Film Footle: 300

300 is, on a number of levels, a very silly film. Being a movie of a graphic novel, it's probably best to leave historical accuracy at the door. The only comment I'll make about that is that it's surprising how much WAS accurate (at least in terms of Spartan practices if not remotely in terms of Greek battle plans).

It's also a very beautiful film. Alternately windswept, ethereal, burned out and bleached, Zack Snyder and the artistic team have held firmly true to Frank Miller's vision. The rich red of Spartan cloaks and golden oiled skin stands out against the bizarre panoply of Persian artistry and brutality. Xerxes himself is the oddest figure of all, a mock-Egyptian self-styled demigod reminiscent of Jaye Davidson in both Stargate and The Crying Game. It was something of a shock to discover Rodrigo Santoro under all the gold paint, looking somewhat unlike his recent Chanel-ad role.

Gerard Butler's proto-Connery performance is measured and convincing. His relationship with Lena Heady's Spartan queen is natural and passionate, and although I was underwhelmed by Heady's stark beauty (appropriate though it was) and thin-lipped performance, she was at least not miscast. David Wenham's narrator, Dilios, certainly made the most of his peculiarly plummy voice, and a standout performance from VIncent Regan as Sparta's Captain was the sole emotional soft centre in what could otherwise have been a very tough and chewy confection.

Despite a nod or two to Gladiator (the sword, the sandals, the hint of Elysian fields), 300 owes a far greater debt to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. From the casting of Wenham (Faramir) and the traitor Ephialtes tracking the troops through the mountains to the CGI beasties and slo-mo battle sequences, there is a definite sense in which this is the next in the line of a new tradition of design-driven assaults on the senses. The stylised battles and misty elven beauties (with possibly unhealthy focus on tiny breasts and pert nipples) are interspersed with set pieces that seem little more than careful canvasses in a smooth slideshow. Most of the deaths, whilst uncompromising and bloody in their brutality, are also very elegant; the best example of this is Leonidas lying, St. Sebastian-like, in a hail of arrows.

300 is enjoyable on a number of levels. As a hymn to lost chivalry, it's daft but sweet. As a sword and sandals clash of the Titans, it's rocking. As a homage to CGI and the oft-forgotten art of the graphic novel, it's pretty damn good. And there's even a Monty Python moment or two to raise a chuckle.