Director Zack Snyder brings us a fantasy loosely based on the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. and more specifically on Frank Miller’s graphic novel "300". The tale was previously told in film with "The 300 Spartans" 1962.

The cinematography here is what first grabs your attention. The film flows in a different sort of way, giving it very much the feel of a comic, complete with a narrator guiding us through the story. We follow King Leonidas from his boyhood warrior training to the epic battle where he leads his army of 300 Spartans at the age of 40. While there is perhaps not enough attention paid to character development, Snyder does do a good job bringing you into the 460 B.C. world in a believable way.

The style of the film is haunting and in many ways as much a success as Lord of the Rings. There is however, limited character development coupled with dialogue that while much more intelligent than say, "Revenge of the Sith" (which isn’t saying much), it still does not rise to the occasion in a way that makes your heart feel like the war is worth fighting given the enormous risk. I sat there drawing comparisons to the current war in Iraq but I did not find it clear that there was a deliberate attempt on the part of the director to make a statement about that war in particular. It just made me think about what some of the pitfalls of nationalism can be.

That said, the battle scenes were well done and the monsters and other unworldly creatures are a fun and creative use of poetic license. It is an amazing sight to see tens of thousands of arrows launching, cresting and falling upon the Spartans as they lift their shields in defense. I am not a fan of computer animation and effects but they were used much more effectively here than in a film like "Gladiator" which used real tigers but then added computer animated tiger paw swipes that made it look like a real tiger with the arm and paw of Kellogg’s Frosted Flake’s Tony Tiger.

There was however a lot of haze everywhere which I suspect may have been used to cheat a little. When it is all said and done though this film is enjoyable to watch and may be even breaking some ground with its style. It does however fall short of being a masterpiece because of the limited attention to character and adequate but less than outstanding acting performances, as well as the comic level dialogue.

I should mention that this film is certainly not from the Persian perspective. Persians are painted as being barbaric and low on empathy here. I hadn’t given it a lot of thought given that this film is more fiction than factual but after hearing the cries of protest out of Iran I can definitely see their point.