Take a legendary historical tale, add a whole lot of testosterone, throw in a healthy dose of adrenaline, and what do you have? The new movie 300, directed by Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead).

The year is 480 BC, and the mighty Persian Empire is on the verge of overtaking Greece. An army that numbers close to a million soldiers is about to invade, and the only ones with the courage to fight the intruders are a small band of Spartans. Led by their fearless King Leonidas, these 300 men ignore insurmountable odds and valiantly attempt to thwart the Persian attackers. This is the setup for the famed Battle of Thermopylae - and a ferociously entertaining film, the likes of which cinema has never seen.

300 takes the viewer through one magnificently gory battle scene after another, each bloodbath gleefully displaying its own twisted genius. The visual effects are no less than astonishing. Based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel, the movie often feels as if one were watching comic book action come to life, with real actors performing acrobatic stunts in the midst of a virtual world. The camera work and CGI blend together seamlessly, with the action often filmed in breathtakingly quick stop-and-go sequences.

Being the manliest of men, these Spartans go about wearing little more than leather jockstraps and capes; muscular physiques abound, and body hair is noticeably absent.
The Persian invaders, on the other hand, are one freak show after another. Their leader is Xerxes, an extremely tall, self-proclaimed emperor-god who wears a lot of makeup and has a monstrously deep voice. If you think that sounds scary, wait until you see the rest of his motley crew. This is where the movie becomes the most fanciful and veers furthest away from reality, but the fiends and ogres do not take away from the story; if anything, they add an air of mysticism that resonates with Greek mythology.

Brandishing huge swords and impenetrable shields, the Spartans taunt the Persians into attacking them in a narrow canyon, which negates the Persians’ vastly superior numbers. Not surprisingly, extreme carnage ensues. Fans of outrageous violence will revel in these scenes of hand-to-hand combat. The waves of Persian hordes are merely mincemeat waiting to be sliced and diced by the Spartans. Decapitations become an art form, while severed limbs and splattering blood are as common as heroic poses.

Gerard Butler is superb in the lead role as the charismatic and intimidating Leonidas. His knowing gaze and piercing eyes bring to mind a younger Sean Connery. Like Connery, Butler speaks many of his lines with a conspicuous Scottish accent (one can’t help but think of Braveheart when he bellows to his countrymen to “fight for their freedom”). It is Butler who makes the iron will and astonishing courage of the Spartans not only believable, but admirable as well.

Despite a few weaknesses away from the battle scenes, 300 can hardly be accused of lacking ambition. The creators of this film aimed to dazzle viewers with an action movie unlike any other, and they ably accomplished that feat.