Over Dilios’ narration, the life of young Leonidas is depicted. Cast into the wild to fend for his life per Spartan doctrine, Leonidas survives the harsh winter and returns home to be crowned King.
Years later, messengers arrive at the gates of Sparta demanding its submission to King Xerxes. Outraged and offended by their threats and behavior, King Leonidas and his guards kick the messengers into a well. Acknowledging the threat of Xerxes’s invasion force, he visits the Ephors proposing a strategy to repel the numerically superior enemy by using the terrain of Thermopylae (the Hot Gates), which would funnel the Persians into a narrow pass between the rocks and the sea. The Ephors, wary of Leonidas’ plans, consult the Oracle, who in her trance decrees that Sparta must not go to war, lest they interrupt the sacred Carneian festival. As Leonidas departs a messenger from Xerxes appears, rewarding the Ephors a mountain of gold in return for their covert support.
Despite the Oracle’s orders, Leonidas decides on a leisurely walk to the Hot Gates, gathering 300 of his best soldiers to act as his personal bodyguards. Along the way, they are joined by a force consisting of Arcadians and various other Greeks before arriving at the Hot Gates of Thermopylae. In sight of the approaching Persian army, they construct a wall to contain the Persians’ advance. Leonidas meanwhile encounters Ephialtes, a hunchbacked Spartan who requests a private audience with the King. A severely disfigured child, his parents fled Sparta to spare him certain infanticide. Ephialtes asks to redeem his father’s name by joining Leonidas in battle against the Persians and warns him of a secret goat path the Persians could use to outflank and surround them. Leonidas is sympathetic to the eager warrior, but rejects him upon realizing that Ephialtes cannot properly hold a shield, which would compromise the Spartans’ phalanx.
Prior to the battle the Persians demand that the Spartans “lay down their weapons.” Leonidas refuses and challenges the Persians to come and get them. With their tightly-knit phalanx formation, the Spartans funnel the Persians into the narrow terrain, repeatedly rebuffing them and inflicting heavy casualties. Xerxes, impressed with Spartan fighting skill, personally approaches Leonidas to persuade him to surrender. He promises Leonidas wealth and power in exchange for his loyalty. Leonidas declines, promising instead to make the “God King” bleed, and turns to rejoin his army. Dismayed at the refusal, Xerxes dispatches the feared Immortal (his elite personal guard), whom the Spartans draw into a trap and narrowly defeat. The battles continue, with the Spartans prevailing over soldiers and animals drawn from the vast reaches of the Persian empire: from Mongolian barbarians and Eastern chemists to African rhinoceroses and Indian war elephants. After two days of fighting however, an embittered Ephialtes defects to Xerxes and reveals the location of the goat path.
In Sparta, Queen Gorgo attempts to enlist the influential Theron to help persuade the Spartan council to send reinforcements to Leonidas. Theron agrees, but demands that Gorgo submit sexually to him, to which she reluctantly consents. At the Hot Gates, the Greeks realize Ephialtes’ treachery and the Arcadians’ retreat in the face of certain death. The Spartans, obedient to their law, refuse to follow, and Leonidas orders a reluctant Dilios to return and orate the story of the valiant 300 to ensure their memory. In Sparta, Queen Gorgo appeals to the council but is betrayed by Theron, who publicly accuses her of adultery in an attempt to discredit her. Enraged by his betrayal, Gorgo snatches a sword and kills Theron, rupturing a bag of Xerxes’ gold in the folds of his robe and spilling it onto the ground. With this evidence, the Council denounces Theron as a traitor and unites against Persia.
At the Hot Gates, as the Persians surround the Spartans, Xerxes’s general demands their surrender, declaring that Leonidas may keep his title as King of Sparta and become Warlord of all Greece, answerable only to Xerxes. Ephialtes begs him to do so as well, to which Leonidas remarks “May you live forever,” an insult from a culture valuing death and valor in battle. Leonidas drops his shield and removes his helmet, seemingly bowing in submission. Stelios then leaps over him and kills the general. A furious Xerxes orders his troops to attack. As Persian archers shoot the remaining Spartans, Leonidas rises and hurls his spear at Xerxes, ripping open his cheek (and missing a fatal blow by mere centimetres), thus making “the God-King bleed.” Xerxes, visibly disturbed by this reminder of his own mortality, watches as the remaining Spartans perish beneath the combined might of his army.
Concluding his tale before an audience of attentive Spartans, Dilios declares that the 120,000-strong Persian army that narrowly defeated 300 Spartans now faces 10,000 Spartans commanding 30,000 Greeks. Praising Leonidas’s sacrifice, Dilios leads the assembled Greek army into a fierce charge against the Persian army, igniting the Battle of Plataea.
The look of this film is what makes it so amazing, because let’s face it, if you were to go up to Joe Q. Public on the street and ask him if he’d be interested in seeing a historical film, chances are he’s laugh at you.
There isn’t much acting that goes on in this film. A little dialogue here and there. Mostly Gerard Butler’s character screaming inspirational speeches, and a few other scenes with other characters doing this and that, but this film is about the battle scenes.
The scenes are a thing of beauty. Each one carefully choreographed and historically accurate (minus the mythological creatures).
I’m sure the ladies that watch this will drool over the men in nothing but bikini briefs. However, if you’re one of those expecting some sort of love story or anything in this, you’ll be disappointed. Other than a quick love scene near the beginning, this is all about the testosterone.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this film or not, but as I watched it, I found that I lost track of time and it was over before I knew it. That is a sign of a truly excellent and entertaining film.
5 out of 5 stars