Before watching it, I really did think the vitriol that quote on quote critics descended on the film were perhaps just hyperbole - much like the plaudits self-appointed fanboys bestowed on the film as well.

I must be getting old then at 22 if I found this to be one of the worst tripe that I've seen in the past year. This, my friends is not genre proof. It is not beyond reproach. It's an insufferable shell of a movie that rings so hollow, and is so devoid of any emotions that it condescends its audiences. Style over substance for the most part and although in some events just very pretty to look at, it pretty much just aims to encapsulate the ferocity of LOTR, Braveheart and Gladiator.

The added slo-mo becomes a parody of itself sooner than I expected it to. As controversy about the depictions of the Persians makes its way around news outlets, I have to say that showing them as hedonistic fiends was perhaps the most intriguing part of the film, when a chill did threaten to find its way down my spine when the Dr Doom-esque Xerxes first reveals himself.