I’ve made the decision to go watch ‘300′ in a couple of hours since I have some dead time in work (it’s nice to be self-employed sometimes). I very rarely attend a movie; I prefer to rent as opposed to attend a theater. While I have read many reviews and seen movie trailers, I had not seen the following reviews.

Many reviewers have panned “300″ not on artistic grounds, or even on grounds of inanity, but on the grounds that the Spartans in the film are a bunch of jackbooted thugs; that the tyranny they fight is less tyrannical than Sparta; that good vs. evil is too simplistic. “His troops are like al Qaeda in adult diapers,” writes Kyle Smith of the New York Post. “Keeping in mind Slate’s Mickey Kaus’ Hitler Rule — never compare anything to Hitler — it isn’t a stretch to imagine Adolf’s boys at a “300″ screening, heil-fiving each other throughout and then lining up to see it again.” A.O. Scott makes the obligatory racial point: “It may be worth pointing out that unlike their mostly black and brown foes, the Spartans and their fellow Greeks are white.” (source)

Ben Shaprio notes the movie is a bit weak in terms of dialogue, but you don’t go to an action movie and seek out tantalizing lines worthy to inspire. Shapiro also notes ‘300′ “brims over with excessive nudity and violence.” That’s what one would expect.

UPDATE: What a great movie.  I’ll write a brief review later, including how the Iranians are correct and Shapiro (above) is incredibly wrong.