300

Apparently the deeds of the Spartans at Thermopylae were not sufficiently impressive to the production team behind 300. That must be the case because their exploits have been "enhanced" to a significant degree. For example King Xerxes must not have been sufficiently formidable since he was transformed into a nine-foot-tall giant with the voice of a Goa'uld. His elite personal guard, The Immortals, must not have been fierce enough in real life because they shown as Tolkien style Orcs.

That's not all. The elephants used by the Persians are shown as truly gigantic mastodons and the rhinoceros sent out to charge the Greek lines is the size of a triceratops. The local farmer who was bribed by Xerxes to reveal the pathway to bypass the Greeks and allow them to be attacked from the rear is depicted as a grotesquely deformed hunchback whose parents had fled Sparta rather than leave him to die of exposure (I guess proving the wisdom of the Spartan practice of killing deformed and sickly infants).

This movie is brought to us by the same people who produced Sin City and has the same look. but what was fine for a movie which was an attempt to create the illusion of a comic book come to life just seems out of place in depicting a real life historical event.

This movie would have worked much better if it was set in some mythical realm like Ultima Thule or Hyperborea where it could have been obviously based on the story of Leonidas and his brave 300, but not used real names and real locations. As it is the viewer is left with the impression that the actual deeds of the actual people must have been of only moderate interest since they need so much tweaking.

I hope this doesn't represent the future of Hollywood's historical epic. I would hate to see Washington's crossing of the Delaware opposed by river dragons or the Battle of the Bulge involving friendly gargoyles aiding the 101st Airborne against the Nazis and their army of demonic Sasquatches.

I don't want to give the impression that I didn't enjoy this movie. It was very well done, for what it was. It's just that the Spartans are able to stand on their own feet. What they did will live forever in the annals of courage, fighting skill and self sacrifice. Their deeds do not require Matrix-style special effects and a digitally created monochrome landscape to acquire significance.

Then again I'm not really a part of the video game generation, so what do I know.