The trailers for 300 have me pumped

[Guest]

Now this is one movie i will not miss to see in the big screen!!it was cool when it was on books but now,actually seeing it..MAN!!!cant wait!!!:shuriken:

[Mithrandir]

I saw 300 last night and let me assure you, it is absolutely outstanding. I plan on going and seeing it in IMAX next week (the IMAX tickets are sold out for a couple days in advance already). The dialog isn't incredibly complex, but it isn't supposed to be - most of the Spartans are just there to to look buff and deliver pithy one liners in the midst of battle. The dialog only detracts from the movie once... to avoid spoilers I won't describe the situation but the entire theater erupted in laughter at what I'm pretty sure was supposed to be a serious situation.

More importantly however, the action sequences kick ass, a ton of Persians get spears through the gut, a couple horrendous mutants get chopped up and even a few giant animals add to the body count. Sweetness. The movie looks fantastic and was definitely worth the wait. 10/10, best movie I've seen in a long time, etc.

Oh and also, the new Spider-Man 3 trailer was shown before 300 and you get to see Venom for a second. Ooooooh baby I can't wait for that one either.

[MonTy]

Agreed. I feel as if I could watch 300 endlessly; taking in the style, art, and action in each shot. I am also going to try and catch a showing at IMAX very soon. Amazing movie with absolutely stunning action sequences.

My only complaint is the amount of slow motion effect used in the movie. I think the movie would have been only 30 minutes long if played at a normal rate ;-)

I saw 300 last night and let me assure you, it is absolutely outstanding. I plan on going and seeing it in IMAX next week (the IMAX tickets are sold out for a couple days in advance already). The dialog isn't incredibly complex, but it isn't supposed to be - most of the Spartans are just there to to look buff and deliver pithy one liners in the midst of battle. The dialog only detracts from the movie once... to avoid spoilers I won't describe the situation but the entire theater erupted in laughter at what I'm pretty sure was supposed to be a serious situation.

More importantly however, the action sequences kick ass, a ton of Persians get spears through the gut, a couple horrendous mutants get chopped up and even a few giant animals add to the body count. Sweetness. The movie looks fantastic and was definitely worth the wait. 10/10, best movie I've seen in a long time, etc.

Oh and also, the new Spider-Man 3 trailer was shown before 300 and you get to see Venom for a second. Ooooooh baby I can't wait for that one either.

[[wcip]Angel]

Some people have commented that the dialogue is cringe-worthy. I haven't seen it yet, but a poor script is really detrimental to my enjoyment of a movie. What did you think of the writing and the dialogue?

[MonTy]

I thought there were a few "cringe" spots, but not enough to deface the movie. Other then that, I know some that were bothered by "frequent cheesy one-liners", although I did not take it in that manner.

If you are that sensitive to dialog, might I suggest still seeing it due to the art/action. You will undoubtedly scorn some of the dialog, but I still have to recommend the movie for its finer points. Let us know what you think, if you end up seeing the movie!

Angel' date='Mar 11 2007, 07:43 PM' post='125511']
Some people have commented that the dialogue is cringe-worthy. I haven't seen it yet, but a poor script is really detrimental to my enjoyment of a movie. What did you think of the writing and the dialogue?

[Chesspiece_face]

Angel' date='Mar 11 2007, 07:43 PM' post='125511']
Some people have commented that the dialogue is cringe-worthy. I haven't seen it yet, but a poor script is really detrimental to my enjoyment of a movie. What did you think of the writing and the dialogue?

I found it completely ironic that most of the people i've seen complaining about the dialog also admired how the movie created a "larger than life" feel that would be inherant in a epic tale or folk lore. what it's acceptable to simplify and embelish the size of a rhino or the amount of troops they are up against but it's not ok to do the same thing with what the characters are saying?

yeah a lot of the dialogue is simple and over-melodramatic. but it's supposed to be. that's what happens when stories are retold for effect.

[Occhidiangela]

I found it completely ironic that most of the people i've seen complaining about the dialog also admired how the movie created a "larger than life" feel that would be inherant in a epic tale or folk lore. what it's acceptable to simplify and embelish the size of a rhino or the amount of troops they are up against but it's not ok to do the same thing with what the characters are saying?

yeah a lot of the dialogue is simple and over-melodramatic. but it's supposed to be. that's what happens when stories are retold for effect.

The film's intent was to be epic in flavor.

Achieved.

The mixing of real and graphic art was an interesting way to bring a graphic novel to life.

Took the kids, both teenagers. Both liked it for different reasons, both were glad to see Xerxes get a facial.

This was a film of a legend, not a telling of a history.

Epic heroic fantasy. With Persian Ninjas. :P And Hoplites without armor.

Good enough, thanks to Faramir being in it.:)

Occhi

[WarLocke]

With a film like this, that's the only way to go. I don't think anyone is claiming that 300 is historically accurate. It's a movie based on a comic book based loosely on the Battle of Thermopylae. If it was trying to be historically accurate, it'd probably be pretty dull.

I wouldn't mind a historically-accurate film based one actual events surrounding the battle at Thermopylae. As was mentioned on another forum I frequent, the 'real' story was awesome enough in its' own right.

But a two-step-removed embellished awesomefest sounds good too. Planning on seeing it tonight.:shuriken:

[TheDragoon]

I saw 300 last night and I've got to say that I did not enjoy it at all. For a movie that I assume was trying to recount a legend, I think it failed miserably to capture a legendary feel. Most of the time, my girlfriend and I were laughing at how bad it was. More than anything, it seemed like a rip-off of the fighting scenes from Lord of the Rings; there were orcs, ogres, a deformed character that betrays the heroes. Other things that cracked me up were the inclusion of ninjas, a drug-using goat, and a bad guy straight out of Stargate SG-1. With all of this craziness, the movie just completely failed all realism checks for me and that was a major turn-off.

Overall, the documentary that I saw about the 300 Spartans on the History channel (or was it Discovery?) earlier this week was better than this movie.

[Munkay]

I saw 300 last night and I've got to say that I did not enjoy it at all. For a movie that I assume was trying to recount a legend, I think it failed miserably to capture a legendary feel. Most of the time, my girlfriend and I were laughing at how bad it was. More than anything, it seemed like a rip-off of the fighting scenes from Lord of the Rings; there were orcs, ogres, a deformed character that betrays the heroes. Other things that cracked me up were the inclusion of ninjas, a drug-using goat, and a bad guy straight out of Stargate SG-1. With all of this craziness, the movie just completely failed all realism checks for me and that was a major turn-off.

Overall, the documentary that I saw about the 300 Spartans on the History channel (or was it Discovery?) earlier this week was better than this movie.

A question Dragoon, did you go in expecting the movie to be realistic?

I don't think by any means Frank Miller - author of the Comic book from which the movie was made - tried to stay too historically accurate. Miller in fact was quoted saying his '300' was meant to be a kind of mythic story told over a fire. With that in mind, he started quasi-historical and took off with it from there.

As an ancient Greek major in college, I have to say I enjoyed the movie. Though, I can very easily see if you don't go in expecting that type of movie, the 300 can very quickly fail to live up to the hype. The otherworldly nature of the Persian army is indeed quite absurd. But at the same time, it does echo works like Herodotus' histories, which chronicles some of the more humorous tall-tales of the Greek time along with its historical account. For example, in Herodotus, there's stories of ants in the lands east of Persia that are as big as dogs and protect the gold dust which naturally forms on the desert sands. Of course, Frank Miller pushed the limits of this shroud of mystery in lands unknown. But for every farce, there's some historic shreds thrown in there too. The Immortals were from the eastern Persian empire, and were certainly influenced by their Asiatic neighbors, albeit not so far as to become ninjas. Or the Persians pierced faces, which was a likely custom, since Persians vehemently wished to display gold in as many places as possible.

I think the fact that 300 was not a historical film, and yet did throw in a few bits of history here and there, made it play much better than other ancient films in recent years like Troy or Alexander the Great.

Cheers,

Munk

Ps. Dragoon, I hope my post doesn't come off as an argument or a flame. I used your post kind of as a stepping off point to voice a few opinions of my own on the movie:blush:

[TheDragoon]

I think that what I was expecting was a movie based on an historic event. As such, I expected it to stray somewhat from reality as all movies in such a vein do, but not nearly to the extent that it did. The atual story, itself, is well worthy of a movie, in my mind, given some small embellishments for the film (which would be expected). However, this film went far beyond embellishment. I think your point of it as a tall tale is very close to the mark as everything was very strongly exaggerated. However, to me, a lot of the connection that the film tried to build between the audience and the main characters was lost… it simply deviated too far from reality, compared to what I expected, for me to care about them at all.

I was also blown away by very obvious gaps. Things like the characters making such a big deal about how Spartans fight together and how the man on either side of them was extremely important (as it would be in a true phalanx) and then they all go running off to independantly engage all comers. That sort of thing certainly made for more LotR or superhero movie style fight scenes, but it just didn't work for me.

Maybe if I had any sort of exposure to the book that this film was based on, I would have been more receptive. However, since I did not it was a pretty big let-down and I would generally advise friends to stay home since the only things I really took away from the movie were more examples of things to complain about and/or mock during conversation. :)

[Munkay]

I was also blown away by very obvious gaps. Things like the characters making such a big deal about how Spartans fight together and how the man on either side of them was extremely important (as it would be in a true phalanx) and then they all go running off to independantly engage all comers. That sort of thing certainly made for more LotR or superhero movie style fight scenes, but it just didn't work for me.

First off, I agree with your post. Unless you want a tall tale, 300 isn't going to satisfy. This point in particular reminded me of something I found rather humorous about the production of the movie. First off, you knew battle was going to be skewed as soon as you saw the Spartans with no armor :lol:

I agree it felt more like LoTR when they started hacking and slashing independently and not within a phallanx - anyone else feel that the rivalry between the general's son and the other man was a little too close to a rivalry between a certain elf and a certain dwarf in LoTR? The breaking of the phallanx was absurd, especially after Leonidas made such a big deal about the made-up-character Ephialtes' inability to hold a shield up.

But what I found most interesting was the portrayl of the basic Persian Soldier. If you watch the film, they carry wicker weaved shields into battle against the Spartans. And in true wicker fashion, they are quickly broken into pieces. What's funny is that's a true fact about the Persian infantry of the time. I can't help but chuckle at that - they forgo the Spartan Heavy Armor AND the Phallanx fighting style, but yet include the minor details about the Persian shields?

:whistling:

Cheers,

Munk

[gekko]

But what I found most interesting was the portrayl of the basic Persian Soldier. If you watch the film, they carry wicker weaved shields into battle against the Spartans. And in true wicker fashion, they are quickly broken into pieces. What's funny is that's a true fact about the Persian infantry of the time. I can't help but chuckle at that - they forgo the Spartan Heavy Armor AND the Phallanx fighting style, but yet include the minor details about the Persian shields?

:whistling:

Cheers,

Munk

A couple pertinent quotes from IMDB.com:

# According to an interview with IGN.com, Director Zack Snyder says that fighting styles and formations (particularly the Spartan's phalanx) were purposefully changed - making them historically inaccurate - so they'd "look cool" and work better for movie purposes.

# The movie never claims to be historically correct. It is based somewhat loosely on Frank Miller's 1998 comic book mini-series. Changes from history were made by Miller and Snyder so as to appeal to a wider audience and create a more exciting and visually stunning action movie, rather than a typical historical epic.

gekko

[Doc]

[WarLocke]

That is so saved.:w00t:

"We can't stop now, we're in Spartan country!"

[Munkay]

A couple pertinent quotes from IMDB.com:
gekko

You didn't read my other post first did ya?;)

No worries,

Cheers,

Munk

[Munkay]

:lol:

Thanks for that Doc

[[wcip]Angel]

Liked it very much! I was happy to see that there were very few cringe-moments (if any). The comic-book style popularised in Sin City was also very well done in 300. The nod to Playstation-game God of War with the spraying of blood and use of slow/fast-motion was also felt (and appreciated).

Historical accuracy was never an ideal in this movie, and I have no problems with that. It might also inspire people who might not otherwise do so, to read up on greek history in order to get a better idea of what really happened.

The style, cinematography, story and pacing of the movie was so impressive that they eclipse those elements that were less great. Examples include a simplified story, 1-dimensional characters, alleged elements of racism, fascism and homophobia.

Will become part of my dvd collection in the near future.