300

[Scorcher505]

Careful to keep on topic. Talk about the movie and your thoughts on it, and do not make personal attacks on another user.

 

[Blackness]

Agreed.

 

[Museveni]

This touches on 300's most noteworthy abuse of history: the Persians are turned into monsters, but the non-Spartan Greeks are simply all too human. According to Herodotus, Leonidas led an army of perhaps 7,000 Greeks. These Greeks took turns rotating to the front of the phalanx stationed at Thermoplyae where, fighting in disciplined hoplite fashion, they held the narrow pass for two days. All told, some 4,000 Greeks perished there. In 300 the fighting is not in the hoplite fashion, and the Spartans do all of it, except for a brief interlude in which Leonidas allows a handful of untrained Greeks to taste the action, and they make a hash of it. When it becomes apparent they are surrounded, this contingent flees. In Herodotus' time there were various accounts of what transpired, but we know 700 hoplites from Thespiae remained, fighting beside the Spartans, they, too, dying to the last man.
No mention is made in 300 of the fact that at the same time a vastly outnumbered fleet led by Athenians was holding off the Persians in the straits adjacent to Thermopylae, or that Athenians would soon save all of Greece by destroying the Persian fleet at Salamis. This would wreck 300's vision, in which Greek ideals are selectively embodied in their only worthy champions, the Spartans.


This moral universe would have appeared as bizarre to ancient Greeks as it does to modern historians. Most Greeks would have traded their homes in Athens for hovels in Sparta about as willingly as I would trade my apartment in Toronto for a condo in Pyongyang.

Source

 

[GL2814]

I saw it this past Saturday. I thought it was really great!!

 

[Chrome]

i like how people expected this to be a historical movie in the vein of Gladiator or kingdom of heaven.

its a fantasy story based on a real event...simple.

 

[Asra]

I saw this movie, I liked it alot. It was based on a very good graphic novel. I think the look of the Spartans was inspired by those depictions of Greek guys fighting while wearing barley anything. Still I think this was the best movie of the year so far, it'll be hard to beat.

Plus I must add that Gerard Butler's performance as Leonidas was awesome. I have to admit I was feelin the sad when he was shouting out to his Queen around the end.

 

[Gwendar Evergreen]

I really liked it.
Great story, and all the chissled manliness was kinda fun too.

 

[Eretria90]

I saw the movie, and I would give it a 9/10. The cinematography was amazing, and the battle scenes were pretty cool. I did notice a lot of the historical accuracies and some flaws, but overall, you can still enjoy this movie as it is; a masterpiece.

 

[TheNewAge]

300: One of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen!! I was so disappointed.

This movie gets two thumbs down because:

1) The dialogue was absolutely horrible and was little better than what you would find in a "B" side porn flick. What accent were they trying to mimic anyways?

2) Someone should have told the director that the ancient Greeks weren't fair-skinned (with freckles to boot) with blond hair and blue-green eyes-- they are about a thousand miles too far south of the English channel to be believable. All the heroes looked like the cast from that moronic show Hercules or Xena: Warrior Princess. Also, last I checked, Persians (Iranians) tend to be lighter skinned that Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples and didn't have piercing/tattoo shops on every street corner, nor are they a race of tranvestites.

3) The action was boring. Ever since the Matrix, Hollywood seems bent on making EVERY action sequence in EVERY movie in SLOW MOTION. Practically the whole film was in slow motion. If they played the movie back at normal speed, it would be about 20 minutes long. Half of what is supposed to make an action flick exciting is the fact that there is so much happening so fast. Seriously, can we go back to making fast paced action flicks? The slo-mo thing is just plain boring-- I spent most of the movie trying to find the Fast-forward button on my armrest.

4) The special effects/blood/monsters looked about as real as what you might see in a pre-DirectX9.0 video game. Hollywood has taken computer-animated graphics to the extreme. The original Yoda, a puppet, looked real; the new one looked like a computer generated image.

5) And then my biggest gripe: the blatant injection of American politics into the movie. "Remember the 300!!! We can win this war, if all of Sparta (America??) would come together as one and support the troops..."

 

[FatBurger]

I thought it was a great movie. I loved how they kept it unrealistic (e.g. people riding on rhinos). The special effects were a bit much at times, but more often than not added well to the mythical feel of it.

I went in expecting exactly what it was. I think if I had different expectations, I wouldn't have liked it.

 

[want2change]

I saw it in imax the day it came out. I enjoyed it for the most part.

I saw it with a persian friend who was totally enraged by their portrayal of the persians. she's my friend, but I really don't like that some people go into a movie like this (one BASED on something that was BASED on a hazy 'historical' account) and think the people making meant it as an accurate portrayal of the time period.

I tried to assure her that of course most intelligent people know that that wasn't what the persians were like and that they probably didn't ride giant rhinos... it's a movie.

anyway, that's out of my system! I enjoyed it for what it was.

 

[Asra]

...And then my biggest gripe: the blatant injection of American politics into the movie. "Remember the 300!!! We can win this war, if all of Sparta (America??) would come together as one and support the troops..."

The movie, which I'm sure you already know this, was based on the comic book. Which in that comic seemed to have that idea of free men, free Greece, in it... cept the comic was done in 1998-99, before all this more recent America/Middle-East stuff. I'm convinced that the idea of this having any American politics is complete garbage.

 

[Theogonia]

Way too paganistic for my taste...

It was Christ who singlehandedly "jump started" humanity back to life...not some gang of skirt wearing, pagan worshipping, cavemen from Greece...

Weren't you the idiot attacking Passion of the Christ?

Seeing 300 tomorrow btw! It looks great!

 

[TheNewAge]

The movie, which I'm sure you already know this, was based on the comic book. Which in that comic seemed to have that idea of free men, free Greece, in it... cept the comic was done in 1998-99, before all this more recent America/Middle-East stuff. I'm convinced that the idea of this having any American politics is complete garbage.

So I suppose that the screenplay for this movie followed the comic book, line-for-line, quote-for-quote.
Of course screenplay writers never adapt original books (comic books) to something more suitable for mass viewing audiences, right?

Have you actually watched this movie? There were SEVERAL parts where the implied pro-Iraq War propaganda was blatant, and many more where it was more subtle.
I wasn't the only one who noticed: most of the people sitting around me at the theater were snickering and dropping wisecracks about it everytime it happened during the movie.

Here's another example of why your analysis was wrong, even though the original story was written prior to the Iraq War: the recent remake of War of the Worlds. As good a movie as it was, I couldn't help feeling a little bit intellectually insulted by the propaganda in that movie. The whole scene where Tom Cruise's son wants to go fight and be a soldier and his dad tries to stop him, and in a suspenseful moment (surrounded by billowing American flags, Humvees, soldiers, and "rockets' red glare"), his son tells him: "Dad, you have to let me go. I want to fight them."

They could have accomplished the same thing by putting an intermission in the movie and airing a "Join the Marine Corps" ad.

By your reasoning though, since War of the Worlds was written in 1898 in England, there is no possiblity that the screenplay writers could inject anything cheesily patriotic into it, right?

 

[TheNewAge]

I saw it in imax the day it came out. I enjoyed it for the most part.

I saw it with a persian friend who was totally enraged by their portrayal of the persians. she's my friend, but I really don't like that some people go into a movie like this (one BASED on something that was BASED on a hazy 'historical' account) and think the people making meant it as an accurate portrayal of the time period.

I think you are unable to see it from your friend's perspective. Joke or not, they chose to single out a single ethnicity, and portray them as a race of freaks, transvestites, and goblins.
You should try watching some of the spoofs and social-commentary style videos aired on Al-Jazeera. Most of them are not meant to be serious, but if you were to watch them, I guaran-damn-tee you, that you would feel offended at the way Americans are portrayed, and your reaction would be similar to your friend's.

I tried to assure her that of course most intelligent people know that that wasn't what the persians were like and that they probably didn't ride giant rhinos... it's a movie.

Unfortunately, intelligent people aren't the majority in the movie viewing populace. 99% of the people that watched that movie probably couldn't tell you what modern day country used to be Persia.
I'll give you all of my neighbors as an example (they're all Marines and Sailors, but otherwise, typical God-fearing, patriotic, working class Americans). I told my one neighbor that the movie sucked, and his reply was: "Of course it sucked, it was about a bunch of Europeans killing sandnxggers." I asked him where Persia is and he told me "I don't know, somewhere over there in Africa, in camel-jocky land." My other neighbors gave me similarly educated and insightiful replies.

 

[Robby]

edit

 

[KarrieTex]

I'll give you all of my neighbors as an example (they're all Marines and Sailors, but otherwise, typical God-fearing, patriotic, working class Americans). I told my one neighbor that the movie sucked, and his reply was: "Of course it sucked, it was about a bunch of Europeans killing sandnxggers." I asked him where Persia is and he told me "I don't know, somewhere over there in Africa, in camel-jocky land." My other neighbors gave me similarly educated and insightiful replies.

Aren't you the special one and rather ignorant yourself. How incredibly insulting you are!

I can equally pull just as many God-fearing (which by your synopsis are uneducated people), patriotic, and working class Americans who do know where Persia is now and in this era of antiquity.

Oh by the way, we are ALL working class. Each one of us works.

 

[ModernDaySpyridon]

I'll give you all of my neighbors as an example (they're all Marines and Sailors, but otherwise, typical God-fearing, patriotic, working class Americans). I told my one neighbor that the movie sucked, and his reply was: "Of course it sucked, it was about a bunch of Europeans killing sandnxggers." I asked him where Persia is and he told me "I don't know, somewhere over there in Africa, in camel-jocky land." My other neighbors gave me similarly educated and insightiful replies.

Well...I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't us the terms "God-fearing," or "patriotic" to discribe anyone who demonstrates that kind of ignorance and hatred in casual conversation.

God-fearing would mean that they have respect for all of God's creation...including Arabs and Muslims, and even an al-Qaeda terrorist...you know, that whole "love your enemies" bit?

And patriotic means that we believe in the ideals of America..namely that all people are created equal...which means not being a racist (I'm not accusing you, just the neighbor you reference).

 

[soblessed53]

lol true, graphic violence is ok, as long as it does not swear nor have sexual content, ha ha, I did not cover my eyes because I was watching nature at work. Even though one time it was rape, still, the other parts is just a couple making love.

Sounds disgusting! Thanks for the description,I most certainly will not watch this garbage! :o

 

[Blackness]

Sounds disgusting! Thanks for the description,I most certainly will not watch this garbage! :o

...nature is garbage? But animalistic behavior such as cutting the head off of someone, ITS OK! (I dont care about the violence, in fact, I loved it, but just pointing out).