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If only I was 14, this flick would have been awesome.

So harsh are you young padawan. I thought it was really good. Take into consideration the writer/director (a la Sin City) and you can see why this movie was made as it was. It's a classic tale told in the way of classic tales. The cinematography was outstanding and the use of color and contrast brought a harsh and brutal tone to the whole movie.

Did it have the best of plots? Maybe not, but neither did many of the stories, myths, or legends to arise from this time. Simple stories warrant simple story telling. I thought it captured the essence of an ancient Greek legend in a very true-to-form and pleasing manner.

Guess I'm only 14.

I heard that, while the story deviates wildly from history, the look and style of the film is breath taking. I may have to go see it tomorrow.

I thought it was bad-ass. If I wanted to see an accurate portrayal of the battle, I would have stayed home and watched the history channel.

loved it.

martymieux8266 wrote:loved it.

Ditto, the start was slow but it picked up and was pretty damn good. Plus lots of blood, I loved that.

7.5 out of 10

Give,
JediGlide
FWHHD

beck wrote:I thought it was bad-ass. If I wanted to see an accurate portrayal of the battle, I would have stayed home and watched the history channel.

History Channel did a show on the 300 at Thermopylae this weekend.

The problem with Hollywood (and grade skool teechers) is that then us History Teechers then have to UNDO all the factual errors in students' minds. It's hard enough just to DO.

Things like Harry Houdini, who died from peritenitis after being punched in the stomach unprepared. Everyone thinks he died in the water escape trick because of some movie.

I don't believe it. Why would someone make a movie about something that didn't really happen?

Well. . .it did kind of happen. . .just not the way that this movie portrays it. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae

While I agree, I think movies like these are a great way to get kids interested in history. Some kid who sees this movie, and thinks the violence is badass, may just take a liking to that time period in history because it was violent.

Either way, good flick.

http://english.people.com.cn/200703/12/ ... 56565.html

haven't seen it yet, but will now, knowing that ticks these people off.

beck wrote:While I agree, I think movies like these are a great way to get kids interested in history. .

Agreed; while taking a little liberty in order to tell a compelling story is acceptable (Awakenings), often it is quite unnecessary, because the story is already compelling.

Example: I would have used the Pearl Harbor movie in class, except for one scene where the two pilots get the P-40's off the ground and down 8 planes. (Actually happened) But. . . . PLAYING CHICKEN BETWEEN HANGERS WITH THE JAPANESE ZEROES? The movie lost its credibility right there, and dishonored those two heroic pilots with that snippet of pure Hollywood crap.

Don't even get me started on Windtalkers. . . .




Oh. .. and tell Walt Disney studios to LEAVE HISTORY THE &*%#@ ALONE!

The hit American movie "300" has angered Iranians who say the Greeks-vs-Persians action flick insults their ancient culture and provokes animosity against Iran.

"Hollywood declares war on Iranians," blared a headline in Tuesday's edition of the independent Ayende-No newspaper.

The movie, which raked in $70 million in its opening weekend, is based on a comic-book fantasy version of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., in which a force of 300 Spartans held off a massive Persian army at a mountain pass in Greece for three days.

Even some American reviewers noted the political overtones of the West-against-Iran story line - and the way Persians are depicted as decadent, sexually flamboyant and evil in contrast to the noble Greeks.

In Iran, the movie hasn't opened and probably never will, given the government's restrictions on Western films, though one paper said bootleg DVDs were already available.

Still, it touched a sensitive nerve. Javad Shamghadri, cultural adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said the United States tries to "humiliate" Iran in order to reverse historical reality and "compensate for its wrongdoings in order to provoke American soldiers and warmongers" against Iran.

The movie comes at a time of increased tensions between the United States and Iran over the Persian nation's nuclear program and the Iraq war.

But aside from politics, the film was seen as an attack on Persian history, a source of pride for Iranians across the political spectrum, including critics of the current Islamic regime.

State-run television has run several commentaries the past two days calling the film insulting and has brought on Iranian film directors to point out its historical inaccuracies.

"The film depicts Iranians as demons, without culture, feeling or humanity, who think of nothing except attacking other nations and killing people," Ayende-No said in its article Tuesday.

"It is a new effort to slander the Iranian people and civilization before world public opinion at a time of increasing American threats against Iran," it said.

Iran's biggest circulation newspaper, Hamshahri, said "300" is "serving the policy of the U.S. leadership" and predicted it will "prompt a wave of protest in the world. ... Iranians living in the U.S. and Europe will not be indifferent about this obvious insult."

I think this comic sums up the idea here.