weakness, sickness, or problems with the baby, he will be killed. The boys learn how to fight and train at an early age and when they turn seven, they are separated from their mothers where they train some more and go through an initiation of rights before they can return home. Life is moving along in Sparta when a Persian messenger rides through the city and asks to speak to King Leonidas (Gerard Butler). The messenger and his guards are led to the King where he explains that he is here on behalf of Xerxes, the Persian god/ king who wants the people of Sparta to bow down to him. When Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) makes a comment, the messenger gets upset and asks how a woman can talk like that among men. The messenger warns King Leonidas to carefully think before he replies to what Xerxes has asked of Sparta, but the King turns on the messenger and points his spear in his face, making the Persian back up to the edge of the black pit. Leonidas roars back "this is Sparta" before he shoves the Persian (and his guards) into the pit. There is a law among Sparta where if the King wants to go to war, he has to consult the Oracle and the Ephors, who are "more creature than man". The Oracle is the most beautiful young girl of Sparta, and her beauty is also her curse as she is forced to stay up in the mountains with these ugly Ephors, most of the time drugged or drunk, to be able to tell these truths or futures. Leonidas climbs the mountains and after giving the Ephors gold and explaining his plan to go North to corner Xerxes's army, he asks what the Oracle says. The Ephors say that he cannot go to war when there is a celebration coming up anyways. The King is upset as he cannot just sit and do nothing. Councilmen, Theron (Dominic West), paying the Ephors with gold (from the Persians) for telling the King that he cannot go to war. King and Queen do not trust Theron, and rightly so as he turns out to be a traitor to Sparta. The next morning, Leonidas and his Captain (Vincent Regan) are looking through his "army" of 300. He notices that one of the men is the captain's son and the King comments that he is too young and has not fully enjoy the "warmth of a woman", but the Captain insists that he fight. Theron and the other councilmen join the King and ask what he is doing. The King says he's merely out for a stroll and that these 300 men are just his personal bodyguards. Theron sarcastically asks where the King will be walking to and he replies to the North. The Persians are coming from the sea. On the beach there is a narrow opening, the sides surrounded by huge rocks. There is no other way for the enemy to get through except via the narrow opening. That's where the King and his 300 Spartans will be. While they are marching out they meet with another group - the Arcadians. The leader of the Arcadians says they heard that Sparta was going out to fight against Xerxes and they are here to join. Meanwhile the Queen wants to talk to the councilmen to ask if they will send an army to help Leonidas fight against the Persian army. She has one of the councilmen try to set up the meeting and he says that she will be able to speak in two days. She says that the King may not have two days. When the group finally get to the beach area the Arcadians are starting to doubt themselves when they see how many Persian boats are in the ocean. That night, a huge storm turns over and destroy some of those boats, but the number of boats seemed to have not diminish. As they are setting up a wall of stone, someone from Xerxes's army comes up to demand, once again that Sparta bow on their knees. Xerxes admires their arrogance and strength and promise that Sparta will be the wealthiest city and that he will leave the city's women and children alone if only they lay down their weapons and look to him as leader. One of the Spartans cuts off the messenger's arm and orders him to tell Xerxes that the fight is on! Some of the Spartans notice that someone is following them. It turns out to be Ephialtes, a hunched back monster who wants to help fight. He warns the King that there is another opening that the Persians can get through. He has a strong thrust with his spear but cannot raise up the heavy shield he carries. The King says he cannot fight with the Spartans, because the Spartans use their shields to cover not only themselves, but also cover the man to their left and since Ephialtes cannot raise his shield, he is of no use. Ephialtes gets extremely upset. In the first battle, In the narrow opening they stand and wait while the first group of Persian armies come out to fight. They easily beat that army killing all and losing no one. While they catch their breath, the rest of the Persian army shoots out so many arrows that they block the sunlight. In unity, the Spartans fend off the arrows with their shields. Xerxes comes out to meet with Leonidas. Xerxes is a seven-foot bald and pierced god/ king. He again offers Leonidas a chance to bow down to him. Xerxes is angry and says that he can wipe out Sparta and no one on earth will ever know about them, will never know who they are. The next battle is against the Immortals. The Spartans easily defeat these enemies, though they do lose some of their men. As Xerxes watches on, the narrator says that this god-like deity feels a human chill go up his spine. The next fights have the Persians bringing on as much power as they can using rhinos, magic, elephants from halfway around the world, monsters. When Xerxes sees the army losing, he "disciplines" his generals by chopping off their heads. During one of these battles, the Captain's son's head gets chopped off and he cries out as his heart is broken. While both sides retreat once again, King Leonidas calls out to one of his men, Dilios, who got hurt in one of the fights. He asks how Dilios is, which he replies, "it's just an eye". The King asks him to return home to tell the tale of Sparta, to tell everyone, all the Greeks his story and his 300 men. He knows that they are going to die and though he is sad he will not see his wife, he is happy to be doing what he is doing, for Sparta. He gives back the necklace his wife gave him to Dilios to return to her. Meanwhile the Queen is meeting with Theron. She offers him something to drink to which he asks if it's poison. He says that the councilmen will never allow an army to go to the King and he insinuates that he can persuade them to if she sleeps with him. She allows it and he roughly starts to have sex with her. Ephialtes has gone to Xerxes. In the tent there are belly dancers, concubines, contortionists, transsexuals, slaves, etc. He is in awe of everything Xerxes has to offer, wealth, women, a chance to fight if only he bows down to him. Ephialtes, mesmerized by everything, agrees and tells him about the second opening where the Persian army can easily overpower the Spartans. The next day the Queen gets to meet with the councilmen. She gives a great speech to why they should allow the army to go and help the King. When she ends her speech Theron sarcastically applauds her. He turns against her by saying that why should anyone listen to her as she is an adulteress. He tells everyone that she came on to him and offered herself to him but that he is an honest man and turned her down. She grabs one of their swords and stabs Theron in the stomach. When she pulls out the sword his money pouch also comes free and as he falls, so do the Persian coins that he's been bribed with. The other councilmen pick one of the coins up and realize he's a traitor and word spreads quickly. The Persian army is surrounding the 300. Once again Xerxes comes out to watch and one of his minions asks Leonidas to bow down to Xerxes. But this time Leonidas actually takes off his head gear and puts down his shield and spear and kneels down. But only to compose himself as his huddled group of Spartan men break way and one member runs up and jumps on Leonidas's back to spear that minion to death. As everyone starts fighting again, the King picks up his spear and throws it where it slices through Xerxes' cheek (but does not kill him). Xerxes is surprised and holds his hand up to his bleeding face. One by one the Spartans fall, even the King. One of them tells him that it is an honor to die at his side to which the King replies that it was an honor to live at his side. After facing the sun and saying his last words ("my love"), the rest of the Persian army kills him, and they make sure all the Spartans are dead by shooting a gazillion arrows into the air again. Dilios returns home to give the Queen the necklace and he spreads the word about their "victory". It ends one year later where Dilios looks like he's the leader of the Spartan army now and they are getting ready to fight the Persians again. But this time there are thousands and thousands of Spartans and on command they run for battle.

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IT's Losers Club Actors Reunite 5 Years After Stephen King Adaptation (Minus 3 Members)

One of the best western remakes of all time comes to netflix in september, the incredibles 3’s returning director gets promising tease from pixar boss: “passion versus opportunity”.

Zack Snyder’s 300 is the movie that put him on the map. It established his signature visual style — saturating colors, using comic books as storyboards , and cutting in and out of super slow-motion during action scenes — and put him in good stead to direct Hollywood blockbusters for years to come.

RELATED:  Zack Snyder's Movies, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes

Although the movie is very upfront about the fact that its telling of the Battle of Thermopylae is coming from a wildly unreliable narrator, 300 was so surprisingly successful that a lot of non-history buffs have taken its version of events as gospel. Here are 10 fascinating details from behind the scenes of 300 .

Frank Miller Based His Graphic Novel On A Childhood Viewing Of The 300 Spartans

300 is adapted from a graphic novel by Frank Miller. Miller had been fascinated with the Battle of Thermopylae ever since he saw Rudolph Maté’s movie The 300 Spartans when he was six years old.

According to Miller, Richard Egan’s portrayal of King Leonidas changed his perception of the role of a hero. He realized that heroes don’t always succeed, and sometimes they have to sacrifice themselves for the greater good .

The Line “This Is Sparta!” Wasn’t Originally Supposed To Be Yelled

In the original script for 300 , the line “This is Sparta!” wasn’t supposed to be yelled. In the comic book, it’s delivered in a stern but calm manner. Gerard Butler tried a few takes in which he delivered the line this way, but it didn’t have much of an impact.

He tried one take in which he yelled the line at the top of his voice. Zack Snyder loved this delivery of the line and asked him to do it again. The second yelled take of “This is Sparta!!!” is the one that ended up in the movie.

The Oracle’s Dialogue Was Just Improvised Gibberish

The dialogue spoken by the Oracle wasn’t scripted. Kelly Craig, the actor playing her, just improvised some gibberish. Zack Snyder was glad that she managed to work the word “Carneia” — the name of one of the great national festivals of Sparta — into the dialogue.

The flowing visual effect that appears in the scene in which the Oracle is dancing was achieved by filming the actor underwater.

Zack Snyder Adapted The Graphic Novel Shot-For-Shot

When he was adapting 300 for the screen, Zack Snyder decided to basically use the graphic novel as a storyboard. Robert Rodriguez had used a similar technique when he was adapting Sin City  — another Frank Miller comic — for the big screen.

RELATED:  10 Ways Zack Snyder's Original Story Ideas Could've Improved Justice League

Snyder photocopied panels from the graphic novel and used them as an endgame, figuring out which shots would come before and after them, which he said was a fun challenge.

Warner Bros. Initially Wanted A PG-13 Rating

Although Frank Miller’s comic is as gory and graphic as the film based on it, Warner Bros. initially wanted their big-screen adaptation of the book to get a PG-13 rating. When Zack Snyder signed on, he wanted to make it R-rated, and Warner Bros. eventually relented.

Studio executives thought that the best-case scenario for 300 would be to match Sin City ’s $74 million box office gross, so they were pleasantly surprised when it ended up topping $200 million.

Most Of The Blood Was Added In Post-Production

300 is one of the bloodiest, goriest action movies of the 21st century. However, not an awful lot of fake blood was used during filming. In fact, the whole production only used about two gallons of fake blood. The rest was added digitally during the post-production phase.

In real life, every Spartan soldier wore a plume, but in the movie, only Leonidas has one. This was so the audience could tell him apart from the other Spartans in the battle sequences.

The Actors Underwent A Grueling Training Regime

Since the script required all the male cast members to be ripped and shirtless in basically every scene, the actors were subjected to a grueling training regime for eight weeks before shooting. The regime was put together by Marc Twight, a record-breaking professional mountain climber. The actors never did the same exercise more than once to prevent their bodies from getting accustomed to certain types of exertion.

Gerard Butler called his training for 300 the hardest thing he’s ever had to do. When the regime was over, Twight confessed to pushing the 300 cast harder than he’d pushed anyone before, including himself.

Leonidas’ Father Was Played By Gerard Butler’s Stunt Double

Leonidas’ father bears more than a passing resemblance to him, and that’s because the actor who was hired to play him, Tim Connolly, was also working as Gerard Butler’s stunt double. The younger version of Leonidas, on the other hand, was played by Zack Snyder’s son.

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When the real-life Leonidas died, he was 60 years old. Butler was nowhere near the age of 60 when he played him. This is just one of many historical inaccuracies found in 300 , a movie that hardly goes out of its way to be realistic.

The Filmmakers Favored Blue Screens Over Green Screens

Out of the 1,523 cuts featured in 300 , more than 1,300 of its shots contain some elements of visual effects. All in all, 300 contains a grand total of 8,631 VFX elements. The crew decided to use blue screens a lot more than green screens, utilizing blue screens for 90% of shooting and green screens for just 10%.

This is because blue was better-suited to the lighting choices they’d made in pre-production, and the Spartans’ red capes photographed better against a blue background than a green background.

Zack Snyder Told The Writers To Dial Up The Weirdness

Zack Snyder began work on 300 before he’d begun work on his directorial debut, his 2004 remake of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead . Around the same time that Snyder was developing 300 with Warner Bros., Michael Mann was planning an unrelated film about the Battle of Thermopylae that he ended up having to cancel.

During pre-production, Snyder bonded with Frank Miller over a shared affection for samurai movies and gory low-budget horror cinema. Snyder’s main note to the screenwriters adapting Miller’s graphic novel was to add more weirdness.

NEXT:  5 Reasons We Need Man Of Steel 2 (& 5 Why We Don't)

September Will Be a Great Month for Zack Snyder Fans

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The film which catapulted Zack Snyder into stardom as a director just got a major streaming update for September. 300 , the 2006 period piece epic starring Gerard Butler , Lena Headey , David Wenham , and Dominic West , will officially begin streaming on Netflix starting September 1. The sword and sandal film tells the story of the 300 Spartan soldiers who fought under King Leonidas (Butler) at Thermopylae against King Xerxes ( Rodrigo Santoro ) and his gargantuan Persian army. 300 joins several other exciting films set to premiere on Netflix at the start of the month such as 3:10 to Yuma , the western remake starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe . In addition to Butler, Headey, Wenham, and West, 300 also stars Michael Fassbender , Tom Wisdom , and Andrew Pleavin . The film currently sits at a 61% score from critics and an 89% rating from general audiences on the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes .

300 was Snyder's second directorial outing behind Dawn of the Dead , the 2004 zombie horror film starring Sarah Polley , Ving Rhames , and Ty Burrell . It was an immediate hit when it premiered in theaters in 2006, grossing $210 million domestically and $245 million overseas for a worldwide total of more than $456 million worldwide. It also did this on a reported budget of only $65 million, meaning the film came away with nearly $400 million in straight profit. It has also certainly earned more over the years since its premiere, as it has always been a desirable streaming grab for any of the major platforms. It will make yet another run on Netflix starting in September, where it is certain to join other projects like Logan Lucky ( Daniel Craig , Adam Driver , Channing Tatum ) in the top 10 .

Zack Snyder Has His Eyes on a New Sci-Fi Franchise

While Snyder has left behind the world of 300 and even closed the chapter on his era of DC stories, he still has more things in the works with Netflix. He recently released two ( technically four if you count the director's cuts ) movies in the Rebel Moon franchise, A Child of Fire and The Scargiver , which were poorly received by both critics and audiences. The former sits at a 22% score fom critics and 56% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes , with the latter at even worse ratings of 17% and 47% from critics and audiences, respectively.

300 stars Gerard Butler and Michael Fassbender and was written by Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, and Michael B. Gordon and directed by Snyder. Stay tuned to Collider for future streaming updates and watch 300 on Netflix starting September 1.

King Leonidas of Sparta leads 300 of his best warriors to defend Greece against the massive invading Persian army led by King Xerxes. Outnumbered and facing insurmountable odds, the Spartans make their stand at the narrow pass of Thermopylae, using their superior tactics and fighting skills to hold off the Persians.

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Soundcore by Anker Motion 300

• Very good sound for its small size
• Fully waterproof
• Sounds slightly overdriven with bass boost on

Bose's excellent  SoundLink Flex Bluetooth speaker , which we awarded a CNET Editors' Choice, is one of the top-selling Bluetooth speakers on Amazon, with thousands of user reviews there. Needless to say, competitors took notice and decided to offer up their own spins on the Flex, which lists for $150 but sometimes goes on sale for less. The  Soundcore Motion 300  is Anker's answer to that Bose speaker. Around the same size as the Bose, it doesn't sound quite as good, but it sounds impressive for its compact size and costs only $80. As a result, we've awarded it a CNET Editors' Choice as a strong value pick in the portable Bluetooth speaker category. 

Read more : Best mini Bluetooth speakers

Soundcore Motion 300 design

The Motion 300 weighs in at 1.76 pounds and is a little heavier than the 1.3-pound SoundLink Flex. But like the Flex, the Motion 300 can be laid down flat with its speaker firing up toward the ceiling or sky or propped up as shown in the photo above (Anker says its SmartTune technology senses changes to the speaker's orientation and adjusts the sound to improve the listening experience).

The speaker IPX7 waterproof and seems pretty durable. I left it out in the rain for about 30 minutes and also submerged it in a sink full of water. It worked fine afterwards. 

I left the speaker out in the rain for 30 minutes.

At least Anker made some effort to differentiate the design of the Motion 300 from the SoundLink Flex, giving it more rounded corners and a distinctive metallic grill on front. (Anker says the "metal mesh preserves sound quality and has a rugged, industrial feel.") Tribit's Stormbox Flow (1.47 pounds) is more of a direct knockoff, with a shape and metal grill that's even more similar to that of the Bose. The Motion 300 has a sturdy strap integrated into its design while the StormBox Flow has a cheaper looking lanyard. Both are detachable.

One of the reasons the Bose is so popular is because it's kind of the perfect size for a portable speaker -- not too big and not too small. Of course, the other reason is that it sounds as good as it does -- and plays as big as it does -- for its size. The same is true for both the Motion 300 and Stormbox Flow.

Soundcore Motion 300 features

The Soundcore Motion 300 has a somewhat robust feature set for an $80 speaker, including support for Sony's LDAC audio codec for Android and other devices that support Bluetooth wireless streaming with LDAC. 

While Anker doesn't advertise the speaker as having speakerphone capabilities, it does. I connected my phone to the speaker and then put my phone in another room and covered it with a towel to cover its microphone and then had a conversation using the speaker. You do have to be close to the speaker for the microphone to pick up your voice, but people said they heard me fine in a quiet room.

The Soundcore by Anker Motion 300 comes in three color options.

While Anker describes this as a stereo speaker, the drivers are close together so you'll get minimal stereo separation. However, you can wirelessly link two Motion 300s together for a real left/right stereo speaker set up.

The Motion 300 is compatible with the Soundcore app for iOS and Android, which allows you to tweak the sound profile, adjust the brightness of the LEDs on its buttons and upgrade its firmware. It delivers up to 13 hours of audio at moderate volume levels (my tests confirmed that is a fairly accurate rating)

Soundcore Motion 300 sound quality

Most of these mini Bluetooth speakers are strongest in the midrange and treble, and the Motion 300 is no exception. It offers decent clarity and also plays loud for its compact size and outputs a reasonable amount of bass, giving the sound a certain amount of depth and richness that you typically don't find in speakers in this price range.

The speaker has a bass boost button that does amp up the low end a bit. But I actually thought the speaker sounded a bit better without the bass boost engaged because it seemed slightly overdriven with the boost on. The bass just doesn't sound that tight at higher volumes. That's where the Bose does better.

Tribit's StormBox Flow is a slightly warmer speaker and may actually sound slightly better than the Motion 300, edging it out for bass performance by a tad. But the Anker speaker does offer slightly more detail and clarity and wins on design. While it may be a plus that it has support for the LDAC audio codec, I didn't really notice a difference in sound quality when I was streaming to the speaker from an Android phone that supports LDAC vs. what the sound was like when I paired an iPhone to it. You'd likely need a much more premium speaker to hear any significant difference with LDAC streaming. 

Soundcore Motion 300 final thoughts

While the Bose SoundLink Flex is still the mini Bluetooth speaker to get if you can afford it, the Motion 300 is an excellent value alternative that's only a small step down in terms of performance and design. I also like the Tribit Stormbox Flow for the same price. It has a more generic design but has better battery life and sounds slightly warmer, which you may -- or may not -- prefer.

Both the Motion 300 and the StormBox Flow list for $80, but we should see some flash sales that bring the price down a bit. Anker also makes the Motion 100 , a smaller Bluetooth speaker that lists for $60 and is also a good value. However, if you can afford it, the Motion 300 does sound better and I prefer its design.