300 - Review

The spartans never went to battle of marathon.

Hi . Actually I think that we should be a little bit more honest with ourselves! I guess anyone who has read a few pages of Iran and middle east 's history knows that Iranians were civilized people and Persia's king , Cyrus the great , were the first man to talk about peace , freedom , equality and kindness . and about Sparta ... "the fierect warriors in Greece came from Sparta . all Spartan men were fulltime soldiers who spent their livestraining and fighting . boys were taken from their mothers at the age of seven to begin their training . girls had to keep fit ,too .so that they would have strong babies!" (from encyclopedia of world history) . and now how can we deny the realities just because of politics? and after all we can not deny the 2500-year old culture and civilization of an ancient country like Iran . thx

Sparta has the win. Persia has alot of lose

The movie makes Athenians look stupid. In real life, Spartans were the ones losing while the people of athens were winning. The real war was won by the Athenians. They burned Athens to the ground themselves. They his on an island and when the ships came aaround, they destroyed them. That won the war. Spartans were just flat out losing. That's why Athens was the center of Greece for years to come. They were the power. Sparta did bring them down eventually over a long war that destroyed both, but the Athenians beat the persians in this war. THey had knowledge and didn't just fight for the hell of it. They fought because they were fighting for their knowledge. Sparta was backwards compared to Athens. They actually used to breed kids there.

I Disagree! Everyone who says it’s just another movie. For me its about feeling your guts, feelin your inner self & unleash the beast within, but with courage & honor. Its about feelin your Testosterones-(TSTONE). (I felt mine!) These 300 men had TSTONE of steel, & Leonidas with Titanium.
Stop! Derogatory comments about history & perfection. Always half boiled eggs talk about perfection. Just, at least try to get the message. Live life on your own terms, right or wrong, good or bad, this Messed-up world always justifies & determines things with its billions of peanut sized brains, which never existed in 'Greek or Persia’. You Just Gotta Do What You Gotta Do! I cannot believe some peanuts talkin all this crap about The Great 300! All you "Perfectionists", Where were you when Zack & his team were making this kinda movie?
Why doesn't any peanut talk about things when they're happening? Everybody talks & criticizes when things are done. Don't they?

I don’t know the history and I don’t care. My wife loves this movie; she loves the way her man/king speaks to his wife. Values that we do not see anymore.
I loved the respect and fearlessness the king/man had to his people/Family. Like every man in his house must have. Respect is earned like this movie shows.

Having developed from the silent film era, modern films are still largely about presentation of the image. you want a story? go read a book or better listen to a storyteller. This film is the most image-driven film of modern times I have ever watched. Considering it's roots in the graphic novel (another image dominated medium of story-telling) the film had little choice about how it would be presented to the audience other that with the rich visual textures that were so imprinted in the minds of those who've watched it. Dialouge I'm sorry to say is entirely secondary to this film.......one can almost watch it with the sound muted and still keep up with the storyline alas, the score and the clash of arms may be lost as well. History? bah!!!!!!!! THIS IS A FILM - FOR ENTERTAINMENT. PURISTS SHOULD STAY AT HOME AND WATCH DOCUMENTARIES ON THE HISTORY CHANNEL.

no there probably wouldnt have been a war, but how many men do you know think with their hearts? and how many of THEM are in charge of anything..?(politics) my guess is not many. countries arent run by individuals thinking with their hearts. maybe this was a peice of this political message.

To me the film was about justifying war in a historical and modern context. The west must fight (for honour) against the evil east. It has an overpowering political message. History aside (because this is hollywood folks) this film is pure money and politics. It could never have beem historically acurate because it wouldnt have served the purpose for which it was intended.

Im unsure if the ideas were presented with negative of positive intention?
For me this film was so simply and powerful with the imagery and short sharp snaps of violence it highlighted how easy it is to be manipulated. I enjoyed being manipulated here as it highlighted the political problems we face today and made me more aware of when looking at theese issues in a less brash and more complex context.........?

interesting that love/emotion was viewed as a negative spartan characteristic and should be violently controlled. Would there have been war if spartan men were encouraged to think with their hearts? The film higlighted that you are not born able to kill but you must be aggressively trained......interesting.

Well, I just saw the movie for the 3rd time, and though I was expecting it to be a little tiring, I enjoyed it more than I could ever imagine!

Am I getting addicted???...

From that point of view, screw the historical inaccuracies!!! If you want to learn history, try and OPEN SOME BOOKS INSTEAD!

A OOuh!!!!

In a world ruled by policticians it is so refreshing to see a film based on something which is all but disappeared from todays society 'Honour'.
Whether you liked the film or not, or agreed with it you cannot denie the fact that most would of felt a great sadness during the film, simply because it outlines everything that is wrong with today's world. Slowly but surely Honour is disappearing, 300 shows us what it was like when Honour was the only thing that mattered.

Quite possibly the best film I have ever saw.

The movie was very well directed, and t5he special FX were very good, but I still wished they would partly make the blood more lifelike by actually have blood on the ground.

Historically incorrect: Xerxes army did not show up at Sparta's doorstep..! The battle took place in central Greece in Thermopylae (Gates of Fire).

Based on historical events, this is a true story of 300 brave soldiers who faced the Persian army over a million strong. Their orders were simple: to delay the enemy for as long as possible while the main Greek armies led by the Athenians mobilzed.

Their loyalty and obedience to Spartan law and their King Leonidas was the honour and code they lived by. The 300 warriors fought a fierce battle with extraordinary courage, heroism and self sacrifice that will always echo through eternity.

The "soldiers story" should be the focus of the legendary 300 Spartans. As far as freedom and democracy is concerned well...thats all politics !

(Note: Though Xerxes won the battle at Thermopylae, the 300 Spartans won the GLORY and paved the way for the Athenians to win the war shortly afterwards )

The highly enjoyable film 300 has unfortunately been bashed by some for its historical inaccuracies. To those people I say that this movie never set out to be a historically accurate portrayal of the Battle of Thermopylae in the first place. The movie 300 is an adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 which is loosely based off of the movie "The 300 Spartans" which is about the battle of Thermopylae. It is not a movie about Herodotus’ history book VII (Polymnia) or any other historical account of this great battle; however, it still manages to keep the most important aspects of this great story intact. For instance this movie captures the courage and self sacrifice of the Spartans in the face of over-whelming odds in great detail. It also highlights how their sacrifice served as a moral victory for the Greeks which ultimately lead to the Greeks driving the Persians out of Europe.

This movie has also been wrongly labeled by some as being racist because the Persians are the villains of the movie and Persia just happens to be modern day Iran. The bottom line ladies and gentlemen is that this is a movie about the Battle of Thermopylae and it was fought between the Persian Empire and the Greeks. The Persians were not simply thrown into the film to bash Iran. The historical facts as to whom this battle was fought between was not altered in the least. Also lets not forget that this is a movie about the courage and self sacrifice of the Spartans and not about how the Persians won the Battle of Thermopylae by killing every last man who remained on the battlefield (If this was a movie that had centered on Xerexes campaign to conquer all of Europe beginning with his invasion of Greece and eventually his killing of the bold 300 Spartans would you really want to see a film like that? I know I for one would not). I encourage people to keep these things in mind before they starting making unsubstantiated labels.

Some have also tried to make the weak argument that the look of the enemy is part of the racism because there are some non-human enemies in the Persian army. Again I must point out the fact that this movie is an adaptation of a graphic novel. Being that this is the case the whole look of the movie has been structured to create a surreal world. In this world things like monsters are possible. So it makes sense that the enemies can have monsters in their ranks that they can unleash whenever they feel it necessary. It is all a part of the visual presentation of the story it is not a secret plot to attack the Iranians. Think about it. Would you really be as interested in what would happen next if the wonderfully fit Spartans just fought against other wonderfully fit humans? No, you wouldn’t. The monster element makes things much more visually appealing.

as long as this movie is taken for what it really is... that is entertainment, and most certainly not informative... then you most likely won't be dissapointed.

Okay - look, I saw the movie yesterday and just read through all comments above and concluded one thing: Some of you are way off! seriously way off! and some are loosely dim-witted.

Really, first of all, this is a movie, not a representation-documentary, interpretation of the battle of Thermopylae or a well-researched piece of fact. This is, and will always be: a movie! In terms: entertainment. If you can answer yes to the following question: "was i entertained?", well, then the movie has fulfilled its purpose.

Secondly, the movie is based on a comic, that is loosely based on facts. This means that the movie, in reality, has nothing to do with the battle of Thermopylae, it has to do with a comic. Comic books have a knack of being, well, a tad unrealistic, for the sake of readers, excitement and generel public knowledge, comic book writers have at tendency to portray monsters and supernatural things, which Schnyder decided to do as well. So instead of discussing what Schnyder did, look at what the source did: Frank Miller. And was inspired by the 1962 film "The 300 Spartans", which is historically REALLY incorrect!

So, what is the purpose of Frank Millers Comic Book? Well, lets just say that the people who claim this has to do with terrorism (including the iranians) have sidestepped a bit: the book was published in 1998!

Thirdly, get your facts right: In reality, nearly nothing is known about the Spartans, because they never wrote their laws and ways down. How can you make an hour long documentary as Julia M. watched i hear you ask? well, you guess for the most part, so clearly she's been watching entertainment-docs, basing the movie on stuff we know little or nothing about.

And besides that, watching a movie that, even in the trailer, screams: "THIS IS ENTERTAINMENT!!!!", she still sits there with a laughable excuse of "oh, he's too tall", and, "their helmets are wrong" (which they aren't)... i find pitifull.

Anyway, best piece of entertainment i've seen in many, many years :)

I was going to watch this, but now that I know its very wroung movie, I probably won't.

Thanks for the heads up.

Ermm...It's a movie, for entertainment, don't go historical about it, so what, they got alot of things wrong with the history and crap, but that's what movies do. o.0

"Lena Headley is both sexy and strong as Butler’s wife, her desperation to bring him home alive is well tempered by how proud she is to be married a willing to march into death. As Leonidas throws himself in the way of the Persians, it’s her job to rally her people into committing themselves to the fight, using his sacrifice as an example. Her role is pivotal, probably a lot more pivotal than it would be were this actual history."

Actually, the role of women in Sparta was one of the few things Frank Miller got absolutely correct. In fact, when a Persian man once asked King Leonidas why his wife felt that she was allowed to speak in front of men Queen Gorgo cut him off and said "Because only Spartan women give birth to real men." I believe it's in the historic writings of Herodotus. Queen Gorgo when she was younger actually advised her own father in politics. The freedoms given to women in ancient Sparta come relatively close to the freedoms experienced by women in America today. No, they probably weren't on the same level as men, but they were damned close, and for that time period it was incredibly progressive thinking.

Good on visual effects, but too many punch lines...like some 80 percent of the film rides on jargon!.....but its good to see that the entire world(atleast those who know of the film OR the actual history) still remembers the 300!......Thanks to Shnyder and of course.....The 300 Spartans!

Thermopylae isn't a myth... but ur kind of right because the movie is based on the comic. and greeks in this time period had average stature of about 5'6", AND probably for dramatic effect they made Xerxes look even bigger.


this line killed me lol "The movie is based on a greek MYTH, me being greek iwould know" haha

and julia is right about the armour.. and in a war movie, armour is actually a big part of the movie, especially when you are talking about the spartans.

however despite the ... interesting points above.. i did like the movie even though i know the history.

you have to be able to accept the fact that its not a historic retelling. If you wanted that u could have watched the low budget history channel show.

ok no 1. The movie is based on a greek MYTH, me being greek i would know. The giant horses and elephants and 'immortals' are mythology..
no 2. in the MYTH the persian king is actually 8ft tall, so they potrayed him quite well,
no 3, if ur lame enough to actually rate a film on the armour the cast wore then u really shouldnt watch hisorical movies,

the truth is that this film was amazing in it's own way, You cant compare it to Gladiator or Troy cos it is totally different. Everyone has watched it and liked it, isnt that all that matters :/

Yes, it was a very good movie, lovely visuals, hot guys (and girls, since most of the people reading this will probably be male.), lots of blood and violence and baddies and goodies. Unfortunately, I couldn't concentrate on that- the historical changes were forgivable, at first. Then I got a view of the Persian king, and I practically died laughing- what the crap were they thinking? I mean, it's one thing to change everything about the Spartans (their armor, yes, they had armor other than boots and codpieces., their shields, which were actually painted with whatever that particular Spartan wanted to put on it, and their helmets- the leaders had a sideways row of hair or whatever that was, everyone else had the forwards ones.), but then to take the Persian king and blow SO far off target, I almost left right there. They made him seven feet tall, gave him a codpiece, and draped him in gold. Am I missing anything? Oh, right, the fact that he was portrayed as androgynous. That's just wrong.
Anyway, that and the whole monster-elephants-horses things they threw in to look cool kinda killed it for me. Maybe I shouldn't have watched a History Channel hour long program on that battle a few weeks before going to the theaters. For someone who wasn't cursed with that damnnable knowledge of all the ways they screwed up, that was one hellofa good movie.

Hi guys just finished watching the movie and loved every minute of it,and not to be cheeky but i was reading some of the comments on this page and would not normally reply but for GOD SAKE it's a movie created from a comic book and in my opinion it is for OUR entertainment not for actual facts of history,some people just take it too seriously i mean if it was everything to do with the history the movie wouldn't have a kick ass soundtrack,it would be all orchestra,anyway i thought the film was visually stunning and blew me away x

Snyder could not be historically accurate, he had to make a movie! Though, he has in general plunged into the philosophy of Sparta living and ethics, he had studied about it, that's for sure! I believe that being historically accurate, would engage a far longer movie, 3-4 hours, and that would exhaust the public. Don't forget the reason this film was shot, and that's MONEY! But, he made a hell of a GOOD movie!

Iran fellows should not be mad, it;s not trying to prove THEM bad guys!!!

What made an impression to me is that PERSIA the way it appeared was quite similar to the image that modern USA shows (imperialistic, wealthy and powerful, slaving in a beautified way...) and SPARTA similar to all the small, proud countries, who are asked to pay tolls, either in blood or money (EARTH AND WATER...)to the the powerful and greedy ones. But THEY resisted, they made what everyone in our whole world DOES NOT!

SPARTA were the so called TERRORISTS of the ancient world, except the term TERRORISM was not used then so widely... think for yourself!

I am not a terrorist for sure, but from that point of view, HAIL to Snyder and Miller, HAIL TO SPARTA that showed us the way!