Released in 2006, this all-action adventure casts historical accuracy aside, preferring instead the fictitious battlefield devised by comic writer and artist Frank Miller. Directed by Zack Snyder, it stars Gerard Butler as Spartan King Leonidas, who leads 300 of his fiercely loyal men into battle against the mammoth, all-conquering Persian army in 480BC.
This is a war where masked monsters and cyclops fight alongside muscle men in unapologetic slash-and-stab combat. The result is a relentlessly bloody and refreshingly stylish action movie: a gold and bronze work of art, splashed with claret.
Not for the squeamish.
Did you know? The script demanded that most of the male cast spend much of their screen time bare-chested. Therefore, to look convincing as a well-trained and marshalled fighting force of the time, the main cast underwent six weeks of rigorous training prior to shooting.
(4 Star)
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