Zack Snyder's 2006 historical epic turned out to be one of the most influential films in past few decades. Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, itself inspired by real historical events, it is set in 480 BC Greece and tells the tale of small Spartan army, led by King Leonidas (played by Gerard Butler), making heroic stand against enormous army of Persian king Xerxes (played by Rodrigo Santoro) in the Battle of Thermopylae and thus buying time for other Greek city-states to resist Persian invasion. The greatest asset of the film is style, built on the idea of images on screen being as faithful as possible to images in the graphic novel. Result, enhanced by CGI, is so impressive that the audience would ignore not only graphic violence and sometimes gratuitous nudity, but also questionable political content – celebration of macho violence conducted by white heterosexual males against hordes of beastly-like dark-skinned Easterners led by effete oriental despot.
RATING: 8/10
