300
2006 · Zack Snyder · 117 min · Action / Historical Fantasy
300 is not a history lesson and was never trying to be one. It's a graphic novel brought to life with an aggressive visual style that made everything else in theaters look tame by comparison. The action is stylized to the point of abstraction, the performances are pitched to the back row, and the whole thing moves with a momentum that makes its two-hour runtime feel much shorter. Taken as mythology filtered through comic-book aesthetics, it's a visceral, unapologetically excessive experience that delivers exactly what it promises. Taken as anything else, it falls apart quickly.