Saw it last night, AMAZING movie. I never knew it was possible to pack so much awesome into two hours!
Also: I read the comic book, but I don't remember - how accurate was this to it? I recognized some of the added scenes, but I don't remember if the ending (er.. don't want to put spoilers.. the last spear-toss) was the same?
Saw it last night with my bro for guy's night out...DEFINETELY AN AWESOME MOVIE
I read up on the historical battle before hand just to see how similar it was (I don't care if it doesn't follow history, its just a movie but I was curious). I was surprised how close the movie, and I assume comic book, was to what went down there. There really were 300 spartans and about 700 allies and historians estimate they took out 20,000-80,000 persians!
A 1:40 kill ratio is impressive even for a super fade! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/fade.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::fade::" border="0" alt="fade.gif" />
Decent summary if you can't be bothered to look at real sources: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae</a>
Eh, bunch of meatheads organize, rape some Persians, get raped by the end. Then more Spartans come and kill off the rest. Oh and the queen gets raped. Does not impress me.
As for the action... lots of swinging, slowing down and repeating.
I did feel like I was rooting for the Spartans.
In the end, it's just another action movie, although this one melds art into the background for a different kind of look. I'd still have to say I liked Pan's better than this.
<!--quoteo(post=1615396:date=Mar 18 2007, 03:35 PM:name=SmoodCroozn)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SmoodCroozn @ Mar 18 2007, 03:35 PM) [snapback]1615396[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Eh, bunch of meatheads organize, rape some Persians, get raped by the end. Then more Spartans come and kill off the rest. Oh and the queen gets raped. Does not impress me. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You could oversimplify and summerize the plot of any movie like that and make it sound stupid.
<!--quoteo(post=1615396:date=Mar 18 2007, 03:35 PM:name=SmoodCroozn)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SmoodCroozn @ Mar 18 2007, 03:35 PM) [snapback]1615396[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> In the end, it's just another action movie, although this one melds art into the background for a different kind of look. I'd still have to say I liked Pan's better than this. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree Pan's was a better quality movie, but I was probably a bit more entertained by 300.
That_Annoying_KidSire of TitlesJoin Date: 2003-03-01Member: 14175Members, Constellation
edited March 2007
SPPPPAAARRTAAAAAA
so yesterday I rolled a fat blunt, took the bus to Sacramento (took an hour fifteen), found a parking garage, got my tickets to 300 on IMAX (FOR FREE!!@!!1 I would scan the ticket where it says "price: comp 0.00" ) and the I proceded to have my loins rocked so very violently.
The only part I didn't like was the "Traitor! Traitor!" part. It just seemed cheesy.... It was cool that she shanked him and all, but the council members bend over and pick up the xeres gold and they all at once start shouting traitor... Sure it lets them side with the queenwife, but it was cheesyness to the max.
I went expecting some good senseless action, and I was not disappointed. Several parts of the plot were convuluted. I thought that the gimp was a watcher from the oracle folks, why leonidas didn't just tell him to watch the goat road is beyond me.
ThansalThe New ScumJoin Date: 2002-08-22Member: 1215Members, Constellation
heh
I loved how the all took up the chant of "Traitor! Traitor!" sounded like they were at a sporting event chanting for their team, or something <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
so yesterday I rolled a fat blunt, took the bus to Sacramento (took an hour fifteen), found a parking garage, got my tickets to 300 on IMAX (FOR FREE!!@!!1 I would scan the ticket where it says "price: comp 0.00" ) and the I proceded to have my loins rocked so very violently.
The only part I didn't like was the "Traitor! Traitor!" part. It just seemed cheesy.... It was cool that she shanked him and all, but the council members bend over and pick up the xeres gold and they all at once start shouting traitor... Sure it lets them side with the queenwife, but it was cheesyness to the max.
I went expecting some good senseless action, and I was not disappointed. Several parts of the plot were convuluted. I thought that the gimp was a watcher from the oracle folks, why leonidas didn't just tell him to watch the goat road is beyond me.
[edit] fixed akward grammar [/edit] <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Jesus mang you went from Davis all the way to sactown? Also, are you going to school there? My hometown is liek 1.5 hrs from you.
Oh, so... um, Leonidas didn't tell the Quasimodo guy to watch the goat road (just told him to f'koff) because he was a cripple. He had no place at all in the Spartan fighting force (even as a scout), and it was Leo's responsibility to shun him. No room for a compromise. THUS IS SPARTAN LAAWWW!
BTW if anyone is interested in the original 300 comic, PM me.
<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=GR59ABHmeTc" target="_blank">DAS IST SHPAAAATTAAAAAA</a> edit: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNqiSkd1M6k" target="_blank">SPARTANS! TONIGHT, WE DINE IN <strike>HELL</strike> HECK!</a>
just watched 300 yesterday and thought it was entertaining. It wasn't really a great movie in the traditional sense, but people need to learn to appreciate B action movies <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> Somehow, the first resident evil movie ranks among my favorites.
Zig...I am Captain Planet!Join Date: 2002-10-23Member: 1576Members
<!--quoteo(post=1616577:date=Mar 23 2007, 08:29 PM:name=scaryface)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(scaryface @ Mar 23 2007, 08:29 PM) [snapback]1616577[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Somehow, the first resident evil movie ranks among my favorites. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> That's completely different, and you should get help.
<!--quoteo(post=1616579:date=Mar 23 2007, 10:34 PM:name=Zig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Zig @ Mar 23 2007, 10:34 PM) [snapback]1616579[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> That's completely different, and you should get help. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> lol i realize it was a bad movie. maybe it was just the people i watched it with, but i had a lot of fun with it. there were ###### GREMLins! Im very surprised that they somehow got the money together to make a <a href="http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/residentevilextinction/index.html" target="_blank">THIRD RE movie</a> that looks to be the worst yet.
Watched it, liked it lots. My loins did get rocked but not too violently <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
Fighting scenes were beautiful. I just love seeing the formations. The hedgehog shaped one at the end was incredible, although I wished it could have seen more use. The epic feel and style of scenery didnt get old for me and made it look incredible.
One gripe I have is that I really didn't feel there were 300 soldiers there. It seemed there were 20-50 most times. I understand that it is quite hard to show hundreds of troops in an army without using very zoomed-out overdone computer graphics shots but it would have made the movie a bit more perfect for me.
<!--quoteo(post=1616617:date=Mar 24 2007, 10:45 AM:name=Zor2)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Zor2 @ Mar 24 2007, 10:45 AM) [snapback]1616617[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Watched it, liked it lots. My loins did get rocked but not too violently <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
Fighting scenes were beautiful. I just love seeing the formations. The hedgehog shaped one at the end was incredible, although I wished it could have seen more use. The epic feel and style of scenery didnt get old for me and made it look incredible.
<b><i>One gripe I have is that I really didn't feel there were 300 soldiers there. It seemed there were 20-50 most times.</b></i> I understand that it is quite hard to show hundreds of troops in an army without using very zoomed-out overdone computer graphics shots but it would have made the movie a bit more perfect for me. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Believe it or not, thats probably what they actually wanted to go for as far as portrayal, really driving home the fact that there is only a handful of soldier's here, whereas the Persians have an entire army.
Just about to go see it for the second time <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
Such a kick-###### movie!
I'm curious as to what women are saying about it though... I'm going to guess that this is one of those guy films that women really don't care about.
For myself, I thought it was stupid but fun. I giggled throughout. It had only the most tenuous of pretensions towards historicity. The "philosophers and boy-lovers" comment was hilariously stupid; Sparta is still famed for the romantic and sexual pair-bonds between its elite fighters. The talk of "freedom" made no sense: the Spartan society was based on a pyramid of slavery. The only reason they had such an intense warrior culture was because they needed to, to keep the slaves in check. Each free citizen had to be worth, roughly, ten slaves on the battlefield.
Dan Savage's take was accurate:
"With nothing but time on my hands this week, I slipped out of the office and went to the movies. Have you seen 300 yet? It's about a handful of lightly armed ancient Greeks—the Spartans—who take on the mighty and massive Persian army. Some feel the film is homophobic; some feel it's a conservative, pro-war piece of agitprop.
Homophobic? It's Ann Coulter on a meth binge.
The Persian army is an armed ######-pride parade, a threat to all things decent and, er, Greek. The king of the Spartans—among the most notorious boy-###### in all of ancient history—dismisses Athenian Greeks as weak-willed "philosophers and boy lovers." The Persian emperor? An eight-foot-tall black drag queen—mascara, painted-on eyebrows, pink lip gloss. Emperor RuPaul is positively obsessed with men kneeling in front of him. Why ###### up the Persians? So that straight boys in the theater can identify with the Spartan king and his 300 soldiers—all of whom appear to have been recruited from and outfitted by the International Male catalog.
What isn't up for debate is the film's politics. The only times the Persian army doesn't look like a ######-pride parade in hell, it looks like a crowd of madly chanting Islamic militants. And if the Spartan king has to break the Spartan law to defend Spartan freedoms? Well, sometimes a king's gotta do what a king's gotta do. Because, as the queen of Sparta points out, freedom isn't free. And, yes, she uses exactly those words. George Bush is going to blow a load in his pants when he sees this movie."
Hey, maybe you liked the movie. That's ok, I did too! And I'm even one of those queer fellows. But don't try to pretend that it didn't have a couple <i>very</i> thinly veiled subtexts. Also don't kid yourself into thinking it was good cinema.
300 is possibly one of the best films I have ever seen - however I can understand some of the negative reactions because imo you really need to be able to appreciate the <i>incredible</i> cinemetography(sp?) to get the most out of the film.
Psh, no way. The green-screen stuff, the choreography, the killin' and spillin', the stuff like blazing guitar riffs as the dudes headbang in a rainstorm and ships crunch against the rocks: that's all the stuff I loved. The absolutely content-less cinematic equivalent of skydiving was fun.\
It's just that folks ought to admit that the other parts of it do exist.
To those that are looking into 300 as some sort of allegory for the Iraqi war...
Doubleyou tee eff...
I know that directors and writers can inject new ideas into old works, but the graphic novel of 300 has been around for awhile. And knowing other Frank Miller works (Sin City, Dark Knight Returns, etc.) i'd say that themes of One vs. Many and the vigilante aren't unique to our current times.
<!--quoteo(post=1616677:date=Mar 24 2007, 06:57 PM:name=paella)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(paella @ Mar 24 2007, 06:57 PM) [snapback]1616677[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Psh, no way. The green-screen stuff, the choreography, the killin' and spillin', the stuff like blazing guitar riffs as the dudes headbang in a rainstorm and ships crunch against the rocks: that's all the stuff I loved. The absolutely content-less cinematic equivalent of skydiving was fun.\
It's just that folks ought to admit that the other parts of it do exist. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I could extrude deep sociological commentary from an episode of Friends, that doesn't mean it was intended.
Now, let me illuminate a few things:
First - <img src="http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g247/UltimaGecko/xerxes.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" /> This is Frank Miller's Xerxes in the graphic novel on the left, in the film on the right. Similar?
Second - Miller's graphic novel 300 was published in <b>May 1998</b>.
Third - The Iraq war did not begin until March 20th, 2003 (...notice that 1998 is <i>before</i> 2001 <i>and</i> 2003...).
Fourth - It was <i>not</i> uncommon in ancient times for men to wear what we would define today as makeup (or full body cosmetics), especially those from lands near the middle east such as Egypt and Media (...Persia).
Fifth - "Freedom is not free" was uttered long before Frank Miller wrote it and Zack Snyder threw it into this movie (I also think it's relatively true, but that is inconsequential to the point being made here).
Sixth - While Spartan society had the - today abhorrent - reliance on a multitude of slave labor, the actual society and governence of Sparta between Spartans was exceedingly equitable. But the movie needn't concern itself with such things. If you have a hero shout "For our lands, so that the slaves may support our lifestyle!" that just doesn't work very well cinematically, no matter what clandestine theme you're trying to 'imply' into a movie.
Seventh - Similar themes permeate Gladiator (...which managed to be released before 2001, a boon for itself). And we can just extract "men that wear white skirts need to be stabbed", "all Arabs are bloodthirsty or mercantile swindlers" and "Germans are easily conquered" from that film...
(If those sound absurd it's because they are, because they're drawn from a nonsensical thread of thought that doesn't maintain a connection with reality and the history of the medium it's observing).
I don't feel like continuing, so let's just stop at 7 items for now...
As far as going against the odds goes, Zhuge Liang (chinese strategist, period of the Three Kingdoms) held a city against an army of hundred thousands. He even threw the gates wide open, and yet the enemy retreated in fear at his presence.
Just saw the movie. I went in with mixed expectations and came out with mixed feelings.
The script was trash. The story itself is fine, but the writing is simply bad and most of the actors only made it worse. The lines that would have been palatable ("Tonight we dine in hell", etc.) became so dilute by the time I actually saw the movie that the only part left for me to enjoy was the action. Also, taking long breaks between your words doesn't make their meaning "deep".
The action was mostly good. I enjoyed the slow-mo after all, though it was a bit too much outside of the fight scenes. The choreography was great overall.
The visuals were... okay. I can see why people go nuts for the style, I like it quite a bit. High contrast and color filters are nice, but that doesn't necessarily mean great photography. I think you need to be careful not to be fooled by these devices. The problem for me was a lack of depth. I felt like the background was just bluescreen the entire time.
<!--quoteo(post=1616918:date=Mar 25 2007, 10:18 PM:name=RuBy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(RuBy @ Mar 25 2007, 10:18 PM) [snapback]1616918[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Just saw the movie. I went in with mixed expectations and came out with mixed feelings.
The script was trash. The story itself is fine, but the writing is simply bad and most of the actors only made it worse. The lines that would have been palatable ("Tonight we dine in hell", etc.) became so dilute by the time I actually saw the movie that the only part left for me to enjoy was the action. Also, taking long breaks between your words doesn't make their meaning "deep".
The action was mostly good. I enjoyed the slow-mo after all, though it was a bit too much outside of the fight scenes. The choreography was great overall.
The visuals were... okay. I can see why people go nuts for the style, I like it quite a bit. High contrast and color filters are nice, but that doesn't necessarily mean great photography. I think you need to be careful not to be fooled by these devices. The problem for me was a lack of depth. I felt like the background was just bluescreen the entire time. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=1615389:date=Mar 18 2007, 03:03 PM:name=KainTSA)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KainTSA @ Mar 18 2007, 03:03 PM) [snapback]1615389[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Saw it last night with my bro for guy's night out...DEFINETELY AN AWESOME MOVIE<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Same here. Just never had a chance to see it before now, too busy. Ok that film was really violent but it wasn't a pointless gorefest mostly because it was based on one of the oldest know famous last stand battles. You can say what you want about the film being too hard (kind of reminded me more of Klingons cultural creed) or not enough plot. But so what?
OMG THE OWNAGE!!! Such teamwork in that film. If games in NS were like that you'd pratically never loose. That was perhaps the best part of the film in my mind. The teamwork right to the very end.
<!--quoteo(post=1617065:date=Mar 26 2007, 07:38 PM:name=the_x5)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_x5 @ Mar 26 2007, 07:38 PM) [snapback]1617065[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> OMG THE OWNAGE!!! Such teamwork in that film. If games in NS were like that you'd pratically never loose. That was perhaps the best part of the film in my mind. The teamwork right to the very end. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Comments
Also: I read the comic book, but I don't remember - how accurate was this to it? I recognized some of the added scenes, but I don't remember if the ending (er.. don't want to put spoilers.. the last spear-toss) was the same?
I read up on the historical battle before hand just to see how similar it was (I don't care if it doesn't follow history, its just a movie but I was curious). I was surprised how close the movie, and I assume comic book, was to what went down there. There really were 300 spartans and about 700 allies and historians estimate they took out 20,000-80,000 persians!
A 1:40 kill ratio is impressive even for a super fade! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/fade.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::fade::" border="0" alt="fade.gif" />
Decent summary if you can't be bothered to look at real sources: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae</a>
As for the action... lots of swinging, slowing down and repeating.
I did feel like I was rooting for the Spartans.
In the end, it's just another action movie, although this one melds art into the background for a different kind of look. I'd still have to say I liked Pan's better than this.
Giving me a sword would be a very bad thing right now.
Eh, bunch of meatheads organize, rape some Persians, get raped by the end. Then more Spartans come and kill off the rest. Oh and the queen gets raped. Does not impress me.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You could oversimplify and summerize the plot of any movie like that and make it sound stupid.
<!--quoteo(post=1615396:date=Mar 18 2007, 03:35 PM:name=SmoodCroozn)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SmoodCroozn @ Mar 18 2007, 03:35 PM) [snapback]1615396[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
In the end, it's just another action movie, although this one melds art into the background for a different kind of look. I'd still have to say I liked Pan's better than this.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree Pan's was a better quality movie, but I was probably a bit more entertained by 300.
so yesterday I rolled a fat blunt, took the bus to Sacramento (took an hour fifteen), found a parking garage, got my tickets to 300 on IMAX (FOR FREE!!@!!1 I would scan the ticket where it says "price: comp 0.00" ) and the I proceded to have my loins rocked so very violently.
The only part I didn't like was the "Traitor! Traitor!" part. It just seemed cheesy.... It was cool that she shanked him and all, but the council members bend over and pick up the xeres gold and they all at once start shouting traitor... Sure it lets them side with the queenwife, but it was cheesyness to the max.
I went expecting some good senseless action, and I was not disappointed. Several parts of the plot were convuluted. I thought that the gimp was a watcher from the oracle folks, why leonidas didn't just tell him to watch the goat road is beyond me.
[edit]
fixed akward grammar
[/edit]
I loved how the all took up the chant of "Traitor! Traitor!" sounded like they were at a sporting event chanting for their team, or something <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
so yesterday I rolled a fat blunt, took the bus to Sacramento (took an hour fifteen), found a parking garage, got my tickets to 300 on IMAX (FOR FREE!!@!!1 I would scan the ticket where it says "price: comp 0.00" ) and the I proceded to have my loins rocked so very violently.
The only part I didn't like was the "Traitor! Traitor!" part. It just seemed cheesy.... It was cool that she shanked him and all, but the council members bend over and pick up the xeres gold and they all at once start shouting traitor... Sure it lets them side with the queenwife, but it was cheesyness to the max.
I went expecting some good senseless action, and I was not disappointed. Several parts of the plot were convuluted. I thought that the gimp was a watcher from the oracle folks, why leonidas didn't just tell him to watch the goat road is beyond me.
[edit]
fixed akward grammar
[/edit] <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Jesus mang you went from Davis all the way to sactown? Also, are you going to school there? My hometown is liek 1.5 hrs from you.
Oh, so... um, Leonidas didn't tell the Quasimodo guy to watch the goat road (just told him to f'koff) because he was a cripple. He had no place at all in the Spartan fighting force (even as a scout), and it was Leo's responsibility to shun him. No room for a compromise. THUS IS SPARTAN LAAWWW!
BTW if anyone is interested in the original 300 comic, PM me.
<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=GR59ABHmeTc" target="_blank">DAS IST SHPAAAATTAAAAAA</a>
edit: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNqiSkd1M6k" target="_blank">SPARTANS! TONIGHT, WE DINE IN <strike>HELL</strike> HECK!</a>
That's completely different, and you should get help.
That's completely different, and you should get help.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
lol i realize it was a bad movie. maybe it was just the people i watched it with, but i had a lot of fun with it. there were ###### GREMLins!
Im very surprised that they somehow got the money together to make a <a href="http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/residentevilextinction/index.html" target="_blank">THIRD RE movie</a> that looks to be the worst yet.
Fighting scenes were beautiful. I just love seeing the formations. The hedgehog shaped one at the end was incredible, although I wished it could have seen more use. The epic feel and style of scenery didnt get old for me and made it look incredible.
One gripe I have is that I really didn't feel there were 300 soldiers there. It seemed there were 20-50 most times. I understand that it is quite hard to show hundreds of troops in an army without using very zoomed-out overdone computer graphics shots but it would have made the movie a bit more perfect for me.
Watched it, liked it lots. My loins did get rocked but not too violently <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
Fighting scenes were beautiful. I just love seeing the formations. The hedgehog shaped one at the end was incredible, although I wished it could have seen more use. The epic feel and style of scenery didnt get old for me and made it look incredible.
<b><i>One gripe I have is that I really didn't feel there were 300 soldiers there. It seemed there were 20-50 most times.</b></i> I understand that it is quite hard to show hundreds of troops in an army without using very zoomed-out overdone computer graphics shots but it would have made the movie a bit more perfect for me.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Believe it or not, thats probably what they actually wanted to go for as far as portrayal, really driving home the fact that there is only a handful of soldier's here, whereas the Persians have an entire army.
Such a kick-###### movie!
I'm curious as to what women are saying about it though... I'm going to guess that this is one of those guy films that women really don't care about.
Dan Savage's take was accurate:
"With nothing but time on my hands this week, I slipped out of the office and went to the movies. Have you seen 300 yet? It's about a handful of lightly armed ancient Greeks—the Spartans—who take on the mighty and massive Persian army. Some feel the film is homophobic; some feel it's a conservative, pro-war piece of agitprop.
Homophobic? It's Ann Coulter on a meth binge.
The Persian army is an armed ######-pride parade, a threat to all things decent and, er, Greek. The king of the Spartans—among the most notorious boy-###### in all of ancient history—dismisses Athenian Greeks as weak-willed "philosophers and boy lovers." The Persian emperor? An eight-foot-tall black drag queen—mascara, painted-on eyebrows, pink lip gloss. Emperor RuPaul is positively obsessed with men kneeling in front of him. Why ###### up the Persians? So that straight boys in the theater can identify with the Spartan king and his 300 soldiers—all of whom appear to have been recruited from and outfitted by the International Male catalog.
What isn't up for debate is the film's politics. The only times the Persian army doesn't look like a ######-pride parade in hell, it looks like a crowd of madly chanting Islamic militants. And if the Spartan king has to break the Spartan law to defend Spartan freedoms? Well, sometimes a king's gotta do what a king's gotta do. Because, as the queen of Sparta points out, freedom isn't free. And, yes, she uses exactly those words. George Bush is going to blow a load in his pants when he sees this movie."
Hey, maybe you liked the movie. That's ok, I did too! And I'm even one of those queer fellows. But don't try to pretend that it didn't have a couple <i>very</i> thinly veiled subtexts. Also don't kid yourself into thinking it was good cinema.
It's just that folks ought to admit that the other parts of it do exist.
Still the usual amazing-ness!
I hope there's a OST being released. Loved the rock music they played when the Spartans were about to kick some ######.
Doubleyou tee eff...
I know that directors and writers can inject new ideas into old works, but the graphic novel of 300 has been around for awhile. And knowing other Frank Miller works (Sin City, Dark Knight Returns, etc.) i'd say that themes of One vs. Many and the vigilante aren't unique to our current times.
Psh, no way. The green-screen stuff, the choreography, the killin' and spillin', the stuff like blazing guitar riffs as the dudes headbang in a rainstorm and ships crunch against the rocks: that's all the stuff I loved. The absolutely content-less cinematic equivalent of skydiving was fun.\
It's just that folks ought to admit that the other parts of it do exist.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I could extrude deep sociological commentary from an episode of Friends, that doesn't mean it was intended.
Now, let me illuminate a few things:
First -
<img src="http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g247/UltimaGecko/xerxes.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
This is Frank Miller's Xerxes in the graphic novel on the left, in the film on the right. Similar?
Second -
Miller's graphic novel 300 was published in <b>May 1998</b>.
Third -
The Iraq war did not begin until March 20th, 2003 (...notice that 1998 is <i>before</i> 2001 <i>and</i> 2003...).
Fourth -
It was <i>not</i> uncommon in ancient times for men to wear what we would define today as makeup (or full body cosmetics), especially those from lands near the middle east such as Egypt and Media (...Persia).
Fifth -
"Freedom is not free" was uttered long before Frank Miller wrote it and Zack Snyder threw it into this movie (I also think it's relatively true, but that is inconsequential to the point being made here).
Sixth -
While Spartan society had the - today abhorrent - reliance on a multitude of slave labor, the actual society and governence of Sparta between Spartans was exceedingly equitable. But the movie needn't concern itself with such things. If you have a hero shout "For our lands, so that the slaves may support our lifestyle!" that just doesn't work very well cinematically, no matter what clandestine theme you're trying to 'imply' into a movie.
Seventh -
Similar themes permeate Gladiator (...which managed to be released before 2001, a boon for itself). And we can just extract "men that wear white skirts need to be stabbed", "all Arabs are bloodthirsty or mercantile swindlers" and "Germans are easily conquered" from that film...
(If those sound absurd it's because they are, because they're drawn from a nonsensical thread of thought that doesn't maintain a connection with reality and the history of the medium it's observing).
I don't feel like continuing, so let's just stop at 7 items for now...
The script was trash. The story itself is fine, but the writing is simply bad and most of the actors only made it worse. The lines that would have been palatable ("Tonight we dine in hell", etc.) became so dilute by the time I actually saw the movie that the only part left for me to enjoy was the action. Also, taking long breaks between your words doesn't make their meaning "deep".
The action was mostly good. I enjoyed the slow-mo after all, though it was a bit too much outside of the fight scenes. The choreography was great overall.
The visuals were... okay. I can see why people go nuts for the style, I like it quite a bit. High contrast and color filters are nice, but that doesn't necessarily mean great photography. I think you need to be careful not to be fooled by these devices. The problem for me was a lack of depth. I felt like the background was just bluescreen the entire time.
Just saw the movie. I went in with mixed expectations and came out with mixed feelings.
The script was trash. The story itself is fine, but the writing is simply bad and most of the actors only made it worse. The lines that would have been palatable ("Tonight we dine in hell", etc.) became so dilute by the time I actually saw the movie that the only part left for me to enjoy was the action. Also, taking long breaks between your words doesn't make their meaning "deep".
The action was mostly good. I enjoyed the slow-mo after all, though it was a bit too much outside of the fight scenes. The choreography was great overall.
The visuals were... okay. I can see why people go nuts for the style, I like it quite a bit. High contrast and color filters are nice, but that doesn't necessarily mean great photography. I think you need to be careful not to be fooled by these devices. The problem for me was a lack of depth. I felt like the background was just bluescreen the entire time.
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<img src="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m116/d00m3dd00d/dinealone.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<!--quoteo(post=1615389:date=Mar 18 2007, 03:03 PM:name=KainTSA)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KainTSA @ Mar 18 2007, 03:03 PM) [snapback]1615389[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Saw it last night with my bro for guy's night out...DEFINETELY AN AWESOME MOVIE<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Same here. Just never had a chance to see it before now, too busy. Ok that film was really violent but it wasn't a pointless gorefest mostly because it was based on one of the oldest know famous last stand battles. You can say what you want about the film being too hard (kind of reminded me more of Klingons cultural creed) or not enough plot. But so what?
OMG THE OWNAGE!!! Such teamwork in that film. If games in NS were like that you'd pratically never loose. That was perhaps the best part of the film in my mind. The teamwork right to the very end.
OMG THE OWNAGE!!! Such teamwork in that film. If games in NS were like that you'd pratically never loose. That was perhaps the best part of the film in my mind. The teamwork right to the very end.
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Teamwork <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" />
More like OMGZ SPARTAN STACKAGE 11!!1!!!
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