![300 [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51yOilN7RtL._SL160_.jpg)
Warner Home Video - Warner Home Video
Release date: 2007-07-31
Blu-ray
Director:Zack Snyder
Actors: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey
Action, Action / Adventure, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Atmospheric, Blu-Ray, Color, English, Epic, Feature, Feature Film-action/Adventure, Forceful, Graphic Violence, Great Battles, Heroic Mission, Historical Epic, Lavish, Movie, Nudity, Rousing




I didn't know much of what to expect--just that it was a historical war movie.
I tell you this so you'll understand why I was underwhelmed for the first quarter of the movie. The monochromatic filming, mostly in sepia tones, but then occasionally in blues, got pretty irritating. And then there was the Heroic Music and the Ominous Music trying to get me all excited or worried about characters I didn't even know yet. And that was really irritating.
It starts off with voice-over narration and a little boy going off to be trained as a Spartan warrior. Complete with a weird-looking CGI wolf. I couldn't figure out why they couldn't use a real wolf. Lots of scrawny kid skulking around being shadowed by a goofy looking wolf with the dramatic music. In sepia.
Truthfully, I was tempted it to the males and go off to the computer or a book.
But it's a good thing I kept watching. Once the boy grew up, he became King Leonidas (Gerard Butler). Xerxes of Persia invades, and Leonidas goes to the Oracle to get... well, basically to get permission to repel the invasion. But the priests are paid off and they advise against it. So Leonidas takes 300 men for a walk.
There's intrigue back home as the Queen tries to send reinforcements, but mostly, it's battle scenes. The fighting did really remind me of the Alerans in Captain's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 4)--the shieldwall type of fighting and the disciplined soldiers were very familiar.
The cinematography continues, with the colored filters and a somewhat dizzying switching between slow motion and fast forward. Here's where knowing what I was getting into might have helped. I've since discovered that 300 is based on a graphic novel that's based on a movie that's based on history. And then it made sense--the cinematography gave it that stylish, surrealistic feel that fits with the graphic novel.
It also made the violence much easier to take for this squeamish viewer.
So, 4 stars, but if I'd known what to expect, I'd probably have enjoyed it a half-star more.