right, I know its traditional to wait until the end of a review to say what you actually thought of a film but as it’s pretty much beside the point I’m going to start with it. 300 is allright, it’s good in places and bad in places, it’s stupid and machoistic and clever and insightful (normally into macho behaviour.) it’s got a reasonable look to it but the slow fast editing is repetitive and nothing we haven’t seen a million times before and the battles go on a bit too long because of the lack of variety. More character development and less repetitive action would have been nice as would a less cartoon evil for every bad guy. Even with that said it is still half clever and half interesting and that makes it a hell of a lot better then a lot of action films and every damn MTV style horror of recent years.

300 has it’s detractors and some even have good points, like I said it’s not all good, but one thing that can’t be levelled at it (but has) is that it’s a pro bush anti Arab piece of right wing madness. It is very, very, heavy handed and manipulative with it depictions of the Persians and there army, turning them in to grotesque inhuman monsters, normally under makeup that leaves them resembling orcs more then men. This is basically bad story telling, they are the villains and as such are painted stupidly dark and evil. It’s not having a crack at the Persians, a country that ceased to exist a few hundred years ago, they could be from any were, the filmmakers are just desperate to let you know they are the bad guys. I’ll come back to the right wing and the George W Bush points in a moment.

But fist, another criticism is the only disabled person is a hideously over the top hunchback (I’m not counting the inbred priest as they are just kind of warty and covered in cysts and boils so you know they are bad, that’s right the short hand for villain is ugly and or deformed or in one case a stupid beard.) the hunch back it turns out is also evil and betrays the Spartans to the monsters from over the seas after he’s told he can’t fight as one of them. This is fairly negative especially when coupled with the Spartans killing any deformed or week children born to then, it pretty much seems like it’s meant to justify it. So 2 points upheld.

Back to the Bush argument, this one falls down right from the get go, the invaders are more like Bushes America then the Spartan defenders. The massive army striding the globe with a man that believes himself a god at its head subjecting and conforming all that lies before it, the Persians are the global super power not the Spartans. Xerxes is convinced he is god and George w is convinced he is sent by god. Leonidas is contemptuous of the old gods and the religion that still desperately clings to its corrupt power in grease, not a religious man. Leonidas is not invading any one he is not trying to set up any puppet governments unlike Xerxes and George w Bush.

Right wing, this is not really something the film can be accused of as it isn’t really suggesting we all should live like the Spartans but the Romans certainly did admire them and the Germans of the third rich certainly were inspired by the Romans so take from that what you will.

Also totally groundless and only asserted out of spite, homophobic has been levelled at it. The only references is to the Athenians being boy loving philosophers that have already stood up to the Persians and that isn’t said in any seriousness. I would have to say the film looks with all it’s polished mussels and semi naked men to be well aware of it’s gay audience and appeal.

So confused and sometimes stupid yes, but also sometimes intelligent and strong, with good and bad writing seemingly mixed together in about equal proportion.