300
 

Have any of seen the movie 300. I went yesterday and thought it was a great movie. What does everyones think?

Haven't seen it yet, but it got mixed reviews here. Glad to hear you liked it.

I'm seeing it tonight at an IMAX :D I loved the graphic novel so my boyfriend and I are making a special trip.

Saw it last night. I will be seeing it again

Saw it tonight in IMAX....friggin amazing. I loved it.

Movie is on my list. Do have a question: When in battle, are the 300 ( in fact it was 1,300 as about 1000 allies stayed with them) wearing full armor?
Or did the movie go really over the top? As it is, there were only men involved-no animals of any type or kind.

Nice link on the battle:

http://www.answers.com/topic/300-spartans

Jon, its my understanding that the Greek Hoplite wore a full armor back then. Armed with a large shield an 8 foot spear and short thrusting sword. So the half naked guys would have been an invention of Frank Miller.

I think the hoplite and the phalanx are considered the prototype for the roman legion.

What I thought was neat is that some of the quotes from the movie are actually attributed to the historical spartans.

"Then we shall fight in the shade"

"come and take them(our weapons)"

The movie didn't do much for me, but there were some good quotes and Xerxes is so "frou frou" if you get what I mean, that it's hilarious! It wasn't bad, but I'm not dying for the bootleg DVD or anything.

The artistic direction was good so if you like to look at pretty things then I do recommend it!

It was one of the most hypermasculine movies I have seen in a long time . . . That was one of the coolest aspects of the story.

They do have some allies but never really show how many went to go help them.

Agreed, the Spartans were aided by 700 - 1000 Thespians. Numbers vary.

Good link-does fill in some information that I have a feeling is not in movie.
The History Channel did a two hours show on this as well last week-keep an eye out for repeats.

As the link states, the armor, weapons, skills and tactics of the Spartans were what kept them in the "game" so long.

As well as the Navy, which according the History Channel, did better that what your link seems to indicate.
For it was the Greek Navy that kept them from being out flanked at the very beginning.

And the Spartans armor was the for-runner of the design of our Kevlar.

Very cool though the IMAX fell through (SOLD OUT ALL SHOWS :() But that movie kicked ass. The History channel did a bit of a special on it and talked about real vs. the story and that the director defaulted to the graphic novel when the two conflicted. (Hence why we have hot nearly naked men and grotesque creatures and nearly naked oracles)

Basically from what I've read, between the loss of his navy and the huge losses he took at the Hot Gates, Xerxes lost his will to fight the Greek city-states. A bit of a shock to realize that you're not really an invincible all-mighty god I'd think.

Xerxes DID fight and beat the City-States.
However, they did come back and beat him up and good. With 7,000 Spartans at the tip.

The Battle was, in large part, the beginning of the end of the City-States and the start of the Greek Nation.

I know, I'm agreeing with you. Even with a victory at Thermopylae the number he lost compared to the number the Greeks lost probably put things in quite a bit of perspective for him.

What bugs me is that I guess Europe has been criticizing the film as "Pro-Bush in Iraq" :rolleyes: I mean seriously, is EVERYTHING an allegory these days? I'm going to have to make another trip to the IMAX sometime later when I can maybe actually get a ticket :)