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Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, 300 centers on three hundred proud Spartan soldiers who stood valiantly against overwhelming Persian forces in the Battle of Thermopylae. Gerard Butler stars as Spartan King Leonidas, who leads his men to a narrow cliffside pass where they are able to hold out against multiple waves of enemy combatants for three days. Meanwhile, his wife, Queen Gorgo (Game of Thrones‘ Lena Headey), tries her best to convince the Greek parliament to send more soldiers to his aid before Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) wipes them out and proceeds to Sparta.

Under the hyper-stylized direction of Zack Snyder (The Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead), 300 endeavors to be the most direct cinematic translation of a graphic novel ever made. Snyder lets deep red bloodshed stand out against an otherwise heavily desaturated color palette. Ripped male torsos litter the screen from beginning to end, which combined with the characters’ savagery and self-sacrifice, make it one of the most exaggerated, idealized depictions of masculinity ever put to film. (The film omits the historical fact that these soldiers also had sex with each other.)

300 borders on becoming an exercise in style over substance, but part of this is because the Spartans viewed emotion as a weakness. When Leonidas sends Wenham’s character back to Sparta with news of the 300’s imminent demise, Wenham asks if he has any message for the queen. Leonidas says, “None that need be spoken.” To this end, Snyder, who directed countless commercials before becoming a feature film director, is probably the perfect director for this thrilling, highly visual, hyper-kinetic movie. (While Snyder’s style fits here, it would later mar such films as Man of Steel.)

The story is a tragedy, and before it comes to a close, you actually start to feel for these guys and the families they’ll never see again. A modicum of character development is presented through the macho banter between the soldiers — clearly a coping mechanism, a defense against fear. Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, Shame) and David Wenham (The Two Towers, Return of the King) play two of the featured Spartan soldiers. Dominic West plays a duplicitous politician in Queen Gorgo’s path.

My only substantial complaint with 300 is Tyler Bates’ shamefully plagiaristic score, which heavily lifts from Elliot Goldenthal’s fine work on Titus. One can only presume early cuts of 300 were temp-tracked with Goldenthal’s music, and that Bates was asked to mimic the temp track a little too closely. (After a lawsuit, home video packaging for 300 now comes with a disclaimer about the soundtrack that gives partial credit to Goldenthal.)

With Vincent Regan, Tom Wisdom, Andrew Pleavin, and Andrew Tiernan as a deformed, exiled Spartan who helps Xerxes defeat the 300.