300Movie Reviews

Poster art for "300."

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Avg. Critic Score: 51 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    300 is a movie blood-drunk on its own artful excess. Guys of all ages and sexes won't be able to resist it. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Significantly, this hyper-stylization of 300 is limited to its visuals. The performances are played straight, and this combination -- straight performances and stylized visuals -- produces an uncanny effect. Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Look, but don't be touched: There is much to see but little to remember in this telling of a battle we are meant never to forget. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    In epic battle scenes where he combines breathtaking and fluid choreography, gorgeous 3-D drawings and hundreds of visual effects, director Zack Snyder puts onscreen the seemingly impossible heroism and gore of which Homer sang in "The Iliad." Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    The action epic 300 is so overblown, overheated and over the top that on some level, it's fun to get caught up in the operatic dizziness of it. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    A blustery, bombastic, visually arresting account of the Battle of Thermopylae as channeled through the rabid imagination of graphic novelist Frank Miller. Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    My deepest objection to the movie is that it is so blood-soaked. When dialogue arrives to interrupt the carnage, it's like the seventh-inning stretch. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    300 is something to see, but unless you love violence as much as a Spartan, Quentin Tarantino or a video-game-playing teenage boy, you will not be endlessly fascinated. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    It's kind of a ghastly hoot, and while I suppose it does no harm, it also contributes nothing. It's a guilty unpleasantness. Read full review

  • 30
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    Another movie -- Matt Stone and Trey Parker's "Team America," whose wooden puppets were more compelling actors than most of the cast of 300 -- calculated the cost [of freedom] at $1.05. I would happily pay a nickel less, in quarters or arcade tokens, for a vigorous 10-minute session with the video game that 300 aspires to become. Read full review

View more reviews for 300 on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Bloody, fanboyish retelling of an ancient battle.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this is no Masterpiece Theater rendition of ancient history. Like Sin City, 300 is an ultraviolent tale based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. There's blood galore as the Spartans -- trained war machines -- defend their land against Xerxes' massive Persian army. Battlefield valor and violence is glorified by the Spartans, who take no prisoners and show no mercy. Heads literally roll, blood splatters, exotic animals are sliced and speared. Many, many soldiers on either side die gruesomely. If on-screen death and war -- even one so stylized and cartoonish at times -- is too disturbing a subject matter for your kids (or you!), this bloodfest isn't a safe bet.
  • Families can talk about the Spartans' upbringing and values. Why are 7-year-olds forced to fight each other -- and adults?
  • Xerxes offers Leonidas what sounds like a sweet deal; why does the king, facing certain death, turn it down?
The good stuff
  • message true1 Positive messages: Themes of underdog heroism and not bowing to corruption get a little lost in the blood and gore.
  • rolemodels true1 Positive role models: Even in the face of sure defeat, brave soldiers stand firm against tyrannous threats to freedom. A corrupt Spartan councilman is exposed as a traitor and brought to justice. But also some stereotyping based on Asian culture, as well as one character's physical disability.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Over-the-top battle-scene violence, including graphic decapitations, severed limbs, mutilated bodies piled high, arrow-filled torsos, etc. Young Spartan boys are forced to furiously fight each other. The Spartan mottos are "No retreat, no surrender" and "No prisoners, no mercy."
  • sex false5 Sex: Extended love scene between Leonidas and the queen; viewers can see her nude breasts and his butt. The adolescent Oracle writhes and sways while wearing a sheer cloth that reveals her breasts. A character unwillingly has sex to procure a politician's favor. Although no nudity is shown in that scene, the aggessor whispers menacingly: "This will not be fast. You will not enjoy this." Xerxes' lair is depicted like an orgy, with various half-dressed Persian women kissing, moaning, and having sex.
  • language false0 Language: Colorfully worded insults like: "motherless dogs," "philosophers and boy-lovers," etc.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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