300

[Piedmon_Sama]

Touching pencil to mouth, The Lord of Piedmons frowned in dark thought.

"I dunno, I thought it was kind of funny," spake he, and a tempest lingered behind every word.

[rollfrenzy]

I literally Laughed out Loud in the theater. It could've been so good but was oh so bad.

[Piedmon_Sama]

How can it be bad if it made you laugh?

Seriously though, obviously the movie is lampoonable, but it's enjoyable on multiple levels. Those levels being "OMFG he just cut that dude's leg off SWEET!" and "roffles, I can't believe he just said that!" I more than got my money's worth.

[Amotis]

Plus the sex scene was like the karma sutra.

"Let's see how many positions we can fit in there!"

*flash* one...*flash*..two...*flash*...three...*flash* what? *flash* ...who let the midget in there?!? *flash* Oh...my...god...*flash*...okay..A clown? This is getting ridiculous...*flash* oh, that's just gross...*flash* *everyone's in full victorian era garb, sitting and sipping tea* *flash*

[rollfrenzy]

ROFL. True it did entertain me. That sex scene was great. Utter and complete lack of chemistry, it was almost like a training video.

I also really enjoyed the constant s...l...o...m...o...t...i...o...n. the whole movie was really like ten minutes long slo-mo'ed to last 2 hours.

although yeah, the action was cool, especially the realistic phalanx.

[Amotis]

Even though all that did was give something for them to burst out of dramatically.

[rollfrenzy]

True. I can see Leonidas's planning.

"ok men we'll start with a phalanx, the strongest possible defensive tactic. We'll put it in the pass here, the best strategic placement. After that we'll burst forth and run around individually, breaking ranks and leaving our position."

"Why would we do that our strength...."

"NO!! captain who has no name (literally credited as 'captain') We run around and jump and frolic individually so that the persians will be taken by surprise. They'll assume we are going to use strategy when every PC knows individual effort wins wars."

"uh..."

"ok let's do this"

[Amotis]

"Hands in, lets-all-be-heroes on three."

[okpokalypse]

The filmmakers assert that any parallels to the Iraq War have not been intended.

I would certainly hope so... Being the Graphic Novel upon which it was based had the bulk of it's story complete in 1997, and even the "300" Storyboards for the movie were already together in 2002. (He wanted to do "300" well before "Sin City." came to light.

As for historical inaccuracies:

"Director Zack Snyder says that fighting styles and formations (particularly the Spartan's phalanx) were purposefully changed - making them historically inaccurate - so they'd "look cool" and work better for movie purposes."

"The movie never claims to be historically correct. It is based somewhat loosely on Frank Miller's 1998 comic book mini-series. Changes from history were made by Miller and Snyder so as to appeal to a wider audience and create a more exciting and visually stunning action movie, rather than a typical historical epic."

If you want accuracy, it's rather difficult to find. Even to this day the size of the Persian army is in question.

[rollfrenzy]

LOL How do you add a quote to a sig, AMOT I want to siggy that.

[Amotis]

[quote=Amotis;2180259]"Hands in, lets-all-be-heroes on three."[/quote]

Lika thisa. Just copy and paste.

And I'm pretty sure we all know it's not made to be real, doesn't mean we can't mock it.

[rollfrenzy]

Thank you.

Yeah, I realize it's a comic book but it was really laughable at parts.

Like when Xerxes and Leonidas met, I really thought there was gonna be a "brokeback" moment.

[Reinforcements]

Saw it last night, in IMAX even. It was incredible. As a comic book adaptation it was spot-on, even including many frames from the comic, and the fighting choreography was some of the best I've ever seen. An awesome movie start to finish.

For weirdness, check out the guy who played Xerxes. Bwuh?

[rollfrenzy]

Snip

For weirdness, check out the guy who played Xerxes. Bwuh?

....but I ...thought.....xerxes.....black......uhh......

[Fade]

Just a little historical note...

Weren't there two kings of Sparta...?

And I didn't think there were any elephants at Thermopylae... Or that rhinos were there either...

[rollfrenzy]

Just a little historical note...

Weren't there two kings of Sparta...?

And I didn't think there were any elephants at Thermopylae... Or that rhinos were there either...

Fade, Historically there was nothing good at all about this movie. But that point has been beaten to death. It was a comic book. Plus there was so much more things to make fun of.

[Turcano]

If you want accuracy, it's rather difficult to find. Even to this day the size of the Persian army is in question.

Still, I think that you can do a liiittle better than portraying Xerxes as a body-piercing flamer. What was the point of that, anyway? "Xerxes is probably gay, as opposed to the Spar- oh, yeah. Right. Never mind."

[rollfrenzy]

"All you have to do is kneel......"

Bwahahahahah

[Vaynor]

Tonight, we dine in hell!

[JonathanC]

....but I ...thought.....xerxes.....black......uhh......

You thought Xerxes was black? Huh? He kinda looked that way in the comic, but Xerxes was Persian. Born in Persia. He conquered Egypt, but he did not take to their ways, and in fact was known for having strictly imposed the Persian way of life on the Egyptians. He had a big bushy beard too.

I don't see this being such a big deal. The movie diverged slightly from something in the comic that wasn't accurate either, and he looks close enough to what the comic book Xerxes looked like.

[Lord of the Helms]

The Homo-erotiscism was not needed either. When xerxes came up behind Leonidas? There were bedroom eyes.

To be fair, homoeroticism among the spartans is at least historically accurate

[phoenixineohp]

"But I don't want to fight in the shade!"
Yay for the reference in tonight's comic!

[purple gelatinous cube o' Doom]

If you want accuracy, it's rather difficult to find. Even to this day the size of the Persian army is in question.

A few sources I came across (a History Channel special, and a few web sources) put the size at around 300,000.

To be fair, homoeroticism among the spartans is at least historically accurate

Yes you are correct, except you forgot to mention that those relationship were almost always men/boys, not men/men.

[Caelestion]

Well, I don't see a problem with a Greek king having a Scottish accent. After all, that's what Sean Connery has done all his life in a million different roles. Then again, just watch Alexander or Troy to find ancient people with American accents that historically they wouldn't have had either.

[mooseofshadows]

Was anyone else dissapointed in this movie, save the historical aspects? Don't get me wrong, it was Ok, but it seemed like it was missing something. I never got attached to the characters enough to really care what they did (except the part where leonidas's wife stabbed the guy on the senate floor). I just felt like the movie was too much spectacle and not enough story.

[Syka]

Hehe, time to stick my two cents in.

First, it's a MOVIE based on a COMIC BOOK based on yet another MOVIE based on a TRUE EVENT. It goes something like: Battle of Thermopylae 480 BCE->The 300 1960ish->Frank Millers 300 Graphic Novel 1997->Frank Millers 300 Movie 2007. :) Very far removed from the original events.

Second, I'm a Classics Major (I know someone mentioned us taking the sticks out of our bums earlier...) and I loved this movie throughly. I saw it opening night and again tonight. Unlike other "historical" movies I have seen floating around it never makes a claim to historical accuracies. My problems with Troy stemmed from the fact that they were saying "Hey, this is based on the Illiad!" when...Yah, not at all. Not a bad movie, but I had trouble with that. This one I'm like "OK...They just wanted to have fun."

Visually, I thought it was a stunning movie. Having read the graphic novel (recently) I was impressed with how well they transfered it on to the big screen. I did enjoy Gorgo having a larger role, though. She just kicked butt toward the end...;)

I already know I'll be seeing it at least once (potentially twice) more in theaters (my friends are dragging me), and I'm planning on buying it. :D *nerd*

Oh yah...All those buff dudes didn't hurt, either. ;)

Cheers,
Syka

[Duraska]

Well, the Iranian government is already pissed off over the film.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17599641/

TEHRAN, Iran - The hit American movie “300” has angered Iranians who say the Greeks-vs-Persians action flick insults their ancient culture and provokes animosity against Iran.

“Hollywood declares war on Iranians,” blared a headline in Tuesday’s edition of the independent Ayende-No newspaper.

The movie, which raked in $70 million in its opening weekend, is based on a comic-book fantasy version of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., in which a force of 300 Spartans held off a massive Persian army at a mountain pass in Greece for three days.

Even some American reviewers noted the political overtones of the West-against-Iran story line — and the way Persians are depicted as decadent, sexually flamboyant and evil in contrast to the noble Greeks.

In Iran, the movie hasn’t opened and probably never will, given the government’s restrictions on Western films, though one paper said bootleg DVDs were already available.

Still, it touched a sensitive nerve. Javad Shamghadri, cultural adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said the United States tries to “humiliate” Iran in order to reverse historical reality and “compensate for its wrongdoings in order to provoke American soldiers and warmongers” against Iran.

The movie comes at a time of increased tensions between the United States and Iran over the Persian nation’s nuclear program and the Iraq war.
But aside from politics, the film was seen as an attack on Persian history, a source of pride for Iranians across the political spectrum, including critics of the current Islamic regime.

State-run television has run several commentaries the past two days calling the film insulting and has brought on Iranian film directors to point out its historical inaccuracies.

“The film depicts Iranians as demons, without culture, feeling or humanity, who think of nothing except attacking other nations and killing people,” Ayende-No said in its article Tuesday.

“It is a new effort to slander the Iranian people and civilization before world public opinion at a time of increasing American threats against Iran,” it said.
Iran’s biggest circulation newspaper, Hamshahri, said “300” is “serving the policy of the U.S. leadership” and predicted it will “prompt a wave of protest in the world. ... Iranians living in the U.S. and Europe will not be indifferent about this obvious insult.”

Where's a gigantic "roll eyes" emoticon when I need one!

[Piedmon_Sama]

Buncha whiners!

[Om]

Given the current political climate (I know, no discussion) I think its safe to say that a film that pitches the heroic civilising forces of the West against the innumerable faceless hordes of Persia in a battle for the future of the world was always going to cause some controversy.

[Sundog]

Jeeze, the Iranians are getting their history wrong! Xerxes was of the First Persian Empire, primarily based North of the Iranian Plateau. It was the Second Persian Empire (or more accurately, the Empire of Iran and Not-Iran) that was the historical predecessor of modern Iran.

I mean, if the US gets something Greek wrong, well, the US isn't Greece. But I expect more of the people who actually live in the region!