300

[savedbygrace 2]

Quote[/b] ]But I would be interested to know the actual history behind it ... could anyone elaborate please?

I believe the Greek states razed a persian city to the ground and the Persians declared that they would return the favor, hence their march on Athens.

I had seen a documentary on the spartans a few weeks ago and the significance of their power was in their formations. Once they fell from formation they became as other trained soldiers.

The documentary also covered a fantastic strategic naval battle that the greeks had fought against the persian navy that was invading during the same conflict. I haven't seen the movie but according to the documentary, Athens was sacked but before the persian army could return home, the remaining greek navy caught up with them and destroyed them. The important lesson learned from the battle was that the Greek states had set aside their differences to unite against a threat to their civilaztion. May not be an accurate summarization, I'm going on memory from a few weeks ago. The documentary was on either the History channel or the military channel about a week before the release of 300.

[xawery 0]

I just finished reading the original "300" graphic novel... I now see that the film's high suckage factor can be attributed to the source material. Miller should really stick to illustrating stories rather than writing them. He's certainly a very accomplished artist, but writing good dialogue or an interesting plot isn't part of his skillset. The amount of anachronistic expressions ("Way to go!" etc.) is highly annoying. Oh, and if you thought that the film had a vague homo-erotic vibe to it, you should see the graphic novel... Apparantly Spartans marched to war with their genitals swinging in the summer breeze... Never seen so many penes in a comic book But the worst part is that narration in Miller's stories is explicitly demoted to the role of vehicle for his artwork, not the other way around.

This is only exacerbated by the fact that Zack Snyder doesn't adapt a story to the silver screen: he essentially copies it. Snyder is a very competent director from the technical point of view, but he lacks any creativity. He slavishly copies every panel, down to the camera angle. The slowmotion used in the battle scenes is just an attempt at mimicking the inherent stillness of Miller's graphic novel.

Verbatim copies of books or comics are as pointless as they are dull. There is barely any creativity involved, only technical expertise. Take "The Shining", "I, Claudius" or "Lord of the Rings": those were adaptations worth every penny! Cinema and (graphic) novels are fundamentally different: an adaptation requires a certain amount of modification to fit the new medium. If one just copies every single bit we end up with such lifeless facsimiles like "Sin City" or "300": pleasing to the eye, but low on substance.

Now, all this would be mildly annoying at best (there are tons of other bad films, after all), had the financial success of "Sin City" and "300" not emboldened Zack Snyder. He is now convinced that he's capable of directing complex films, rather that shooting nice pictures of simplistic, visuals-oriented stories. Believe it or not, he intends to direct an adaptation of Alan Moore's Watchmen, arguably the best and most complex graphic novel to date. Better men than Snyder have tried (e.g. Terry Jones), only to come to the conclusion that a miniseries consisting of twelve episodes would be the only way to pull it off. Snyder wants to cram this epic, ambiguous and thought-provoking story into a 3 hour film. ZOMG.

I'm sorry if this comes across as a rant, but many people have failed to understand my disdain for 300 and other Snyder productions. This post serves the purpose of crystallising my objections to this very popular film.

[CsonkaPityu 0]

That movie is terrible. It's so laughable that the Spartans, the biggest slave-owners in ancient actually talk about freedom... it's like some pathetic propaganda movie. The war nerd delivers utter and devastating truth once again:

http://www.exile.ru/2007-March-23/war_nerd.html

some highlights...

Quote[/b] ]Wanna know what a Spartan wedding night was really like? It's pretty hilarious, in an insane way. As soon as a Spartan girl got her first period, they grabbed her, shaved her head, dressed her as a boy, threw her down on her new husband's bed, and then, well, he had his way with her. What way was that? Since hubby had been in an all-male dorm since age seven, I'm betting that that night of lovin' was more like a skinny white boy's introduction to San Quentin after lights-out than it was like a chick flick. So when this movie shows the Spartan hero saying to his wife, "Goodbye, my love," I just had to laugh.

Quote[/b] ]Sparta's leather-bar ways were a running joke to the ancient Greeks. The Spartans were stone killers - but they also preened like teenage girls before a battle. They grew their hair long, and before a fight they'd comb it, oil it, try out fetching new styles, put little baubles in their ears, anything to die young and leave a beautiful corpse.

None of that in this movie. Just the opposite. The script even has Leonidas taunt the Athenians calling them "boy-lovers." Athens, the true hero of the war against Persia, gets dissed time and again in this movie. You won't hear a word in 300 about Salamis, the real decisive battle of the war - because it was Athens, not Sparta, that destroyed the Persian fleet at Salamis. The Spartans wanted to run away from the Persian fleet and wall themselves off in the Peloponnese (you wouldn't believe how many times I've messed up the spelling on that damn word).

[stainer 0]

I've seen the film and had to say I did enjoy it. So long as you don't take everything literally and have an open mind, you'll see that it is a good action movie, nothing more, nothing less.

BTW, didn't this kick up some fuss with the Iranians about misrepresentation of their history?

Here's a link: BBC - Iranian anger at Hollywood 'assault'

and another: BBC - Iran condemns Hollywood war epic

[USMC NEEDER 0]

Spartans rule hehehee

[SpeedyDonkey 0]

It was an entertaining movie. I give it the score 26 out of 35.

I would very much like to be a spartan when I grow up.

sincerely,

SpeedyDonkey.

[AWDrift 0]

I can't help, but feel it would be better if they just scrapped the idea of a movie and made an epic game on the 360 or PS3. The whole graphic novel feels more like a single chapter than anything else. Even then it's still mostly just violent battle scenes.

With a game though, long periods where it's just nothing, but battle with little story are acceptable.

Another thing is the how the spartans constantly talk about freedom and justice. They sound more like Duke and his G.I. Joes than ancient Greek soldiers.

[Rhodite 3]

Seeing it tonite (FINNALLY!

[Espectro (DayZ) 0]

I really enjoyed the movie for what it was - a brainless action film. Loved the effects - it's rather nice to finally see a modern film, where the director doesn't put in extra drama just for the sake of drama.

The film HAS to be seen in the theater though!

[zwobot 17]

I can't help, but feel it would be better if they just scrapped the idea of a movie and made an epic game on the 360 or PS3. The whole graphic novel feels more like a single chapter than anything else. Even then it's still mostly just violent battle scenes.

Play Rome Total War. You won't get any fantasy stuff with RTW though

[Rhodite 3]

Saw it.

Loved it.

[Turkmenbashi 0]

Saw it.

Loved it.

Told you you'd like it :P

Now you can go out and enjoy the amusing images/parody videos.

[william1 0]

excellent movie the fighting scenes are an adrenaline discharge

Spartans, the best soldiers the world has ever met , 300 spartans + 4000 greeks held against the +100.000 soldiers persian army during 5 days until they were betrayed by a renegade greek, but they first killed thousands of persians , and maybe they could have resist if they wouldn't have been betrayed. anyway , the oracle of delfos had told that for sparta to survive one of the two Spartans Kings had to die , that's why Leonidas stood against the persians even after he knew they had been betrayed , for that and to give time to the Athenians to evacuate the city before the Persian army reach the town ,a true hero that Leonidas

[Average Joe 0]

Watched it again last night

[The Frenchman 0]

Saw it a second time this afternoon in an IMAX theatre.

I loved it!  

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>I think I have a crush on the oracle girl now. >_></span>

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

I just saw it tonight and I must say that it was entertaining but I was disappointed by the fact that there was more gore in the closing credits than throughout the whole movie, something I somehow would be even more presence (the blood spattering I mean) having seen "Sin City"...

And yeah, Spartan babes rule over Xerxes' concubines...

[Shadow NX 1]

BUZZARD @ April 12 2007,01:40)]And yeah, Spartan babes rule over Xerxes' concubines...

Yeah easiely... at least they still had all their limbs

But hey one of Xerxes girls at least had a huge ghetto booty

To get bit ontopic, seen it last weekend and i think it rocked.

First 15minutes i though... oh what a crap...bla bla... and the guys all look like gays... afterwards i was just impressed by this adrenaline rushing movie...

When the spartans slash through hundreds of enemys with that fast camera cuts and the hard music is was really blown away... sure its nothing complex like a Shindlers list or something but it was perfect popcorn cinema and sometimes i need that.

[InqWiper 0]

Spoilers.

This movie was shit imo. How you can take a real historical event and turn it into this I dont understand. Xerxes looks like a 2.5 meter tall egyptian gay with more facial piercings than an average piercingfreak. Making a large part of Xerxes army zombies/monsters/mutants really had me going back and forth between laughing and snoaring. I also like how they spent energy on stacking this 5 meter wall of dead bodies which when they tipped it over didnt really do anything. Since they didnt bring any food except a single pear (or was it an apple?)  I think this seemed like a waste of energy. It also confuses me that they killed several thousand enemies but then suddenly they decide they need to go and bow to Xerxes and get killed while managing to kill like 5 enemies. The fighting scenes were well made imo but if they had removed the slow motion it would probably have been 30 minutes shorter. If you like mindless action and arent bothered by a crappy story which should make any historian cry then this might be something for you. If you think movies based on historical events should atleast have some realism and historical accuracy then this is probably not for you. Arguing that this movie is not shit because its based on a comic is stupid. It is not less shit because its based on shit. If you make a perfect copy of shit you still have shit.

[Tovarish 0]

Saw it a second time this afternoon in an IMAX theatre.

I loved it!  

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>I think I have a crush on the oracle girl now. >_></span>

lol

Ditto, and ditto

[ebud 18]

If you like mindless action and arent bothered by a crappy story which should make any historian cry then this might be something for you.

Meh, if I wanted a history lesson I'd watch the history channel. I've never watched porn flick expecting a love story or great acting, and I've never watched a Hollywood action movie expecting historical accuracy. Don't tell me after it's been out this long you didn't know what you were getting yourself into.

Lighten up.

[USSRsniper 0]

Watched and i didnt like it..... Not even good as Gladiator   5 out of 10, since i dont really like movies where they screw around with history, such as turning it into some unrealistic thing. Its same thing as making movie about Nazis fighting for democracy in WW2 against Allies who have genetically engineered soldiers. But was fun watching movie about Spartans fighting for democracy while they are Monarchy, hell even Persians were more democratic then Spartans   I like mindless action movies, but i seem not to like this movie maybe because it has too much mindless action

[william1 0]

but they were not fighting for democracy , they were fighting for freedom (their freedom of course ) and justice , or what they think it could be justice lol , i bet their slaves, the Helots, thought spartans could fit spartan justice in their ...

[CsonkaPityu 0]

Quote[/b] ]Arguing that this movie is not shit because its based on a comic is stupid. It is not less shit because its based on shit. If you make a perfect copy of shit you still have shit.

[wex-q 0]

Once more:

It's an action-movie, not a History Channel program!

[POPKA 0]

Quote[/b] ]It's an action-movie, not a History Channel program!

Regardless they should not have given it a historical background, they might as well have set it in middle earth. In my opinion they went to far with it even if it was adapted from a comic its not like Troy which was based on a myth its based on an actual battle and it is portrayed very badly, the whole point is for it to look "cool". They also could have probably fitted it into a half an hour miniseries if they had not bothered with the slo-mo.