300

[HaemishM]

Oh yeah, I'm fucking there. That has the over-the-topness and stark colors that totally fits Frank Miller's work.

[angry.bob]

I'm fairly upset that they're wearing loinclothes. Don't get me wrong - I dig chicks, and chicks dig me. But the idea of keeping 300 spartans fighting with helmets, shields, and flailing dongs would have been the greatest thing ever.

That being said, Thermopylae is one of my favoritest things in history. Even though there were a bunch of Thebans there too, the casualties inflicted on the Persians couldn't have been much worse if the Spartans had been using machine guns instead of spears and xiphos.

[Big Gulp]

That being said, Thermopylae is one of my favoritest things in history. Even though there were a bunch of Thebans there too, the casualties inflicted on the Persians couldn't have been much worse if the Spartans had been using machine guns instead of spears and xiphos.

You can't really trust the ancient sources as to casualties, though.  Herodotus (and pretty much every other ancient historian) pretty fragrantly exaggerated numbers.  And when you come right down to it, Thermopylae was a failure the was turned into a victory through PR.  Although ultimately the Persians would lose at Salamis it also wasn't some cataclysmic defeat for Persia.  Greece was nothing compared to the Persian empire, and the failure of a punative expedition, while troubling (like our defeat in Vietnam), didn't have a big effect on the empire.

Ancient Greece in it's variegated patchwork of city-states was never a threat to Persia, and only became a threat when it was unified under the force of Philip of Macedon.

[Zetleft]

Ancient Greece in it's variegated patchwork of city-states was never a threat to Persia, and only became a threat when it was unified under the force of Philip of Macedon.

All that matters is that two stood against many.  That's what's important!

[Samwise]

I picked the book up last night, and I think it'll translate very well to the big screen.  It's even already in widescreen format!

[Zetleft]

New Trailer
Enjoy  :-D

[Llava]

BEST THING EVER.

I'm going to go punch somebody!!

[Cadaverine]

It was a truly badass flick.  Enough so that I will have to go see it again tommorow, and I hate movie theaters.

[Strazos]

Holy Shit.

Just, Holy Shit.

So fucking good. And while it was highly stylized, I could practically rip the script right out of my notes and books from college.

THAT is one way to do a movie based on history. And probably one of the best ways I have ever seen. Fuckers in Hollywood might have learned something, but I mostly blame Frank Miller.

[stray]

Yeah, there's Frank, but Zack Snyder must have something to do with it. He managed to trump Romero with the Dawn of the Dead remake (yes, I think so).

Won't get around to it until Sunday though. =\

[EDIT] Just to mention, he's set to be the guy doing the Watchmen movie too (finally!).

[EDIT] As for "history", I do not quite picture the Persians as the monstrous barbarians portrayed in this film. They were practically the most advanced civilization at the time.

I still think the film could be good though.

[Strazos]

Like I said above, stylized. Also, the Persian armies were not made up entirely of "Persians."

Also, not sure it matters, but the Greeks practically invented the term "Barbarian," which was simply a way to refer to non-Greeks. It possibly stemmed to their (Greeks') idea that the languages used by those foreigners to the east just sounded like "bar bar bar."

And another thing, not all Persians were depicted as being monstrous mutants or anything. Only a few were, actually.

[Samwise]

Excellent movie.  I flipped through the book a bit after seeing it and found that many of the scenes were taken straight from the book, right down to the camera angle.  Very cool.

Also, "advanced" does not go hand in hand with "peaceful and enlightened".  Look at the US.

[Zetleft]

Awesome movie, superb visual style to it.  Those fighting scenes were all I hoped for and more, yeah I'll be seeing it again tomorrow.

[Ironwood]

This pleases me.

[Llava]

It possibly stemmed to their (Greeks') idea that the languages used by those foreigners to the east just sounded like "bar bar bar."

Well that's just wrong and ignorant.

It's "derka derka".

[gimpyone]

βάρβαρος basically meant anyone who didn't speak Greek as a first language.

I knew my two quarters of Attic Greek would come in handy.

[Tannhauser]

BEST THING EVER.

I'm going to go punch somebody!!

This may be the greatest post I've ever read.

And the movie rocked.  It rocked me like a hurricane it rocked so hard.

THIS. IS. SPARTA!

[NiX]

I saw this at an IMAX. I sent the woman home after, the movie did more than she could do.

[stray]

Spoken like a true Spartan.

[Trippy]

I thought there was a gratuitous sex scene in the movie?

[Strazos]

No, it was a SPARTAN sex scene, mightier than any normal sex scene could possibly hope to be.

[NiX]

I wish they shipped the replica shield, helmet and sword outside of the U.S.

[Llava]

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=9465.0

I nominate "Spartan".

[Lantyssa]

A little gory for my tastes, but it iis a kick ass movie.

[NowhereMan]

Fuck you all and your not having to wait until the 22nd to see this film. Seriously.

[NiX]

Don't rain on my parade! FUCK YOU!

[Strazos]

Visually one of the most stunning films I have ever seen.

Ironically, the film does not close with any historical details - and in that sense this filim is in someways more historical than it lets its audience know.  On the other hand, of course there is great artistic license with many visual aspects.  I was quite pleased with the casting - as it borrowed from Borimer (Sean Bean) and Ferimer (spelling) character actors from Lord of the Rings.  Nice.

By no means a politically correct film.  We have enough films pandering to that - it's nice to see a fucking film about the basic urge in guys for some violence.  If you didn't like this film that's cool - there's nothing wrong with being a pussy   cool

Derails on what you know about Spartan culture are welcome.  On the one hand, the film conveniently overlooks the fact that - (yuck) - homosexuality was an important part of Spartan military training at least for one phase of life in the barracks.  On the other hand, the film appears to be quite accurate in its portrayal of the investment this society made into producing a SINGLE spartan solidier - which generally is achieved when the man reaches 30 years of age.

I actually would have appreciated some scenes which gave me a better idea of how the phalanx formation worked - but I think I get the basic idea in how the the first 2-3 rows work together (if anyone wants to post their take on this - I would appreciate it).

Anyway, an amazing film, no doubt the cinematography in this film will be precedent setting - and overused in the future in other flicks.

Taking the liberty of migrating the post.

[stray]

It had some great moments, but I'm not in the "absolutely crazy about it" camp. It started off slow, but became a pretty cool ride 30 minutes in. The visuals and choreography were great, the drama and heroic chest pounding was a bit on the hokey side (it's Frank Miller after all), but my favorite element was actually the sound design. Clashing shields and spears pounded into the ground have never sounded better.

[Strazos]

I actually would have appreciated some scenes which gave me a better idea of how the phalanx formation worked - but I think I get the basic idea in how the the first 2-3 rows work together (if anyone wants to post their take on this - I would appreciate it).

Anyway, an amazing film, no doubt the cinematography in this film will be precedent setting - and overused in the future in other flicks.

They mentioned this a bit in the film, such as how the large shield blocks for the man on the left, from neck to knee (more or less). The basic idea is to stay together as one, tight unit. One thing that was not especially emphasized, because it would have made for much less dramatic battles, were the lengths of the spears. Yes, the spears were featured prominantly, but what they did not show is that the rows behind the front, as far back as perhaps the 4th-6th line, would have extremely long spears, perhaps as long as 20ft. This made for an extremely tough spear wall for enemy unit to break through, and also allowed fighters not on the front lines to still contribute to the offensive power of the unit.

Also, they used a delta formation when taking down calvalry, which is a legitimate tactic; even trained warhorses were not totally under the control of their riders, especially when charging. With the delta, the horses would follow the path of least resistance, which would take them all along the sides of the formations. This made it extremely easy to trip the horses, or get flanking attacks against the riders.

And anyway, as a history buff, I could find Very few faults with the movie. Very Few. Like, 2. I didn't think of the homosexuality aspect of life in the barracks, but they didn't really go too much into barracks life anyway.

[NiX]

All this history has me interested. I never really knew that Sparta had such odd traditions with training their warriors, though I did know they were seen as some of the greatest. Anyone suggest a book on this?

[stray]

Spartan homosexuality wasn't just expressed in the barracks. The Spartans were known to even flaunt it on the battlefield, before the fighting started (little things, like brushing each other's hair and things like that). In fact, they were even more overtly homosexual than Athenians were (whom Leonidas joked about in this film, as if he was Mr. Butch). Both Persian and Athenian writers have made mention of this.

[Samwise]

Both Persian and Athenian writers have made mention of this.

Athens: wtf, spartanz r fagz
Persia: ya srsly!!1
Sparta: cry more nub?  >D

[stray]

Unlike those other two though, the Spartans were not misogynists.

Though Frank Miller might be.

[jpark]

All this history has me interested. I never really knew that Sparta had such odd traditions with training their warriors, though I did know they were seen as some of the greatest. Anyone suggest a book on this?

heh - it's hard to recommend anything - since any book that discusses Athens - will discuss Sparta.  Almost any Greek history book you pick up will have Sparta.

The Ancient Greeks.  By John Fine.  Belknap Harvard.(This gives you the big picture, Athens, Persia, Sparta, Philip and Alexander)  Philip's gesture to the Greeks when he conquered "them" was truely impressive - and rivals any modern diplomatic efforts - Alexander the Great inherited his army (as his son).

The Spartans.  The world of the warrior-heroes of ancient Greece.  Paul Cartledge.  Overlook press.
(Confession:  Not yet read this one - on my book case.  No doubt there are numerous books on this - but this seems to be a well recognized scholar and the book is easy to read)

EDIT:  already seen the movie a 2nd time ;)

[Strazos]

All this history has me interested. I never really knew that Sparta had such odd traditions with training their warriors, though I did know they were seen as some of the greatest. Anyone suggest a book on this?

You're in college now, yes? Do you get free electives? You should be able to take a class, though depending on how such things are set up at your school you might need a waiver from the professor, as Greek history courses (at least at my school) were 300/400 level classes and had pre-reqs (these may or may not be hard-coded).

Then again, I took 2 such proseminar courses before taking the pre-req to them. /shrug. The key is getting a good professor, as pulling someone who focuses on the minutiae of dates and crap might make you want to hang yourself...or at least drop the class.