I watched this for the first time on Friday evening.

You could tell from the opening few minutes that it was a ridiculously flambouyant melodrama, but it was still fairly enjoyable. It definitely appealed to the 'woo! violence!' side of me left over from childhood.

I noticed certain things that I expected would raise a few eyebrows, and consulting Wikipedia confirmed it. I just found the "Persians = bloodthirsty savages / Spartans = honourable heroes" thing typical of Hollywood, and when the monsters came into it, it removed any notion of the makers aiming for any historical accuracy. Shirley, the fact it's blatantly a 'fantasy' film mean that people shouldn't really be offended by it. Huh?