@candide,
I agree. Since when did Leonidas 'King of Sparta' have a Scottish accent? The account of the battle depicted in the film barely related to historical fact, perhaps the director should have revised his knowledge of the classical world before proceeding. How it was nominated for 'Best Movie' beggars belief.
The film relied purely on violence to attract an audience - the depictions of spurting blood astonished me, i have seen this before in such other films of poor content, for example 'Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2. To add to this lack of historical impression would be 'Troy', although not so bad as '300', more research should have been pursued before commiting to film. I am surprised that this has not been follwed by 'The Odyssey'