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60-sec clips for new movies about to be released can often paint a misleading picture. This is not the case with this movie. When I saw the commercial, I penciled it in as one of the must see movies for this year. Perhaps, I should not have gone with too great an expectation, but fortunately, after seeing the movie, I can honestly say that it has not been a complete waste of time.
You see, I love epics or movies with historical backgrounds. So when I saw that this movie was centered on ancient Sparta, I was more than curious.
The movie starts out slowly as Ancient Sparta is gradually presented—but it quickly picks up; and before you get to the end of the movie, you would have gone through elements which you may have come to expect from movie focused on the past namely: love, devotion, courage, bravery, treachery and ultimately valor.
The Persian Empire was basically the civilized or known world; the Persian King was in a manner of speaking, the Emperor of the world. So when King Xerxes sent emissaries to demand Sparta's obedience and the fealty of Sparta's king, it only made sense that King Leonidas of Sparta would yield to the superior military strength of the Persian Empire, right? Wrong! This movie tells the account of one King Leonidas of the Spartans who bravely fought Persian assault (made up of at least 1,000,000 Persians) with only 300 of his finest warriors. Incredible? Yes, but it just goes to show you the fierce incredible fighting spirit of Ancient Spartan warriors. They had a strategy and some determination, even when Sparta's senators were more inclined to submit to foreign dictatorship. In the end, after putting up tremendously fierce resistance, they were slaughtered, together with their valiant king. Nevertheless their brave sacrifice for freedom got the desired effect: It galvanized the numerically inferior Spartan and Grecian Kingdoms to put together a united front to battle Persian hegemony. So you see the movie had a great storyline. The actors did a relatively great job too.
But I have to point out that the movie's representation of King Xerxes is faulty. King Xerxes was also a great hero of the Persian world. They showed a wimpy, manicured, pedicured, tweezed, make-up wearing, trinkets-sporting queer character whose only apparent capability is to "play" king and send warriors to their deaths. This is needless to say, a far cry from the Xerxes that comes down to us from history—an imposing masculine and fearless (but just) warrior-king whose military prowess showed up in the numerous crushing defeats he dealt his enemies. I think the misrepresentations were intentional: to impress upon viewers the bravery and sacrifice of the Spartan King. If the directors were interested in showing things as they are, they would not have shown us that queer-looking, clean-shaven character as Emperor Xerxes, the Ruler of Heroes!
Secondly, there is just way too much graphic effects in this movie—and far too many slow-motion sequences. Perhaps, to amplify the brutality of war, they slowed down most of the slashing, ramming, spearing, cutting and beheading scenes to make a bigger impact on the viewer. But the downside to this is that the moviegoer is left out of the adrenaline rush that comes with the noise and sound of thick battle. Yes, the excitement that course through veins as one hears the war-chants of thousands of soldiers; as one hears the clanging of metal against metal; as one hears the stamping of hooves and the screams of pain IS LARGELY LOST! The result is that these fight scenes just seem way too rehearsed, way too contrived and unbelievable. That was the major disappointing thing for me despite the fact that this movie tells a great story. The good thing however, is that after watching this movie, you will certainly agree that it is loads better than Colin Farrell's "Alexander the Great"!
Enjoy!
