Nope, I still don't get it

Our pastor today gave his sermon on the attributes of a "real man" and used the film 300 as his springboard. That was it. I had to see the damn film.

I recently sidetracked another conversation that also used 300 to make the point that modern society saps the manhood out of men - so I figured OK, having now heard this argument from a couple of different directions, I needed to see the film to understand what a "real man" looks like. Having now experienced the flick, I conclude that a man is apparently someone very skilled at killing other men.

No, that's not fair - a man as shown in 300 is someone willing to fight and die before he'll kneel before tyrants, especially a tyrant who sets himself up as a false god. But I think I'd rather see that model of manhood portrayed without an hour or so of bloodshed and mayhem.

I still can't get past the premise that the Spartan men shown in the film are "free men." Ripped from their families at a young age and trained up to be warriors, they go to their deaths defending what appears to be a "free" society in name only.

The other visually stylized movie adaptation of a Frank Miller graphic novel, Sin City, is ugly and compelling and great storytelling. 300 is just ugly. I love the idea of refusing to kneel. Everything else about the movie left me stone cold.