Rated R.
Gerard Butler, David Wenham, Lena Headey

An action-packed 117 minutes that wowed me. Fast-paced, bloody,
realistic. Butler plays warrior king Leonidas of Sparta. Three hundred disciplined warriors charge into the Battle of Thermopylae. They hold off vast Persian force with only the help of a narrow pass near the sea. Their fighting gives credence to the reputation of Sparta. What was not covered in armor --
didn't need to be. A six-pack like theirs is twisted steel anyway. Woe unto
their enemies one might say.
Gerard Butler was the stuff I'd want riding in my army. In this film,
he gets to be more than just a pretty face. I smell an Oscar nomination baby.
Like General Patton says, why engage unless you plan to win? Certainly
this is the rabid charge in the hearts of every one of these Spartans. Never
surrender. Never retreat. Win or die. And so it goes in this powerfully-vivid film. The effects were dazzling. The script, grand. In slow
motion one sees just how it comes to be thata man's head is severed from his body. Whoa. Just like that. These were the days (480 BC) when a man had to be a man. No soft-bellied, McDonald's-eatin' couch potatoes allowed in this guy's army. Just red muscle tissue and audacious, roaring mettle.

I believe what has the Middle East "up in arms" is that this movie pits
Democracy against Tyranny -- Tyranny that can now be compared to terrorism
hailing out of the same place against a Democracy who takes her foundation from
ancient Greece.

In a short but poignant speech given by Leonidas' queen, she says that
freedom is not free. Sometimes you have to fight and die for it. Boy did
that ever hit home.

War Canoe Grade A +