It's Greek to Me: "300" is panned in Athens

The much hyped film "300", a dark and stylized action film based on Frank Miller's eponymous graphic novel, has received an almost unanimous thumbs down from critics in Greece.

The film depicts the famous Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC in which a small band of Spartan soldiers secured the Pass of Thermopylae so that their allies could retreat. The 300 Spartans are said to have held for 3 days against a massively disproportionate Persian force.

According to AP the Greek critics have called the movie a "bloodlust video game", and a writer for Daily Ta Nea "gave Zack Syner's '300' zero out of 10."

The critics in Greece cite many mischaracterizations, "by ancient Persia, they refer to modern Iran-whose soldiers are portrayed as underdeveloped zombies. They are stroking racist instincts in Europe and America."

Regardless of the validity of the criticisms Panayitotis Timoyiannankis, of the daily Eleftheros Typos, points out "This is not a university lecture, it's a movie. It's an adaptation of a comic to the big screen, and that's only how it should be judged...when seen this way, it gets high marks."