300 reasons to see 300

I don't get pumped up for movies. I've found that if I keep my expectations low, I'm much more satisfied (how do you think I got through Star Wars Episode 1?).

But ever since I saw the 300 trailer, when Leonidas screams, "We are Sparta!" and kicks the Persian messenger into the well, I knew I needed to see this movie.

I watched it last night, and I have to say I was not disappointed in the least.

Here are 300 reasons to see this movie (no real spoilers here):

1. Gerard Butler kicks all sorts of ass.
2. The Spartans have funny phrases and act like any action heroes do-- but I actually believed it when they laughed at death instead of thinking it was the usual heroic posturing.
3. Visually stupendous (there were no sets; just actors and a green screen).
4. If your favorite color is red, you'll see lots of it.
5. For the ladies: the Spartans wore loincloths and capes in battle.
6. For the guys: the ladies didn't wear much more.
7. A movie based on a graphic novel without the requisite cartoony stuff-- and the movie wasn't as full of itself as, say, Sin City was.
8. "Then we'll fight in the shade."
9. Leonidas eating an apple while his men are making sure the piles of bodies contain dead opponents.
10. The wall the Spartans build before "The Immortals" arrive.
11. Leonidas would make Arnie, Stallone, and Eastwood piss their pants.
12. Xerxes' travelling throne.
13. The men laughing while being bombarded by arrows.
14. Learn about anatomy as various body parts are split from the torso.
15-299. It just plain kicks ass.
300. "We are Sparta!"

Seriously, I wish I could write more, but I don't have time. Maybe after my friend, Tom, sees it this week, he'll fire my memory up a little more, but I just wanted to put it out there that this is a must see movie.

Note: If you haven't heard, it's pretty violent, so if that kinda thing makes you queasy, you may want to pass.