by Biggles Wigby

Created on: March 25, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Yesterday night I went to view the popular film 300 at the cinema. But what is the real take on this, other than biased film and music mag reviews? Lets begin with a brief overview of what the film is about for those who have no idea what 300 is. The film covers the story of Leonidas and his 300 Spartans that defend a mountain pass from an invading horde of over one million men commanded by Xerxes the God King. Sounds pretty straight forward right?

Lets get this ball rolling!

CGI: The CGI is a work of art to rival Lord of the Rings and is arguably the strongest point of the film, surpassed only by the insanely chaotic and very exciting battle scenes. Only at a couple of points do you realize you are watching something done by a PC, but even that is short lived as you get thrust straight back into the action. Some of my favorite CGI in the film is when Xerxes stands upon his throne then walks down to meet Leonidas and slaves build steps out of their bodies for him to get to the floor. Elephants a Rhino and hundreds of thousands of men on screen at once are all very cool.

Action: The battle scenes as I have already mentioned in passing are superb. They are without a doubt the best fighting sequences in any film to date. Spear, shield and sword are all used to great effect and the actual fighting is historically accurate even if the story as a whole is not. Also the action starts in the second scene and just gets more furious from there!

Characters: The characters are at once lovable and some of them despicable. They have done a good job of creating over the top persona's so you can instantly make a judgment on them without having them do alot of talking. The Spartans are innately proud honorable warriors and you instantly know where you stand with them. While the politicians you quickly learn are backstabbing and ruthless. My favorite characters are Leonidas for his quick one liners that are well timed and his honorable intentions and strong sword arm win over the audience and Xerxes the 8 foot tall God King who stays aloof and acts and speaks like a Goa'uld from Stargate.

Acting: The acting is not the best, I am afraid to say. But to be honest if you came to see 300 guys wearing nappies killing hundreds of thousands of guys in the space of a few hours WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!

Actors: Gerard Butler King Leonidas
Lena Headey Queen Gorgo
Dominic West Theron
David Wenham Dilios
Vincent Regan Captain
Michael Fassbender Stelios
Tom Wisdom Astinos
Andrew Pleavin Daxos
Andrew Tiernan Ephialtes
Rodrigo Santoro Xerxes
Giovani Cimmino Pleistarchos
Kelly Craig Oracle Girl

Sets: Most of the sets were done by CGI so there isn't much to say here. You can notice the ground is a set most of the time, but don't worry yourself about it as the action will take your mind elsewhere.

Overall if you want to see a bunch of body builders in skimpy garments slaughtering countless enemies, awesome effects, some cool deformities and an 8 foot God King then get yourself down to the cinema tonight and book those tickets! Because we are in for one hell ova night!

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