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Picking up on the story and imagining how 300 will turn out, it’s typical to think back to what we’ve seen before, so we instantly expect something bright and golden, almost akin to Troy or Gladiator. Instead the film looks highly unnatural, yet with its muted colours and stark reds it’s incredibly striking. Production designer Jim Bissell explains how this was achieved, saying, “We basically crush the blacks, highlight the whites and amp up the contrast in the mid-range.”

For Snyder, the look of 300 played a big part, as he wanted the film to “look like something that is not commonplace in cinema. You go to the movies because you want an experience that’s different from what you do everyday. You want to be taken to a place that’s different. For me, that’s what we’ve been trying to do with 300 in every aspect.”

Audiences have been witness to people committing acts of violence to each other countless number of times on the big screen. So with 300, the aim was to make the sight of aimless nobodies being stabbed by a spear look unique and different. Before production, Warner did try to persuade Snyder to shoot the film with a PG-13 rating in mind. Thankfully, Snyder persuaded them that it had to be R-rated, for when it came to the battle sequences themselves the film delivered action and violence that was over-the-top and hyper stylized to the point of absurdity. “There’s a sort of surrealness to it,” said Snyder, “and I did that on purpose. The blood’s part of the painting. If you want more red, you just got to hack another guy open and get some over there.”

300 unashamedly glorifies its violence, half expecting us to cheer the Spartans on when they slice a Persian’s leg off (something that actually took place during a few screenings), and with the overuse of slow motion we can "appreciate" it just that little bit more. As the camera circles around the action, one could even argue that the sight of a Spartan solider in combat actually looks quite beautiful. Plus, it cannot be denied that it also glorifies the strength, courage and determination of a group of men who will stand up and fight for what is right, even if it leads to their death.

The film cast the likes of Butler, Lena Headey, Wenham, Dominic West and Michael Fassbender. Butler was probably the most well known, but at that point you couldn’t really call any of them stars. While this helped keep the cost of the production down, the brilliance here was that they all happened to be great actors. The male cast members were put through an intense training regime to build up their bodies (bizarrely, Snyder also trained with his cast). The backgrounds may not be real, but for audiences, you can totally believe that these "actors" can kill just about anyone or anything.

Rather than build up to one long drawn out battle sequence, 300 instead delivered multiple battles. When most critics describe a film as "like a video game," it’s often detrimental to the film they’re talking about, which makes me wonder what kind of games critics have been playing, if any. Those that didn’t like the film obviously placed the same comments upon 300 - except it doesn’t just look like a video game, it plays like one too. And I mean this as a compliment.

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