Discussion of Frank Miller's 300 *Spoilers*

[The Man]

You're right, it played well to the mindless violence crowd. A movie like 300 could have been far better.

sure it could have been better, but it wasn't just for the mindless violence crowd. I know a bunch of women that saw it that liked it, and they said they usually hate Gladiator type movies. It isn't as good a Gladiator but very few movies are. To make the movie what you guys want it to be would have made it 3+ hours. The "mindless" 2 hour version was great I thought.

 

[Buckeye Buh Nim]

To make the movie what you guys want it to be would have made it 3+ hours. The "mindless" 2 hour version was great I thought.

Truth be told sans slow motion scenes, the movie would have been 90 minutes, tops.

 

[martinss01]

Truth be told sans slow motion scenes, the movie would have been 90 minutes, tops.

yep with about 12 seconds total of actual fight choreography. 1/2 second shot of actual combat, 3 minutes of still shots of spears being shoved 4 feet through a dummy with blood splatters flying everywhere.

if this had actually been mindless violence i probably would have liked it. pssshhh! 30 minuts worth of mindless violence + nice ta ta's? hell, id pobably have loved it! but it wasn't even that. it was that same poor body double having a spear rammed into it over and over again from different angles.

taos, not to mention that the spartan army was never massive in numbers. with their biggest conscern always being a heliot revolt.

 

[Taosman]

"taos, not to mention that the spartan army was never massive in numbers. with their biggest conscern always being a heliot revolt."

Exactly! I understand the "slave" aspect was glossed over in "300".
Those that have read "Gates of Fire" get a better view of actual Spartan life. Cruel and pretty barbaric.
The Spartans used "death squads" to terrorize their slave population. Young Spartans sent out at night to kill
slaves who acted out.
It is believed that when the whole Spartan army went to war, they took many slaves( "heliots") with them to keep an eye on them!

 

[martinss01]

Exactly! I understand the "slave" aspect was glossed over in "300".

not so much glossed over as nonexistent. not that it really mattered. while it would have provided a better look at sparta for what it was, it wasn't really necissary to the story. but the whole freedom bit was laughable. i wish film makers would stop trying to americanize history and other cultures.

Those that have read "Gates of Fire" get a better view of actual Spartan life. Cruel and pretty barbaric.

correct on both counts, but everything they did was directly geared to making them better soldiers. even dancing was set to a cadence to teach them how to march in step.

The Spartans used "death squads" to terrorize their slave population. Young Spartans sent out at night to kill slaves who acted out.

yep, part of their "becoming a man" tradition was to sneak out of the barracks, find and strangle a heliot with your bar hands, then sneak back without getting caught. should you be caught you would be beaten severely. i also recall something about after being married a spartan man was not to see his wife in the daytime for the first 7 years of their marriage...

 

[Jeffcat]

http://break.com/index/300_the_pg_remix.html

 

[Oneshot]

AHAHAHAHA that was HILARIOUS.

BRUSH YOUR TEEEEEETH!!

 

[Taosman]

Wife and I saw it today. Wife's comment was it was a much better movie than she thought it would be.
I find the "style" intriguing. I think this becomes a "cult classic". Like the other Frank Miller work, "Sin City" I think this could work with other subjects before it becomes stale.
I didn't have any issues with what artistic license he took with depiction of the events.
Or his use of monsters to depict better the evil of men.
Fun movie!

 

[NFBuck]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mhP4POCHazM