300 seconds of the movie 300

[Storm Raven]

Well, having now been able to look at the entire clip, my opinion of the movie has not changed. It looks like it was written and produced by a moron that only the WWF could love. Leaving aside the wildly stupid reinterpretation of history (Spartans with no armor, not fighting as a phalanx, using tactics that are dumber than even movie level military strategy; or, in other words, ignoring everything that made the actual Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae able to hold off the Persians), the fight choreography looks like something that a professional wrestler would be embarrased to perform. The costumes are laughable, the acting is painfully bad, and the "ogre" is simply ridiculous.

I might someday watch this schlockfest on DVD, just to make fun of its inanity, but spending money on seeing this in the theatre looks to me to be the equivalent of buying mud.

 

[D.Shaffer]

300 was never meant to be seen as a realitic portrayal of the battle. It's an artistic stylization that uses the Battle of Thermopylae as its basis. If you go into it expecting an historically accurate retelling, you're going to be dissapointed

From what I understand, it was meant to be seen more as a 'heroic' look of the thing. An attempt to portray the myth more then the reality. They way they're portrated in the movie/graphic novel is similar to the way the ancient Greeks portrayed their mythological figures...an emphasis on an idealized male body.

 

[David Howery]

What is wrong with a war rhino? I like war rhinos.

I could forgive it in a fantasy movie. But this is supposed to be about an actual real battle with people who were really there. Yeah, I'm not a stickler for historical accuracy in historical films... but... a war rhino is pure fantasy.. they aren't domesticable, and they wouldn't really survive a battle, as they are actually fairly fragile and don't have much stamina...

We've been talking about this movie on another board I hang out on, and I said on there, putting a war rhino in this movie would be like giving the Hurons war grizzlies in "Last of the Mohicans"....

 

[Storm Raven]

300 was never meant to be seen as a realitic portrayal of the battle. It's an artistic stylization that uses the Battle of Thermopylae as its basis. If you go into it expecting an historically accurate retelling, you're going to be dissapointed

As I said, I'm not even really complaining about the lack of historical accuracy, although that is glaring and makes the whole movie pointless. The fight choreography, such as it is, is laughably bad, the costuming is silly, and what little dialogue we see would be embarrassing for a WWF script writer.

From what I understand, it was meant to be seen more as a 'heroic' look of the thing. An attempt to portray the myth more then the reality. They way they're portrated in the movie/graphic novel is similar to the way the ancient Greeks portrayed their mythological figures...an emphasis on an idealized male body.

I suppose that might be a worthwhile argument, if the characters didn't look like rejects from a Mexican wrestling side show. This movie is what Nacho Libre would have looked like if it didn't know it was a comedy.

 

[Mistwell]

Well, having now been able to look at the entire clip, my opinion of the movie has not changed. It looks like it was written and produced by a moron that only the WWF could love. Leaving aside the wildly stupid reinterpretation of history (Spartans with no armor, not fighting as a phalanx, using tactics that are dumber than even movie level military strategy; or, in other words, ignoring everything that made the actual Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae able to hold off the Persians),

Stop. They fight as a phalanx for MOST of the movie. They use great tactics for most of the movie. You are not seeing most of the movie, or why the phalanx was broken in that scene. While the armor part is true, and the movie is embellished, the actual tactics are for the most part true in the movie.

the fight choreography looks like something that a professional wrestler would be embarrased to perform. The costumes are laughable, the acting is painfully bad, and the "ogre" is simply ridiculous.

It's not an ogre, and the acting is actually quite good in the movie. You have not seen much of the acting.

I might someday watch this schlockfest on DVD, just to make fun of its inanity, but spending money on seeing this in the theatre looks to me to be the equivalent of buying mud.

Fair enough, it's not for you. I think you will find you are standing nearly alone in a sea of people who disagree, however, fairly soon.

 

[Mistwell]

I could forgive it in a fantasy movie. But this is supposed to be about an actual real battle with people who were really there. Yeah, I'm not a stickler for historical accuracy in historical films... but... a war rhino is pure fantasy.. they aren't domesticable, and they wouldn't really survive a battle, as they are actually fairly fragile and don't have much stamina...

We've been talking about this movie on another board I hang out on, and I said on there, putting a war rhino in this movie would be like giving the Hurons war grizzlies in "Last of the Mohicans"....

I don't get it. They are NOT domesticated in this movie, they do not survive the battle in this movie, they do end up being fairly fragile in this movie, and they don't have much stamina in this movie. The persians use it just as a shock weapon. That's it. It seems to mesh well with what you think should happen if someone were to try that.

 

[Sir Brennen]

From what I can gather, the film is intentioned to be mythic in its storytelling, not historical. It's the legend, not a military journal entry. It's like a wonderfully poetic grandfather were telling the story to a small but rapt group around a campfire at night.

Miller purposefully had the Spartans dressed in "iconic" elements of their warrior culture, not full-blown historically accurate armor. The inclusion of rhinos, elephants and freakish giants lends emphasis to the exotic and decadent nature of the opposing armor, as well as their vast resources to be able to indulge in such unique weapons. (Almost the opposite of the modern definition of the adjective "spartan".) All of these were stylistic choices by the author and filmmaker to set a tone for the movie, and based on the reviews, it seems to work well. I can't wait to find out for myself.

It's a stylish, artistic representation, not a documentary.

 

[D.Shaffer]

I could forgive it in a fantasy movie. But this is supposed to be about an actual real battle with people who were really there...

That's sort of the point. It's NOT really about the historical battle. It's loosely based around it, yes, but in the same way that the Illiad is based around the actual siege of Troy. It's the Spartans as legend, not as historical fact.

I suppose that might be a worthwhile argument, if the characters didn't look like rejects from a Mexican wrestling side show.

They cant be a proper Luchedor without a mask. In any case, again, look at Greek art. What do you see? Naked/Nearly naked, well muscled men with idealised bodies, doing some sort of athletic activity. Greek art at the time idealised the male form. The movie is more or less taking that aesthetic and filming it. It even imitates the Greek 'Black on Red' style in many shots.

Going back to the wrestling comment, you might consider that it echos this for the same reason, it also has its roots in Greek culture. (Professional wrestling is derived from GRECO-Roman wrestling, after all, although how close that system matched what the Greek's actually used is debateable.)

 

[Pbartender]

It's a stylish, artistic representation, not a documentary.

In other words, 300 is to the Battle of Thermopylae, as A Knight's Tale was to Chauncer's Canterbury Tales... It's not necessarily meant to be a "good" movie dramatically-speaking, but it can be an theatrically entertaining movie.

I haven't yet seen 300, but in A Knight's Tale, the bits that were meant to be historically accurate (like the sets and the extras' costumes) were painstakingly so, but the parts that weren't (like the principals' costumes, mannerisms and dialogue) were obviously and purposefully so. That bothers me much less than a movie that tries really hard to be historically accurate, and fails.

As others have said, this very well may be the way ancient Greeks would have imagined the idealized battle as some poet recited the epic legend for an evening's entertainment.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

...putting a war rhino in this movie would be like giving the Hurons war grizzlies in "Last of the Mohicans"....

Oh, man, that would so kick butt! I'd pay IMAX prices to see that on screen!

Especially if the grizzlies fly, and shoot laser beams out of their eyes....