Casual Fridays

I'm definitely seeing "300" this weekend, especially after reading The Dude's review here.

It tells the story of the 300 Spartan warriors led by their bad ass King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), as they stand up against the tens of thousands of Persians awaiting to conquer and absorb Sparta into the empire. The Persians are lead by Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), who figures himself a god among men. And the movie is about their battle. Sure, there's a fair amount of political intrigue amongst the Queen (Lena Headey, who is quite yummy) and a traitor among the Sparta elite (Dominic West), but really the movie is about the battle, which is a technically accomplished series of fight scenes like I have yet to see before. Seriously. You'll want to compare them to scenes from Lord of the Rings or Gladiator, but you'd be wrong. Oh my, you will be wrong. One example would be the long, unbroken shot of Leonidas fighting in the first battle, the one that doesn't cut and keeps speeding up and slowing down, was quite invigorating, and a stand out among many great epic battle sequences.

Adrienne's post on Wired-Blog "The Underwire" makes it sounds really hot.

For all of you fanboys who are drooling with anticipation over Zack Snyder’s 300, which premieres this week – it is awesome.  In fact, “awesome” doesn’t do it justice.  I think Nathan Lee of The Village Voice put it best: It is 117 minutes of “stupendous ass kickery”.  Even Lee’s, uh, derisive tone towards the homoerotic, pseudo-political undertones of the film can’t obfuscate the fact that 300 is a dazzling visual spectacle.  And if it is also a display of miles and miles of glistening, beautiful man-bodies, you will NOT find any complaints here.

These are dark days for the movies.  In a week where Wild Hogs finally topped that dark, political treatise Ghost Rider at the movies, Underwire was gaspingly grateful to catch an advance screening of the buzzed-about 300 at the San Francisco Metreon last night.  The line stretched on.  Our stomachs grumbled for dinner.  Still, like the Spartans, we waited.

And it was so worth it.

The guys at "AintItCool" also agree. Watch the trailer at the Wired site, and tell me if you can resist it. It may be fictional, but it just hits some gutteral military tones that drive me to go see this film. I'll add my review tomorrow.

UPDATE: I don't get all the negative reviews. This was a good film, well attended. People are going to argue over whether this was a pro-Iraq or anti-Iraq film, but you know what? Fagghetabotit. It was a serious drama, with some fantastic battle scenes - this was no bad "Lord of the Rings" animation. Serious men, doing serious fighting over honor and liberty. Overall, I thought they pretty much stuck to the historical battle. The acting was very good, the visuals were amazing, the story line was good. There were some mixes of contemporary statements - the King tells his son, "the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war" - which is an Army infantry saying.

The fighting scenes were amazing. Bloody sure, but it didn't get old. They flowed, almost like dancing, but with limbs flying. Favorite part of the movie - the Spartans meet up with thee Arcadians, and the Arcadians are shocked by the small number of Spartans. The King says, "Hmmm. What's your profession, Arcadian?" "Potter." "And you?" "Sculpter." "And you?" "Blacksmith."

He looks behind to his men. "Men of Sparta! What is your profession?" The 300 raise their spears as one and shout "AARROOUUUUU!!" The King says, "I think I have more warriors than you." Spartans: the finest soldiers the world has ever known.

Comments

[M]

so how was it? any good?

[Younghusband]

I soooo wish I was in a country that I could see this movie. I have the graphic novel and was really looking forward to seeing it on the big screen. Now I have been shipped to Japan where it probably won't even make it to the theaters, and if it does it will be just in time for me to leave back to Canada. Crap... I am so jealous.

Also, this was the worst negative review I have seen so far.

[FDChief]

I like the part with the Athenians, too, but not for the same reasons.

Sure, the Spartans were the jannisaries of the Greek world. That's why, three thousand years later, we remember Leonidas and...ummm...let's see...hmmm...

Athens? Socrates, Plato, Thucydides, Solon, Militides, Themistocles, not to mention all those characters like Hippocrates, Aristotle, Xeno who were inspired by Athenian learning. Oh, and the guys who beat Xerxes? Google the "Battle of Salamis"...

And speaking of battles let's not forget the Battle of Leuctra...good as they were, the Spartans were the attack dogs of Greece. Even the other Greeks of their day recognized that as a people they were...incomplete. They were so good at being warriors they failed to realize that there are other things needed for civilization than warriors: potters, sculptors, blacksmiths...

I love Frank Miller, and I enjoyed "300". It was good fiction in the dark, twisted Millerian style.

But history? Fuhgedabouddit.

[ry]

I know what you're sayin' J. I've said as much at least twice before at Argghhh!.

I think FDChief makes the point I have repeated: what you take from the film is more about you than the film.

This isn't inherrently polemical. It's a comic book come to life. It's a celebration of the Spartans, warts and all. And a hell of a visual feast. I just don't get half the criticism leveled at this film since 90% of it is political. Oh well.

[NVH]

Check this link out, I came across it a couple months before I even knew 300 was a moview or a graphic novel. It's from a pro-gun website I frequent from time to time. Somehow, I don't think the translation comes across in the movie, which I have yet to see, but still I can't wait...
http://www.thefiringline.com/HCI/molon_labe.htm

[Leon]

I haven't had a chance to see the movie yet but what I find amusing in all this spartan-lovefest is that they're the last people you'd want defending "freedom". The Spartan's were a bunch of xenophobic soldiers who made serfs out of the residents of the surrounding cities and terrorized them on a regular basis. They believed in an oligarchy and supported this type of government in cities across Greece against their rivals (and eventual enemy) Athens who supported democractic governments. If it wasn't for the naval victory at Salamis (mostly comprised of Athenian warships) western democracy may not have ever existed.

Plus if you're looking for the toughest bunch of footsoldiers from this era, I'd point toward the Theban Sacred Band but I suspect we'll never get a movie on them. Solid hombres, just don't drop the soap...

[NVH]

Dammit, people, don't pull us down into the weeds on this...3000 years from now they'll make a holodisc of the battle for Fallujah and it'll be kickass b/c by then they'll have holographic blood splurting out of the screen when the sniper bags the insurgent. We all know the Spartans weren't Democrats, even today's military is Oligarchic in nature (read chain of command). It's how that branch has to operate. But see, they fought for Greece, they fought for Athens, they fought for Democracy, just like our Military fights for us today. Odds be damned. That's the takeaway here. Not that homosexual thebans were the ACTUAL heroes of 480 b.c....

[tequila]

I'll just say that 300 has about as much to do with the Persian invasion of Greece as the Chuck Norris movie THE DELTA FORCE has to do with special operations.

The best part of THAT movie was when Chuck stood up to the forces of Islamofascism by blowing them up with rockets fired from the handlebars of his motorcycle. That was almost as l!!t as when the Spartan speared the charging rhino, or when they propelled the elephants from the cliff by the power of their abs of freedom.

[NVH]

right, it's based on a comic book, see the Captain America post, all embellished. It's bloody entertainment. But I guarantee it's a movie SFOD operators watch before they get put on assignment just to get charged up a little. Nothing wrong with that.

[The Boetarch]

Spartans: the finest soldiers the world has ever known?
I beg to differ.

Epaminondas

[NVH]

So beg...

[Leon]

Spartans fighting for Greece or Athens? Hardly - there was no "Greece" at the time (or even a concept). There were a bunch of squabbling city-states that wanted the right to have a mode of government of their choice (oligarchy or democracy) and fight internecine wars. Sparta was fighting to preserve it's freedom, not the freedom of (in their view) those effeminate-naval-poetry-wusses in Athens. The idea of "Greece" wouldn't arrive till the time of Alexander.

The coalition formed by the city-states in the Persian Wars would soon fall apart and culminate in the Pelopenesian War. That was a fight between rule of the elites (Sparta and its allies) and democracy (Athens and its allies).

And I'd still have to give the Sacred Band points over the Spartans, they died to a man at Chaeronea wheras the Spartans surrender at Sphacteria. Lets say they were the second toughest hombres in ancient Greece.

[Rob Spear]

Even at the time they distinguished between Greeks and barbarians, so there was some conception of "Greece", even though it was not politically unified.

[No Longer a Urinated, etc.]

"I haven't had a chance to see the movie yet but what I find amusing in all this spartan-lovefest is that they're the last people you'd want defending "freedom".'

Talking of Spartan lovefests, does the movie, ummm, accurately depict yer average Spartans. ummm, romantic inclinations?

[J.]

Depends what you mean by "average" Spartan. There was some very hetero sex between the King and his wife, that was about all, and I don't think either were "average" looking. Reference to those "boy-loving Athenians" but no depiction of such Greek lovers.