I'm not a fan of Frank Miller's work. I only watched fifteen minutes of Sin City before turning it off. I've never cared for his writing in comic books and graphic novels, with the exception of The Dark Knight Returns and All-Star Batman and Robin - the latter being helped out immensely by Jim Lee's amazing penciling. So, keeping my distaste for Miller in mind, I really didn't have high expectations for 300. I also can't tell you how faithful it is to the original graphic novel.

That being said, I have mixed feelings about the movie itself. In my opinion, 300 is equal parts awesomeness and awfulness. The story is engaging and the battle scenes - simply put, they are the most amazing fight scenes ever filmed. The cinematography, choreography, and stylization combine to make them gloriously beautiful. The camera never cuts away, so you can see every move the Spartans make. One of my pet peeves in action movies is using camera tricks and poor lighting to mask the fact that there's not really all that much happening on screen. 300 is a shining example of how fight scenes should be filmed. If you liked the battle scenes from Troy, Gladiator or The Last Samurai, prepare to be blown away by similar scenes in 300.

Now to the awfulness. There seems to be an increasingly popular trend in movies these days of showing the viewer bizarre and disturbing images. The more bizarre and disturbing, the better. The trailer for Grindhouse, which was shown before 300, is a good example of where this trend is going. Maybe this works for some movie-goers but it only serves to take me out of the moment. Several times during 300, I was engrossed in the story and then abruptly found myself thinking, "What the...? What kind of sick, twisted mind thought this up?" And just like that, I was taken out of the story and realized I was watching a movie.

Judging by the popularity of slasher flicks and movies like Sin City, I'm probably in the minority on this one. But I just don't need to see old, diseased inbreds licking the face of naked, drugged, young girls or naked amputees seducing deformed hunchbacks. I guess it comes back to another of my movie pet peeves. The female form is a work of art and I've never enjoyed - or seen the purpose of - mixing nudity with gore. Somewhere along the way, nude scenes and horror scenes merged into a new amalgamation. I can deal with each on their own, but this new form of bloody/deformed/violent nude scene just doesn't work for me.

You may have noticed I haven't really mentioned the acting in 300. That's because it takes a back seat to the visuals. Everybody does a great job of projecting their characters without getting in the way of the true star of the movie: the action. Gerard Butler is compelling as King Leonidas and carries the lion's share of the movie's dialogue. David Wenham's narration adds to the feeling that you are watching an epic tale of bravery.

It's hard to give this movie a final verdict. Without the frequent scenes that took me out of the movie, this would have been a fantastic film. I guess I would recommend this film to fans of the genre, but with some pretty big reservations.

Then again, maybe I'm just getting old.