Before you even get into the story, the first thing that stands out with 300 is the look of the movie. The feel of the film and post-processing CGI work done to the scenes gives this film a very unique look. 300, quite simply, looks like a masterpiece painting come to life.
Now for the epic tale that is 300. King Leonidas of the Spartans is approached by an emissary of Persia requesting that the warrior king let the Persians and their God King Xerxes take over Sparta and Leonidas will be proclaimed Warlord of Greece. But Leonidas refuses Xerxes' offer and decides to make Sparta the first front against The Persian Army. Leonidas takes 300 of his finest soldiers to the shores of Greece and forces the evil invaders to go through a narrow canyon where Xerxes' numbers won't matter.
Everything about this movie screams HD glory. Not only is the story epic, but the audio and visual aspects are outstanding. This disc also contains a ton of special features. There are featurettes about Spartan history and the training the actors went through (no air-brushing there, just working out) as well as some picture-in-picture commentaries.
As an added bonus, the HD DVD version of this movie also contains the standard DVD format on the flip side. So if you don't have an HD DVD player yet and plan to get one soon, you can still watch the movie on your normal DVD player.
I can't say that this movie is worth buying a standalone HD DVD player, but if you already have an Xbox 360, then it's worth buying the peripheral. And if you already have an HD DVD player, then definitely pick up this disc.
