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I went to see 300 on Friday.

I'm going to start this by saying that this was, simply put, one of the best movies I've ever seen. On a scale of 1 to 10, it easily, almost effortlessly, scores a 10. This is, simply put, the movie every action film ever made wants to be. More than that, it's one of the most visually stunning movies ever filmed, and on top of that.

I spent $8 just to get a matinee ticket for this. After I got popcorn and a drink and played a couple of video games waiting for them previous showing to clear out, I dropped $21 bucks on this film. It was worth every last penny. For the first time in ages, I went to the theater and didn't feel like I'd gotten boned on the ticket price. In fact, I actually considered staying for a second show.

It's that good.

Now, for those of you who don't know, 300 is based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. The same guy who wrote Sin City, The Dark Night Returns, The Man Without Fear and a ton of other absolutely brilliant graphic novels. 300 is based on an old movie called The Spartans and is a highly fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae.

Highly fictionalized.

Highly.

The Thespians are nowhere to be seen. Instead of taking 6000 troops into the Hot Gates, Leonidas takes in something more like 1000. The details of the Athenian debate are twisted and transfered to the Spartan councel.

In short, if you're looking for historical accuracy, you should probably read Gates of Fire instead.

Normally, all that would bother me. Here, I just don't care, and it's because of what I've come to think of as the Rome effect.

I've been watching the TV series Rome a lot lately. It's brilliant, but historically accurate it isn't. In fact, when it comes to historical accuracy, it's freaking terrible. On the other hand, while they get the details wrong, the series manages to capture the spirit and the flavor of that time perfectly, which is exactly what 300 does.

This movie isn't so much a historically accurate film as it is the film the Spartans would make about the Battel of Thermopylae if they were still around to make films.

There are so many moments in this film that are absolutely perfect it's hard to know where to begin. (If you don't want to be spoiled, you might want to stop reading now).

The scene with the mother, the baby and the priest standing on the cliff face over a mount of skulls.

The wolf.

"Spartans, what is your profession?"

The rebuilding of the wall.

"Then we will fight in the shade."

"Come and get them."

"There's no reason we can't be civil."

Leonidas and Xerxes.

"This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy it. I am not your queen."

It goes on and on. There are just to many to list.

Of course, to be far, the movie apparently isn't for everyone.

Tom Charity, a movie critic who reviewed the movie for CNN, wrote:

Gerard Butler's glaring, glowering, bombastic Spartan king Leonidas is the Jim Jones of military strategists: never retreat, never surrender, death on the battlefield is the greatest glory. The rhetoric echoes sentiments expressed by Japanese imperial loyalists in Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima," but there's no criticism implied here. These are the good guys.

Which goes to show that 1). This guy is a freaking moron and 2). He just didn't get it.

This movie is about the Spartans. The F$%^%^& SPARTANS. These guys make Klingons look like panzies. These are the people who told their sons and husbands and fathers when they went off to war "Come back with your shield, or on it." A phrase which very litterally means, come back victorious or dead. Win or die. It was an idea so central to the Spartan way of life that it was the standard farewell to a soldier.

Charity also says "It's that the film, with its macho militarism, seems out of step in a war-weary time."

More fool him.

Okay, yes, the movie is what one of my friends likes to call War Porn. But its also more than that. This movie is a love letter to the very idea of what it means to be a citizen soldier. To stand between those you love and those to harm them and say "You shall not pass." To courage, bravery and self sacrifice.

This movie is going to do extremely well, especially anywhere near the military bases, because when you get right down to it, we share a lot of sentiments with the Spartans. "Don't Give Up the Ship," "Semper Fi," "This We'll Defend," "Duty, Honor, Country," "Service Before Self".

Okay, I'll admit, I have a weak spot for this particular story, but there's a reason why, after 2487 years, we still remember the Spartans, and as stylized and fictionalized at it is, 300 manages to nail it perfectly.

This one is definitely going on the DVD shelf.