"When told that the Persian archers numbered so many that their arrows blotted the sun from the sky, Leonidas replied ‘Good. Then we shall fight in the shade.’- Herodotus’Histories[/quote]
I used to keep a copy of this on a scrap of paper in my wallet until it disintegrated…
I saw the preview for 300 during the previews for The Departed. My jaw dropped, not only because I’m a huge Frank Miller fan but because of how this movie looks. If they release this for IMAX people would need medical attention from the ass kicking they would get from this movie.
BTW: The Departed was a great movie. I never saw the original so i can’t make a comparison. Living near Boston had much to do with my appreciation it because of the characters. It was good to see a movie get the accent right for a change. Mark Wahlberg steals it.
[quote]Grimnuruk wrote:
"When told that the Persian archers numbered so many that their arrows blotted the sun from the sky, Leonidas replied ‘Good. Then we shall fight in the shade.’- Herodotus’Histories
I used to keep a copy of this on a scrap of paper in my wallet until it disintegrated…
[/quote]
Shown in the theatical preview, both the line and the shade producing arrows.
Gerard Butler was trained originally by Mark Twight. He also worked with Franco LiCastro to add size to that buff/cut look that he developed. He now works with Dowdell.
THE FULL BODY/MIND WORK-OUT GOES BEYOND THE CORE. MANY T-Nation BUFFS NEED TO GET THEIR INNER WARRIOR INSTINCTS UP TO PAR BY USING A 300 SPARTAN APPROACH FOR HIGH OCTANE WORK-OUT.
[quote]300SPARTANS wrote:
THE FULL BODY/MIND WORK-OUT GOES BEYOND THE CORE. MANY T-Nation BUFFS NEED TO GET THEIR INNER WARRIOR INSTINCTS UP TO PAR BY USING A 300 SPARTAN APPROACH FOR HIGH OCTANE WORK-OUT.[/quote]
Lol.
Why is he fighting without armor? He isn’t even wearing a shirt!
[quote]Vyapada wrote:
Lol.[/quote]
LOL x2
[quote]JMB wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
I seem to be one of the few people that didn’t like his Dark Knight Returns, which is his only work I am familiar with.
JMB
I know her created her, but didnt Miller also write Elektra:Assassin???
[/quote]
These are the historical facts that inspired the graphic novel and the movie:
These people were absolutely awesome! I’m quoting here some good fragments, click on the link above to read the rest.
I have about 50 pages left in Gates Of Fire. Amazing book. I suggest it to everyone on here. Those Spartans training regimens are sickening.
I just want to say this thread had been very informative. Every bit appreciated to me. <3
[quote]SdotCarter wrote:
Those Spartans training regimens are sickening.[/quote]
[i]The youths knew what was coming next.
Tree fucking.
When Polynikes tired of torturing them here, he would have their drill instructor march them over to the edge of the plain, to some particularly stout oak, and order them, in formation, to push the tree down with their shields, just the way they would assault an enemy in battle.
The boys would take station in ranks, eight deep, the shield of each pressed into the hollow of the boy’s back before him, with the leading boy’s shield mashed by their combined weight and pressure against the oak. Then they would do othismos [scrum-like push in battle] drill.
They would push.
They would strain.
They would fuck that tree for all they were worth.
The soles of their bare feet would churn the dirt, heaving and straining until a rut had been excavated ankle-deep, while they crushed each other’s guts humping and hurling, grinding into that immovable trunk. When the front-rank boy could stand no more, he would assume the position of the rearmost and the second boy would move up.
Two hours later Polynikes would casually return, perhaps with several other young warriors, who had themselves been through this hell more than once during their own agoge years. These would observe with shock and disbelief that the tree was still standing. “By God, these dog-strokers have been at it half the watch and that pitiful little sapling is still right where it was!”[/i]
Yup. Sounds just like a Crossfit workout to me.
I cannot wait to see this fucking movie.
A review.
Summary:
Not content with merely bringing the visuals of Frank Miller’s amazing historic epic to the screen verbatim, Zack Snyder actually improves upon them, using his equally sick imagination and a solid cast to sell this amazing story of the mighty Spartans.
Story:
King Leonidas of Sparta (Gerard Butler) leads 300 men to the Hot Gates at Thermopylae to protect his city from thousands of advancing Persian soldiers sent by King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) to destroy Sparta. At the same time, Leonidas’ wife Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) tries to convince the city’s council to send more soldiers to his aid.
Analysis:
One always hopes when a graphic novel is adapted from the page to the screen that it’s done by someone who understands and appreciates the original source material. That’s certainly the case with Zack Snyder, who understands the appeal of Frank Miller’s words and visuals as well as Robert Rodriguez did when he co-directed “Sin City.”
While the finite story of “300” might not be as strong an original work as Miller’s “Sin City,” it has the benefits of being a historic war epic, a genre that’s thrived in cinema from “Ben Hur” to “Gladiator” and “Troy.” Filtered through Frank Miller’s warped imagination, it becomes a very different beast, though non-comic reading movie lovers might not find it nearly as foreign as “Sin City,” “Hellboy” or other graphic novel adaptations.
It takes some time for things to get going, as we’re shown King Leonidas’ rigorous upbringing as Sparta’s warrior king and the events that lead to him declaring war on Persian king Xerxes’ approaching army.
After being warned by the Spartan council and the oracles that going to war would mean death, Leonidas decides he’ll only need 300 men to fend off the advancing Persian hordes by stationing them strategically at a mountain impasse. Leonida and his men are indeed mighty and strong warriors, but they also have a cocky machismo that leads to their undoing when they underestimate a lowly hunchback named Ephialtes (Andrew Tiernan).
It’s always puzzled me why a filmmaker might want to make their movie look like Frank Miller’s artwork, since it’s so extreme in style with very little basis in reality. Considering how stunning Snyder’s film looks from beginning to end, it’s obvious that there’s something there.
It doesn’t take long to adjust to the muted color scheme used to recreate Lynn Varley’s color scheme from the books, giving the movie a distinctive look of fire tones as the Spartan’s bright red capes leap out at you from the yellow, orange and tan backgrounds. (The blend of real objects and computer-generated images is almost indiscernible.)
Though it’s obvious that Snyder is never truly going for realism, the cartoonish nature sometimes takes away from the experience, whether it’s the cheesy-looking wolf Leonidas faces as a boy or the flawed make-up on Ephialtes and the giant Immortal, which look even worse when put through the film’s coloring process.
As is often the case with historic war epics, the battle scenes are the movie’s high point, each one being more outlandish and outrageous than the last. The over-the-top nature of Miller’s original work is taken even further as the blood flies freely in scenes of cartoon violence that makes the sword fight in Tarantino’s “Kill Bill Vol. 1” seem tame.
When Snyder perfectly recreates Miller’s panel of a Spartan soldier leaping towards a whip-wielding Persian to slice his arm off, you can’t help but shout “Yeah!” And there are many moments that are just as entertaining. What’s surprising is that some of the coolest fights and creatures aren’t even taken from the graphic novel, though everything added by Snyder fits right into Miller’s vision while showing what’s missing from in-between the panels.
It’s amazing what Snyder’s introduction of movement and 3-dimensionality brings to Miller’s panels, especially when you go back and look at the graphic novel and realize how many of Miller’s shots have been improved upon.
Those expecting non-stop action and violence may be let-down by the amount of dialogue and character development, which might not have worked if Snyder didn’t cast actors who could pull off Miller’s lofty words, particularly David Wenham’s Dilios who narrates the tale. Gerard Butler drives the movie forward as he does his army, channeling parts of Mel Gibson and Russell Crowe to pull off Leonidas’ unquenchable Spartan ego.
At times, the movie gets a bit too “I Claudius” with the actors uttering every line as if it was Shakespeare, but it allows for a number of strong dialogue-driven scenes. Leonidas’ face-to-face encounter with Rodrigo Santoro’s Xerxes is terrific, as is Gorgo “negotiating” with Dominic West’s Theron, a despicable member of Sparta’s counsel who takes advantage of the king’s absence. Snyder gets points for giving Lena Headey’s Gorgo a bigger role in the film, and Santoro and West both give great turns as the type of movie antagonists you’ll love to root against.
Snyder’s musical collaborator Tyler Bates understands the genre as well as he does horror, creating a huge orchestral score complete with what sounds like a 500-person chorus. When it’s time for them to catch their breath, he without missing a beat kicks into a bit of heavy metal guitar pyrotechnics that would make Rammstein proud. Small things like that are what make you realize how well Snyder understands his (and Miller’s) mostly male audience.
The Bottom Line:
“300” sometimes suffers the same problems of other historic war epics?does anyone really want or need to see 300 well-toned Spartans standing around talking??Snyder perfectly captures the look and feel of Miller’s original work with a movie that is fun, exciting and sick without ever losing sight of the story or characters. If you’re into movies like “Braveheart” and “Gladiator,” this one stands amongst them in a way that belies its “comic book” roots.
(Make sure to stick around once it’s over for some of the coolest blood-splattering end credits you’ve ever seen.)
[quote]Grimnuruk wrote:
"When told that the Persian archers numbered so many that their arrows blotted the sun from the sky, Leonidas replied ‘Good. Then we shall fight in the shade.’- Herodotus’Histories
I used to keep a copy of this on a scrap of paper in my wallet until it disintegrated…
[/quote]
I don’t think it was Leonidas who is supposed to have said it but some minor Spartan, Diagogas?
Anyway, before we get all testosteroned up it could be worth to recall what another minor warrior wrote, after being sickened by after rationalisations:
“Tuth-loving Persians do not dwell upon
The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon.
As for the Greek theatrical tradition
Which represents that summer’s expedition
Not as a mere reconnaisance in force
By three brigades of foot and one of horse
(Their left flank covered by some obsolete
Light craft detached from the main Persian fleet)
But as a grandiose, ill-starred attempt
To conquer Greece - they treat it with contempt;
And only incidentally refute
Major Greek claims, by stressing what repute
The Persian monarch and the Persian nation
Won by this salutary demonstration:
Despite a strong defence and adverse weather
All arms combined magnificently together.”
-The Persian version, Robert Graves
One thing worth mentioning is that, without those 300 people (or more, according to some sources), the result of the persian-greek war would have been different.
Greece conquered by the persians, means no early democracy, no early advancements in mathematics and philosophy.
But those were the foundation upon which the western world built the age of reason, the scientific and industrial revolution in the past few centuries.
Without that, there would be no modern democracy.
So, it could be argued that without king Leonidas and his men, the western world as we know it today would not exist. It is not the only battle in history that determined the history at such a scale, but there aren’t that many at this level either.
One more thing: the persian empire is what we call nowadays Iran. That makes the timing of the movie very awkward indeed. I am not looking forward to the political crap that is sure to come up once the movie is released.
Did you see the Burt Lancaster film , “Remember the Spartans”, about early 1960’s green berets in vietnam?..
[quote]Spartan300 wrote:
KneeBar wrote:
And sure, everyone knows about the Alamo, but how many know about the Battle of Chosen Reservoir?
I had not heard of it but now I have, thank you.[/quote]
Scuse’…That was not a battle, but a fighting withdrawal, and a testament to McArthurs arrogance…He left the marines hanging and is responsible for many unecessary deaths IMHO…
[quote]florin wrote:
Greece conquered by the persians, means no early democracy, no early advancements in mathematics and philosophy.[/quote]
Maybe. The Spartans didn’t have such a high opinion of democracy, and didn’t have much time for philosophy. Had they turned around and slaughtered the Athenians shortly after beating the Persians at Plataea, without waiting for the Peloponnesian War (rather how Patton wanted to turn around and start fighting the Soviets right after taking Berlin), razed Thebes to the ground, and consolidated the Hellenic world into a Spartan empire before the Macedonians could, there probably would not have been much in the way of democracy or philosophy (nor male nude statues) coming out of Greece.
The Persians, by the way, were no slouches themselves when it came to mathematics and philosophy. Algebra (the word itself is from the Arabic al-jabr meaning “calculation”) was perfected by a 9th-century Persian mathematician, al-Khwarizmi, who invented the quadratic and linear equation. A 10th century Persian astronomer, al-Wafa, introduced the trigonometric tangent function, and discovered the sine formula for spherical geometry. Had there been no Greek victory at Plataea, Pythagorus would probably still have developed his theories, or else the Indians, Persians, Egyptians and Arabs (all of whom were part of the Persian Empire) would likely have developed these mathematical disciplines on their own.[quote]
But those were the foundation upon which the western world built the age of reason, the scientific and industrial revolution in the past few centuries. Without that, there would be no modern democracy.
[/quote]
True enough, but don’t forget that all of the knowledge that made these things possible had been forgotten in the West for nearly a thousand years, and had been kept safe and sound in Persia, Turkey and Arabia.
Yes. The others in this category are the battles of Marathon, Plataea and Tours, as well as the siege of Vienna.[quote]
One more thing: the persian empire is what we call nowadays Iran. That makes the timing of the movie very awkward indeed. I am not looking forward to the political crap that is sure to come up once the movie is released.[/quote]
It would be ironic if the Iranians, the Iraqis and the millions of other folks who are feeling a bit antagonistic against the US these days watch this film and identify with the Spartans: a proud, devout and warlike people defending their homeland at impossible odds against a decadent, belligerent and overwhelmingly powerful invading empire.
I hope a movie for the Gates of Fire is made. I mean, the true historical movie showing the real way the Ancient Greeks fought is way more interesting than made up Frank Miller’s drawings and martial arts this movie throws in.
This is the closes TV has gotten to historical accuracy and historical fighting.
Its a TV show that was aired on the History Channel it is called Deceive Battles. Bellow are the links to the episode:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
florin wrote:
Greece conquered by the persians, means no early democracy, no early advancements in mathematics and philosophy.
Maybe. The Spartans didn’t have such a high opinion of democracy, and didn’t have much time for philosophy.[/quote]
True, but at Thermopylae they simply defended Athens and the other smart guys.
Interesting alternate history.
Come to think of it, it did happen, except it was the Romans, not the Spartans. Maybe less all-out warriors, but not the sharpest tools in the drawer either - good soldiers, good engineers, good lawmakers. Poor mathematicians, horrible philosophers. They had to borrow all their thinking from Greece.
Very true, but they did not have an intellectual revolution, like the one in the West, the Age of Reason. I mean, look at them today, they’re thumping their chest with their dusty “holy books”.
Great legacy, sure, but they failed to deliver.
[quote]So, it could be argued that without king Leonidas and his men, the western world as we know it today would not exist. It is not the only battle in history that determined the history at such a scale, but there aren’t that many at this level either.
Yes. The others in this category are the battles of Marathon, Plataea and Tours, as well as the siege of Vienna.[/quote]
There’s a cute little fantasy book that’s probably related to the siege of Vienna pretty much in the same way the movie “300” is related to the battle of Thermopylae - it’s called “The drawing of the dark” by Tim Powers
http://www.theworksoftimpowers.com/dod.htm
Recomended for those who enjoy sword-and-sorcery and fantasy novels.
That would be a very d’oh thing indeed.
