Frank Miller's Epic 300 is an Ambitious War Film

The movie "300" was based on a graphic novel written by Frank Miller, and for the most part sticks to the original story of the Spartans battling the Persians at the battle of Thermopylae.

"Sin City" proved that films by Miller, a renowned comic writer, could succeed in telling his epics through movies. Miller even had a hand in directing "Sin City," which ingeniously used colors to accentuate each character and scene.

While "300" doesn't have the strong characterization and actors that "Sin City" has, it does have the action and all the gory details that made battles at Thermopylae what they were.

Spartan King Leonidas is sent an emissary from Persian King Xerxes calling for his surrender. Leonidas feels he has been disrespected and kills the emissary and his men for disrespecting his will to fight. This scene shows the gall of the Spartans, who would sooner face a massive army than be disrespected.

This sets off a chain of events, which lead to the King Xerxes decision to invade Greece and conquer all the city-states of Greece.

Leonidas takes 300 of his best soldiers, who each have a son to continue their bloodline, to a pass where he knows the Persians will attempt to march their entire army through. The Persians say they have a million soldiers, though even Leonidas thinks this is an overstatement. Even with that, the Spartans are heavily outnumbered, facing the biggest army the world had ever seen. And even after a group of a thousand Greeks join them, the Spartans can only hope to buy time for the city states of Greece to organize.

The movie itself adds in many details that history could not corroborate, such as when Xerxes met Leonidas face to face. The 10,000 Immortals, the best soldiers of Persia, seem to be more monsters than men. Huge men and elephants also were brought up to fight for the Persians.

At times, "300" does corroborate with the facts. If the Greeks could not defeat the Persians at sea there would have been no battle at Thermopylae. They could have just bypassed it, and maybe ended Greek civilization.