Definitely going to be one of the best movies of the year along with ZODIAC

um . . . this movie sucked . . . not!

Really all I can say is wow! There were a few problems with the movie, but i looked right over them.

P.S. that Spiderman 3 trailer where they showed you know who was awesome also.

couldn't get imax tickets Crap, it was still AWESOME!!!!!!!

This movie was absolutely ridiculous but in a very entertaining fashion. Two words: goat man.

I'm not sure how I feel about Zack Snyder doing Watchmen now. Going from 300 to Watchmen is definately going from one extreme to another, but he definately demonstrates the ability to portray a graphic novel onto film. The only problem is that the almost literal adaptation in 300 is beyond impossible for Watchmen. I hate to be overly skeptical, but in a book like Watchmen where so much of the emphasis is put on plot and character developement I can't imagine how a single feature film can do it justice.

I was just glad to see that good ol' Abe Lincoln can still get some political work as a Spartan senator.

why are people getting all butt hurt about the portrayal of the Persians in this? (Just go to any review site, theres actually a whole discussion at IMDB http://imdb.com/title/tt0416449/board/nest/68704887)

Why don't people understand that the story was told FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE SPARTANS! Especially Dilios (the Faramir guy). It was his perspective of the story, so of course all of the Persians were going to look disgusting and mounstrous.

It wasn't told from the Spartan point of view. It was told from Frank Miller's point of view.

fine, if you wanna break it down that far:

Frank Miller telling the story from a Spartan POV.

I guess but if you tell a movie where let's say the Ku Klux Klan are your heroes and they lynch blacks in the movie and never are questioned as heroic, you're gonna get **** for it.

I don't consider the Spartans to be particularly heroic what with their genetic obsession with perfection and predilection towards ethnic cleansing.

the thing is, many historians view the battle of Thermopylae as a swing point in the way the world was going to go.

Whether Greece (and the rest of the west) would be under dictatorship or whether it would be a democracy.

The defeat of the Klu Klux Klan (as in, affirmative action and the sorts) was a swing point in rights for Blacks equal to those of Whites. A movie will never that glorifies them, because they didn't stand up for justice and freedom.

The Sparans, despite their evil embeddings, still stood for s just ideal that decided the fate of everyone else.

It was a good movie, but it didn't live up to the hype. Some of the creatures and stylized battle scenes were awesome, however, there seemed to be more of goofy contrived subplot about a council and the king's wife (that was apparently added in for the movie). Also a lot of the battles weren't amazingly unique. The stuff at the end was pretty ****ing cool though.

Wow this movie was great to watch post-joint.

I actually was disappointed.

For once I wasn't worried so much about the history. The comic did an "ok" job at keeping the basic story. It was better than some films.

The film did not stick to the comic though. I couldn't stand the separate storyline about the queen. I was also very confused as to why there were monsters in there.

In the book, there were the ephors (who were historically deformed) and Ephialtes (who was in the comic). That's it. There were no humanoid beasts who fought with the Immortals, there was no Juggernaut-looking fat man with sharpened crab arms, and the immortals were no goblin-like creatures.

It didn't add to the story. It just turned it from historical fiction to fantasy.

I would really like to have been there when Zack Snyder first brought up the idea of the crab man:

"I'm thinking, instead of just some Persian commander punishing a fellow commander, we should have a nine-foot-tall fat man with sharpened crab claws for arms!"

I know at least somebody involved in the making of that film thought it was a really stupid idea, but was overruled by Snyder.

I really wanted to like it. I really, really did. I loved the cast (bit of a Gerard Butler fan), loved the graphic novel (always wanted to see it in film), and absolutely love the story and history around Thermopylae. When I saw the immortals, the crab man, the gunpowder, and the queen saying "Freedom isn't free," (Team America, anyone?), I couldn't get back into it.

Great visually, pretty good acting. The writing and story were far better in the graphic novel. I think Zack Snyder thought he could be cool and add to the story, making it better, but he was dead wrong. He turned a simple, thoughtful, intimate story of loyal soldiers into a wannabe epic mediocre movie.

I couldn't stand it. There was no character development, it's just one long drawn out unrealistic battle. The fighting wasn't that great, just some of the longer shots were pretty neat. All the beheadings were excessive and almost laughable because they were so excessive. And the narration bugged me throughout it. Sure the visuals might be good, but is that reason to call it amazing? What happened to characters, story, substance?

The first 30 minutes was boring. Once the battle scenes began, things got interesting. The fights were well choreographed, visuals were amazing, and the music was powerful.

But other than that, the movie didn't have much to offer... not much story and character substance and basically everything I thought of this movie I thought the same of Sin City. The narration bugged me at times also as it seemed like it was over used. My other complaint was that some stupid lady brought a 2 year old to the theater and she started crying in the movie. It boggles my mind at the stupidity of some people.

But overall it was still fun to watch though. I think I'm going to catch the movie again when it hits IMAX in my area.

300 Diners to see 300
This week everyone at school everyone kept asking me if I was going to go see 300 and review it for the site. Up until this weekend I really knew nothing about the film. I didn’t know the subject matter, story line, or the that fact that it is based off a book by Frank Miller. But everyone kept asking me if I was going to see it and review it. I didn’t understand at the time what all the hype was about, so I decided to take my wife out to dinner and a movie to find out.

The movie theater in Arlington Heights is just a few blocks away from our home and practically next door to the theater is a Panera Bread so we decided to walk over there Friday night for a light dinner before going to the show.

The Panera Bread restaurant was jam packed! So much so…. that my wife had a seat and my seat was the window sill. Fortunately, one of the employees was nice enough to go on a scavenger hunt for me and find a chair. Even though I would have been happy sitting on the window sill. I was just happy that we had a table and my wife a chair.

I would have to say most everyone in that place was in there to go and see 300. As I walked by the tables in the restaurant all I heard people talking about was 300 and later I recognized a few of the same people in the theater.

Anyway as for my meal. I usually get the same thing when I go there. And that would be the Italian Combo. My wife had a turkey club sandwich I believe……. But really, one of the main reasons I like to go there is because of the soda they serve. Jones Soda. Jones Soda is one of the best soda’s that I have ever tasted. When I go I always get the green apple because I can’t find it any where else. So…. I have to go to Panera Bread to satisfy my thirst. The film was at 7:30 and we were a stones throw away from the restaurant.

This film is based off of the Frank Miller book and is an epic story about the battle of Thermopylae. Only three hundred Spartans are sent to fight the big fight, against Xerxes and his massive army of Persians. Xerxes wants to take over the whole land and make everybody his slaves. The Spartans fight War with honor to their last breath.

To start off, I think that I am going to be honest and say that I found the narrator to be a little confusing I think that this may be because it is my understanding that Frank Miller did not have a hand in the screenplay, and I think that it would have been more complete if he had. The narrator telling the story kept switching the point of view the story was being told in throughout the entire movie. This inconsistency made it a little difficult to follow the story in my opinion. Although, most people probably didn’t or won’t go see this movie because of the story being told, but rather to see the battle scenes.
I am going to say that I did like the look of the film. There were various colors but they were bold colors that set the tone for this film. To me those colors screamed the words of War and Sparta! Sparta! SPAAAAAARTAAAAAAAA! I think that the imagery was well chosen for the battle of Thermopylae and I don’t think aesthetically anything else would have fit. Now that I also know that Frank Miller wrote Sin City and I definitely want to go and see Sin City.

I think as filmmakers and artists we should strive do do something different every time and challenge ourselves. In this film they definitely took the imagery to extremes, pushing that envelope to make it different. As a filmmaker or not the artistry in this film is something that should be embraced.

Not only do I want to say that the film was original, but I would like to say that I thought there were a few homage’s in this film. One example is when Leonidas goes to the oricale to seek permission to fight the war. A flash to Star Wars fell upon me when Leonidas was greeted outside and one of the members says to him, “We have been expecting you.” That totally reminded me of Star Wars when the Emperor says to Luke Sky Walker, “We have been expecting you.” Dressed in almost the same kind of outfit, a hooded cloak.

Another possible homage was to a recent film The Lord of The Rings. There was this hunch back like character, and forgive me because I don’t know the name of the character, but in the way that they shot the film showing extreme close ups of the character and then very long shots in dim light not revealing many details reminded me of how they slowly introduced the character Gollum in Lord of The Rings. But only faster in this film. And I won’t spoil it for those of you that haven’t seen the film by comparing similar character traits.

One other homage in the film reminded me of The Matrix film. The scene that I am talking about is one of the very first battle scene in the war. And that is when we see Leonidas leading his men and boys of 300 Spartans to take on an army of Persians whose march is so great that it shakes the ground. This scene reminds me of the scene in The Matrix when Neo has that trench coat on and under it all of those automatic weapons and he was on the prowl to save Morpheus. For some reason when I saw Leonidas with his heavy shield and sword charging into the sea of Persians…… I could just hear the sound track of the Matrix going on in my head. Maybe I thought this because they did the same thing in 300. In the first battle scene when they showed Leonidas leading his men and boys into the sea of Persians with the same kind of aesthetic happening. What I mean is that if the film was in real time I don’t think that that would have done justice for the theater goer. The same way when Neo is trying to save Morpheus this added an extra element to the film.

I would say that hands down you have to see 300 and experience it 300 times.

Uxbride, look in my previous posts, I believe you will find some answers there.

Director Drew: What more character development do you need? A king is being threatened by war and he's going to do everything you can to defend it.

It was a piece that was supposed to be very much something Homer would write (or perhaps make a movie about if he were alive today). Read his stuff . . . its all about getting to the action!

Your all (imo) looking at this movie with a modern day movie, but I think you are supposed look at it with a modern day perspective looking back in time. Remember sitting in Englis class reading the Oddyssey, Bewoulf, the Illiad. The movie 300 embodies that type of storytelling.

Uxbridge: go watch a Tom Clancy movie if you're so worried about details. The crabman was in it for one second. And uh oh GUNPOWDER? Let it go. I was actually hoping to see more of these ****ed up creatures in it. The movie had a surreal sort of edge when they came on.

So the real reason the Spartans were the best warriors is because they were the only ones with fight choreographers? I swear for every one Spartan leaping and stabbing there were ten Persians standing motionless, apparently just waiting to be slaughtered.

The movie had a nice look to it, and all the costumes and makeup looked good, but the action sucked, and the script portrayed the Spartans as complete morons.

Things that are cowardly to a Spartan:
Armor
Strategy
Acoustic guitars

They DIDN'T walk around naked everywhere, they DID love boys, and they DIDN'T fight the entire Persian army alone. Then again, they didn't have electric guitars either, so I guess it's a moot point.

Of course, I didn't expect great things from the historical perspective, the dialogue, the acting, or even necessarily the story. Neither did I expect to hear a sermon about "the age of freedom" every five minutes. Leonidas is advised not to go to war, to not attack first, but dammit he does it anyway, ridding the world of terror and oppression and freedom-haters! And basically anyone who is not Spartan. I think I saw Ann Coulter's name as an executive producer on this...

Can the political tripe, give me better action, more blood and less slow-motion, and I'll forget the rest. As it stands, though, this movie disappointed me on nearly every level. Maybe it was built up too much...

Impressive though to have been written by Frank Miller, who is only ten years old...

The Spartans DID walk around naked, just not to battle. They DIDN'T love boys, but women were encouraged to have bisexual relationships, and they DID fight the Persian army alone for the last half. There were only 7 thousand Greeks helping them, and they left, just like in the movie. And the Persian army is estimated to be around 2 million . . . not 1 million.

And Leonidas did not attack first. Persia was all ready on their door step. he just went to meet them away form the city. So drawing a comparison to the "pre-emptive" strike on Iraq is pointless.

And this is the 3rd or 4th time I have said this: It was a pivotal moment in whether or not the west would be under a democracy or a dictatorship.

As far as the choreographed fights: sparta had one of the only standing armies in that time era. Everyone else was a slave or drafted. The Persian army was compiled almost entirely of combat rookie slaves. So I think it

The gunpowder, I will give you. Historians estimate that was invented about 1000 AD, nearly 1500 years after the Battle at Hell's Gate.