I really want to see this movie. It looks fine, poeple are saying it's great, and it got an awsome movieposter ;) And it is being descriped as somewhat being simular to Sin City... I love Sin City :)

But what I don't like are Epic Battles... and that's where I'm affraid of. Most people like big epic battles, they go crazy for it and than tell everyone to see the movie. That was the case at Braveheart, Gladiator and Narnia. They were ok movies, but the battles in Gladiator didn't amaze me that much, I hated it in Narnia, and I quite enjoyed it in Braveheart but nothing more (still very overrated). Historical incorrect, doesn't matter to me, but I fear the epic battles :( The only movie where they didn't bother me too much was the LOTR trilogy.

Seriously, poeple go nuts for it! All those kind of movies have hypnotised the audience! Like Troy and Kingdom of Heaven, maybe also Alexander and King Arthur (I haven't seen any of these, only the trailers) everyone I know went to see those.

Then don't bother watching this movie.

Tantz Aerine
The battle of Thermopylae was a good tactical move as it involves narrowing down an army's great number down to your own size because of a narrow pass. I am not sure how the Percians are protrayed in the comic/movie, but the Greeks did not portray them as devils. They scorned and looked down on them as overaffluent, unintelligent spoiled brats with little capacity for true war. Definitely not threatening because of their qualities- more because of the quantity, since the army was immense. As for the battle being lost at Thermopylae, this was more because of politics between the various city states and need to get rid of certain chaps (like Leonidas) than anything else. After that, propaganda about the heroic stand of these last 300 spartans (there were more along, just as if was said earlier) enraged and bound the Greeks together so much that they virtually won the war on the fuel of revenge.

I guess there's no such plot in the movie, is there?

Yeah, they got the persians in that movie pretty much like you described, except the councilmen in the movie kept on going about civil liberty. A scene which really reminded me of Star Wars... all of them. But I found myself liking the persians waaay more than the spartans, frankly because of costuming and their disfigured army.
Entertaining more than anything. No real plot substance.

I know. In the poster they looked interesting too. Though there was no such armour in the Persians at all. hehe.

If anyone is interested, there are some pics here were you can see what the real people looked like.
ie. the Greeks actually wore a bit more than loincloths, helmets and capes, and Persians were ever more covered up, but not in turbans and face masks...
Pics1 [faculty.maxwell.syr.edu]
Pics2 [faculty.maxwell.syr.edu]
Pics3 [faculty.maxwell.syr.edu]
Pics4 [faculty.maxwell.syr.edu] (this one is quite funny, lots of penis admiration here lol!)
-some pics are repeated, but it's damn interesting... to me at least.

What's wrong with an artist giving his own intrepretation and/or some fanaticized barely similar version of some historical event? I guess I'm missing the beef people are having.

Can someone clue me in?

Well what you're really doing is missing the point here man. ;)
What Tantz and I've brung up about the look of the clothing is just out of personal interest. You can't use that as a serious criticism of a movie, and we're not.

-if people are curious about the differences between "vision" and reality, it's there to see in my nice links I provided :)
I don't know about you, but when I see a movie about something or read a story, I'm always very curious to find out more about the subject and what it was based on.

I mean, you can be disappointed that their "artistic vision" was a little sucky, but that's fine isn't it? It's just aesthetic opinion.

Someone
Well what you're really doing is missing the point here man. ;)
What Tantz and I've brung up about the look of the clothing is just out of personal interest. You can't use that as a serious criticism of a movie, and we're not.

gotcha

Someone
-if people are curious about the differences between "vision" and reality, it's there to see in my nice links I provided :)
I don't know about you, but when I see a movie about something or read a story, I'm always very curious to find out more about the subject and what it was based on.

I do that... to excess typically.

Someone
I mean, you can be disappointed that their "artistic vision" was a little sucky, but that's fine isn't it? It's just aesthetic opinion.

Seems fine to me. :)

And I intend on seeing this in the theatre first chance I get... I live 1.5 hours from the nearest place showing it though. :(

Just saw it this weekend. Loved it. Bloodiest movie since Hot Shots Part Deux.

I'm all with OzozeOcean and Tantz on this one - I have no real desire to see it, and kind of grind my teeth when people say this movie is awesome.
I mean, sure I'm not going to see it, because even if I did, I'd hate it since I'm so set on hating it. But, also the historical events are more interesting than the non-plot over saturated bloodiness of 300.
Like, the fact that the 300 Spartans weren't in any position to toss people off cliffs.

It's like, ok, I know 300 is based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller - but just because Sin City was amazing (some say, I haven't seen it, so I don't know) doesn't mean that everything else he's done is also amazing.

Also, what kind of pisses me off is that people - ignorant people - think that 300 is based on the Battle of Thermopylae - which it only is kind of by proxy. Because it's based on The 300 Spartans, a movie he saw in, like '61, based on the Battle of Thermopylae.

So, it's like me drawing a crappy picture and saying it's based on the Mona Lisa - when really it's a picture I drew, based on a photocopy of someone else's rendition of the Mona Lisa.

And the actual facts were much more interesting. I think.

... bleh. I mean, I know it's a movie based on a comic book, and that I shouldn't get irrate over things like that, but it really really bothers me. Like, in my soul.

Personally, I loved it. I know the history a bit, I know it's hero mythology, propaganda, total fiction, whatever. I loved it. And yes, I'm a girl, and for the record I really really don't like the whole "muscle man" look, so it didn't catch me on hunky gratuitousness. I think what it was for me was the absolute glorification of the human form, placing their bodies on such high pedestals, forcing the viewer to see the body under so much stress and cinematic emphasis -- I could be wrong, mislead, whatever, but I think it did a good job of translating that "Greek ideal" theory into something tangible (and ozone, the pictures you linked to only reinforce that idea -- built naked guys all over... that was the artistic preference of their time)

It was just a feel good movie. For heaven's sake, at least it didn't CLAIM to be accurate historical fiction like some epic movies do. It didn't REALLY have any historical expectation to live up to. I read the comic a few days before I saw the movie, and besides a few extra scenes with the queen, it was almost word for word, panel for panel the same. I recognized shots as having the same composition, coloring, everything. It was an ARTISTIC ENDEAVOR, not a historical snapshot, and I think to try to look at it like anything else is denying yourself some satisfying entertainment.

On the other hand, I can definitely empathize with anyone who is really engrossed in Greek history or history in general not being able to stomach it. I get like that about some movies/books/other media that portray something poorly that I personally understand quite thoroughly.

On that note, I forget what the Spartans were wearing to cover their private parts.

What was it? Skintight red superhero briefs? Boxers? Fur briefs? Scale briefs? Those belts with leather strips hanging down?

Are we gonna see new costumes for male strippers everywhere now?

I think they were wearing leather undies with their capes, sandals, and helmets, and that's all. Not enough for a male stripper to wear :(

best movie i've seen in a while
it gives me a boost of adrenaline when they shout

something primal

subcultured
best movie i've seen in a while
it gives me a boost of adrenaline when they shout

something primal

Sigh... i want to see this. Frank Miller is one of my heroes.I wish I lived closer to a theatre.

I just bought the graphic novel, so after it arrives and I read it i'll probably go see the film.

Okay, so I drove 2 hours to the theatre to see this. I must admit...

This is the manliest movie I've ever seen. All I wanted to do after I walked out was to do some pushups.

Seriously though, this movie is pretty fantastic. It has basically nothing to do with actual history; the costuming is not even remotely close to real life; and the whole message of Braveheart's "freeeeedoooom" was a bit out of place for the era.

But then again, it wasn't meant to be any of these things. They took a mythology and put it to such an extreme that any dissimilarity is no longer important. Probably much in the same way that the real, actual events evolved into mythology in the first place. ;)

Apart from the above, however, this is a masterwork of modern movie making. This is going to do what Pulp Fiction did in '94 to the movie world - it's going to blow so many socks off that there's no choice but for other movie makers to rethink some of the choices in their own films.

This movie, from start to finish, is breathe taking. Acting, action, paceing, cinematography, color/tone, lighting, CG.. all of it is first rate. I have literally no complaints outside of "this isn't based on anything real, other than the number 300 vs. many".

Just awesome. A must-see; a timeless classic for our generation like Star Wars was for the generation prior and on. We'll be watching this movie with mouth agape when we're 60.

hahaha
yea i wanted to put on a spartan outfit (albiet after a million sit ups)
and charge at that persian army.
"huuuaaaaa"

huuuuaaa.

This movie is the emotional equivalent to jumping a pit of fire breathing crocidiles while eating a raw 72 oz. steak and landing on a bed of nails next to the babe of your dreams.

Okay, so maybe not!?! LOL.

Women will enjoy this movie too, I'm sure... it's more than just manly... it's a well told, well filmed, well edited film. My wife liked this movie a lot too. We both agree it's just one of those few completely awesome movies that every respectable movie fan "must own"... like The Last Samurai, the Band of Brothers series, The Princess Bride, Boondock Saints, The Lion King, LOTR extended trilogy, and A Few Good Men - all "must owns".

And ya, I'm like 2 dozen BigMacs too many from going bare chested and charging the persians.

and i like the fact that it's not big budget like the 300 million superman movie (which was not as good as 300, not even close)

300 was made with only 60 million dollars...pretty cheap compared to other movies. and it made it's money back the first day...talk about a good investment

when will hollywood learn that movie is about art/story and not big budget special effects and million dollar stars that can't act.

i mean they could have shot this on location making it more realistic, but it was all about the craft of the movie and the story. hopefully bulter, the lead actor will get to do better movies. i saw him on another movie "dear frankie" while the trailers for 300 were playing and i must say he acted pretty well there.

Sorry, too funny not to share:



I didn't make this.

Man that's funny! Someone should make a short movie out of it.

I saw Butler in Tomb Raider 2 and I went "OMG that's him!" He was pretty manly to begin with, but he supersized hisself for 300.

he was also in reign of fire
the future batman was in that movie also

There are two ways to look at this movie...

A: What the fuck? This is no way close to accurate and glorifies some of history's biggest assholes as heroes. WTF were they thinking? And where is the plot?

or

B: HOLY FUCK! Dudes killing shit violently for two hours! Epic win! AND LOOK! TITS! This movie fucking rules!

You are in either crowd A or crowd B, or so it seems anyways. And the irony of it is that you don't need to be a raging moron to be in crowd B when you speak of 300. You just need to go into the movie expecting to have so much awesome sprayed in your face that you will leave utterly bleeding with elation.

Actually to be in B crowd you just need to realize that Frank Miller did the original. As in Frank "Are you retarded or something? I'm the Goddamn Batman!" Miller.

ccs1989
Actually to be in B crowd you just need to realize that Frank Miller did the original. As in Frank "Are you retarded or something? I'm the Goddamn Batman!" Miller.

Of course, but I think by now everyone knows that 300 is based off a comic book.

it's cool that comic movies can actually make a big impact on the box office
it got 3rd most box office weekend for an R rated film

now people know the power of comics as a tool for storytelling. 'specially since a lot of those shot are based off the book.

According to the news Mr.Miller is going to be making another movie based (loosly at least) on Greek Myths.