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I went to see it today and I was quite impressed.  I'll tell you one thing, never have I seen so many ripped abs in my life.

This kind of film making may not be for everyone, it is highly stylized and makes a lot of use of the Matrix style slow motion in the fight scenes. The movie is very bloody with several limb amputations and beheadings. Almost  every big battle ends with dripping blood being shaken off the Spartans spears.

Gerard Butler does a great job as Leonidas. We see him developed from a boy at home with his parents until age seven when he is taken for his military training, then as a young man going through his rite of passage to manhood. 

There is a lot of testorone driven dialogue throughout as you would expect. The movie is also narrated throughout by David Wenham (Farimir from LOTR), who is dispatched before the final battle of the 300 to tell their story so that it may  inspire the rest of Greece to rise up against the Persians.


My favorite line in the movie has to be from the narration, "...quite clumsy beasts and the piles of dead Persians were slippery"

Trek Geezer, my daughter saw 300 yesterday after the first day of an archery tournament in Harrison, Virginia which she was competing and she called and told me about the film, so today I took my wife to the 1pm showing here in New Jersey. It's a must see film for 2007 and my wife loved it except some of the excessive blood and gore. That's three  :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: from us folks here in New Jersey.

My wife made positive comments on the Spartan "abs" and music.  :smile:

I did a review in my Movie Wastland thread http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,112951.msg134029.html#msg134029

Needless to say I liked it.  :thumbup:

Between "Gates of Fire" and some other studies of the battle, I have had high hopes for this movie and it sounds like the film is a good one.  I am hoping to see it soon.  Heroics on a scale rarely seen in human history from one of the greatest warrior cultures ever to exist.  History Channel also had an interesting documentary about the battle the other day.

Saw it on friday, awesome movie, great story, great acting, great everything....If Miller is himself involved, you can be sure its being done with the upmost respect to the original material, as he wouldnt have it any other way. A word of caution...I saw it in one of those cramped f-ing' stadium seating theatres, and by the end my legs and knees felt like they were ready to snap off. :hatred:

I saw it in the IMAX format Saturday night and I wasn't exactly exactly thrilled with it.  The dialogue is often lame, mostly poor or uninspired acting (Lena Headey sucks in this like she did in Brothers Grimm), there's way too much slow motion, the scene with the dancing Oracle was idiotic (slo-mo!), the music was pretty generic, the blood seems to evaporate, and it had sort of a cobbled together structure. 

Despite my complaints I think it's still worth watching.  The fights are well staged and exciting, the evaporating blood at least looks pretty neat when it's spraying out, and there're some wonderful visuals like the first shot of Xerxes on his throne that's carried by his slaves.  Try to see it in digital or IMAX if you have the opportunity.

Did anyone else think that when anyone said the name Daxos that they were saying "duck sauce"?

I also saw it on Friday.  To paraphrase my MySpace mini review:

"It was an over-stylized and desensitzing violencefest.  It other words, it has my complete approval!"

  :teddyr::thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :teddyr:

I actually enjoyed it a little more than Sin City.

**1/2 out of ****.

I really, really wanted to like this movie a great deal being a huge Frank Miller fan and all.

But I REALLY got annoyed by the way the battle scenes were shot.  Lots of slo-mo and then the action speeds up really fast and then back to slo-mo.

In fact, I don't think that there was one single shot in any of the battle scenes/action that was shown at regular speed.

Do they completely ignore the 700 Thespians like most versions of the Battle of Thermopylae do?

I haven't read the entire book (I've skimmed through it at the book store) and I don't recall seeing them mentioned.

I'll be seeing it tomorrow myself.  Don't have high expectations, but I expect to be entertained.

I think I'll wait for the video on this one.  I don't like what I've seen in trailers at all.

Turgo, they do mention the Thespians and they are even involved with one of the battles.

Oh yeah, what was up with the goat-headed fellow in Xerxes' Love Shack?  It was pretty funny.

From Sci Fi Wire (http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=40538):



 :lookingup:

Yup I can't wait till this is released.  Even if it's over-stylised crap, it'll still be AWESOMELY over-stylised crap and I'll love it.


(http://www.digitalpimponline.com/images/movie/240.jpg)

haha that little comic made me laugh, movie kicked ass IMO the slow-mo was a tad over done but i like the bloody-limbs-flying-every-where-carnage so i loved it even more because of the slow-mo. yea and i remember sitting in the theatre thinking " WTF is up with that goat guy?" it was shown and then never heard form again.

The scene in the "love shack" was pretty wild kinda like the orgy scene in Conan, but if you want to know more about these type parties and goats you must talk with Ashthecat. :smile:

Finally got around to seeing this one in the theater last night.

Amazing.

I really love the stories that Frank Miller creates.  The man is a genius.  That being said, I had doubts about Zack Snyder's ability to direct the movie as his only other film is Dawn Of The Dead remake.  Although that was a good film, it was his only one.

The best thing about 300 for me is the fact that it reminded me of the Jason And The Argonauts type of films.  It's truly epic.  Normally I'm turned off by CGI blood and such but it all seemed to work here.  My only complaint is that I really want to see what happens after the credits. 

Wow...when did that guy who played the Phantom of The Opera turn into such a badass?  :teddyr:

This movie was awesome.  I agree, the blood could have been a little better, and there was too much slo-mo, but other than that, it's just great to see yet another stylish violence-fest up there on the screen. 

I didn't mind the slo-mo.  I felt it a welcome departure from the quick cut MTV style editing that plagues most action films now.

Saw it, quite enjoyed it.  Action style was nice, though I'm not a huge fan of the whole "Slow motion, then fast motion, then slow" thing.  They also did it in Fearless (though 300 handles it better). 

And my guess was right.  The Thespians are ignored.  In reality, 700 Thespians stood beside the Spartans.  Stood and died with them, to the last man.

Here's a break down of the troops from the historian Herodotus

Units    Numbers
Spartans    300
Mantineans    500
Tegeans    500
Arcadian Orchomenos    120
Other Arcadians    1,000
Corinthians    400
Phlians    200
Mycenaeans    80
Thespians    700
Thebans    400
Phocians    1,000
Opuntian Locrians    13
Total    5,200+


They did show the Arcadian who look to have the greates number of troops there.

Just got back from seeing this.

Awesome movie!   :thumbup:

Like Skaboi said, It does have that epic feel to it.
I've never seen a film quite like it.

I liked how they tossed in the odd assortment of mutant characters.
I especially liked Xerxe's mutant executioner with blades for hands.
The fight between Leonidas & the big mutant was pretty cool.

The camaraderie between the men in battle was good.
I loved the scene where they're all joking and laughing underneath their shields as thousands of arrows are raining down on them.

And some of the visuals were downright amazing...like when the Spartans push those huge elephants over the cliff and into the sea.
Cool stuff!   :smile:

Check out this clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxwyrGhsTz4)

I'm definitely buying this on DVD the day it comes out.
4 out of 4 stars.   :thumbup:

I mention the Thespians because the majority of the Greeks fled in hopes of regrouping with a larger army and fighting later.  The Thespians and Spartans stayed behind in a last stand sort of deal, knowing full well that they'd die (though they'd die covering the retreat of the rest of the army).  After the other Greeks left though, most of the fighting was actually done already.

Leonidas also was fulfilling part of the Oracle's prophecy, which said essentially a king had to die to save Sparta.  They delayed the advance enough for the rest of the Greek's to regroup and get their navy in gear.

It is interesting to ponder what would have happened if they hadn't held them as long as they had.  Assuming that Persia had conquered Greece, modern Western thought would probably have never developed. 

One of the great what if questions of history.

Yesterday I started another thread in the "Bad Movies" section  :lookingup:

Don't take me wrong, I loved the film, it's just that it is so over the top and violence-packed that I though it belonged there. It's a fantastic bad movie, so to speak.

There were a few things I didn't like, such as the epilogue or the music, but the movie rocks. It was amazing to be on the badass side for once (not mauch chances of this happening in this PC era), and the visuals are amazing, borrowing heavily from the comic book language, but always speaking in their own voice (Robert Rodriguez, chingao, watch and learn!).

And the narrator alone was lots of fun. I had never realised before how rooted is the objective narrator was before. It was awesome hearing him cheer for the Spartans or berating the Persians. My favourite bit is when the Spartans watch the Persian vessels being crushed against the rocks during a storm and he cheers "It's glorious!".

I'd say my one complaint with the movie was that I wish they showed a bit more of the actual Spartan fighting style. They only showed that at the very beginning of all the fighting. Perhaps if they meshed their real fighting style with the cool made up stuff I would have been content.

But it was an excellent movie and very cool. Loved the mutataions put here and there.

I guess I'll post this here too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNqiSkd1M6k

I thought the movie sucked. The ending was anti-climatic. I liked the movie better when it was called Lord of the Rings. See the much superior Zodiac..

I found nothing remotely "epic" about it. Just alot of cgi nonsense.

If we look at the quantity of parodies, the movie is a success:


It's raining 300 men. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi2t58CRmbU)

(http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/7642/300encartapi9lp6.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/1924/inhellburgerhx6.gif) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/7310/spartadj6.gif) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/7500/sparta2db0.gif) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/3253/spartasurprise1dq5.gif) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/6250/thisisspartacopyrp8.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

I just saw it friday. I LOVED it. Its only flaw is when the queen says "freedom isnt free". It made the movie seem like it was making a political statement on the war in iraq. lame.  :thumbdown:

Everything else was AWXSOME. :thumbup:

"This is delicious!"
"THIS... IS... CAKE TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!"

Priceless.

If you enjoyed that one, give "It's raining 300 men" a chance.

On the note of freedom, I thought all the talk of it was rather silly, considering the state of the majority of the population of Sparta and how incredibly harsh their society often was.  Citizenship in Sparta was inheirited, which in the end was a major reason for their downfall.  The helots were, more or less, slaves.

I don't mind historical innaccuracy, but movies in the ancient world constantly talking about how great freedom is seem to just be trying to spark the American mindset into rooting for the main characters.  It's kind of a lazy way of doing it, and felt rather forced in 300.  It's enough that they were defending their homes from being conquered and standing up for themselves - a right all peoples of the world have.

The Helots were akin to serfs in feudal times. They were not bought and sold, but were tied to the land.

One of the rites of passage for Spartan warriors was to murder a Helot. It's interesting that the point of the exercise was not the murder itself, but rather to avoid getting caught committing it.

I think this is a very good bad movie.  And, you know, it doesn't want to be anything other than that.

I was afraid Leonidas would be a huge a***ole, like most heroes in these things are, but he and the other Spartans were an affable bunch of Joes.  Faramir's voiceover was actually pretty good and he's becoming one of my favorite Those Guys (Hey!  It's Faramir!  Woo!).  It was also nice to see Steven McHattie in a high-profile role.  Man, that guy's in good shape for his age.  The weird stuff, like Xerxes being nine feet tall, was a little off-putting but it worked within the context of the movie -- which, after all, was a *story* being told by one of the characters.  Naturally, he was going to embellish.  ("Xerxes stood before Leonidas, and was NINE FEET TALL!!!!")

I had a good time with this one.

I dont think this one is a bad movie at all. Its an extremely good movie, dispite what critics are saying. Everyone I know that has seen it has nothing but good things to say about it.

I don't know if Akiratubo calls it a bad movie because of the same reasons as I did. I called it a "good bad movie" or something in the same league afew days ago because although it is a very good movie it also is -on purpose, no doubt- a very simplistic and over the top one. It's a way of saying "Yep, it's good, but it can't touch 2001."

Saw this myself over the weekend, one of the better films I've seen period and a definite for the DVD list, has anybody seen The 300 Spartans?  I realise it's not going to be the same as 300 but is it worth watching?

And serfs weren't much different than slaves.  It's part of the reason slavery didn't really take off too well in Europe.  They didn't have much need of it, because of the peasant class.  Either way, it does make it sound silly when they're talking about how great freedom is, and how Sparta is somehow founded on that idea.

 I really enjoyed this movie-epic,fast-paced,and fun...........for me,it has a strong connection to movies that don't really get made anymore=men's adventure epics,Hercules,Sinbad,etc.

I also thought the sex-scene between Leonidas and the Queen was one of the sexiest EVER-the actors really have chemistry-they look like a married couple that knows they are making love for the last time........... :hot:

This movie was probably one of the best I have seen in long time. I really really really recommend you see it in theateres, because unless you have a home theatre system you will really miss out.

I dont know Greek history that good I hear this story is true ... But Let me say this I love THIS MOVIE !!!
If thats how it happened wow ... There bad ass , very brave! If anyone here did not see 300 go see it now!

Just to clarify this was based on Frank Miller's comic book of the same name. But there was a battle of Thermoplye (not sure if this is spelled right). This is the battle in which Miller based the comic book off of.
And yes there were 300 spartans who were lead by king Leonidas and they made a last stand.

That dude kind of creeped me out. But seriously, what was up with some of those mutants, ie the goat-head guy and the blob with the crab hands? They just show up for a second and disappear. Great movie by the way.

Personally, I think the "mutants" and the beasts like the Rhino / Elephants are there to make us realise it's not an historical movie, but a sword and sorcery stravaganza. It's like having the filmmaker nudging you and saying "don't take it as it is written in stone".

Well, actually, Miller based his comic book off the movie The 300 Spartans. At least, that was the film that originally inspired him, or so he claims. So the movie is based on a comic book that was based on another movie that was based on the actual battle.

I didn't know that. I had thought the comic book was based off the actual battle.
Thanks

STILL the best soft-core gay porno to grace the multiplexes of the world!