Director: Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead 2004)
Writer/Co-Director: Frank Miller (original comic, Sin City comic, helped direct Sin City movie)
*minor spoilers ahead, but if you already know the outcome of the Battle of Thermopylae, then it's not a big deal*
I saw it in the theater last night. I thought it was predictable at times, and a bit repetitive, but it was still watchable. They used a pet peeve of mine - speeding up and slowing down the film during action sequences. I HATE this trend with all my little black heart, because it's run approximately 300 feet into the ground by this point and less realistic than showing a normal frame-rate (then again, who goes to a movie based on a Frank Miller comic and expects realism?). I can see how that can make the fighting scenes more palatable (i.e. slowing down during the important part, when someone actually gets stabbed and killed), but they went a little crazy with it. It sounded cheesy to play rock music during certain sequences, too. And it was a little irritating when they slowed down the film during parts where nothing was really going on, like following the queen in that one shot without knowing her endeavors. What was the point?
It was still awesome how they showed highlights of a Spartan boy growing up, (though the wolf at the end of the sequence looked poorly rendered). I liked the gore from the fighting scenes, and characters' costumers were lush and beautiful. I wish I would have seen more Spartans die in the first few battles (it seemed like little, if any, did) to properly show their sacrifice, instead of most of them dying at the last stand, but oh well.
Overall, I'd give it a C+. Not terribly impressive, but watchable and a decent popcorn flick.
I'm sure the reported historical inaccuracies will really annoy me, but I want to see this anyway...
Historical innaccuracies? It's based on a comic book! There are MONSTERS! This probably has all the historical accuracy of Lord of the Rings.
I will say the Shah Xerxes portrayal in the film was alittle over the top especially the part about him declaring himself a god, A taboo all monotheists pretty much abstain from due to purgatory plus the fact alienated enraged cult devoutees may try to kill you for blastphemy.
That being said Xerxes today even in Muslim Iran defend the long dead Xerxoids reputation, As they cant have foreigners believing he is like a skinny blastphemous Jabba the hut with pet Rancoors.
Iranian regime goes nuts claiming warmongering conspiracy
This can tell you how a innocent films misportrayals for entertainment purposes can be twisted by moronic douche bags looking for greivances to shout about.
Clearly they forget Mel Gibsons Patriot , Which many complained of its Portrayal of the British as a band of murderous thugs who shoot children when they fancy,Which irritated many Englishmen into boycoting it.
What I find amazing is that the same regime who's first supreme Ayatollah leader once attempted to demolish priceless UNESCO ruins in persepolis after deeming them godless and a offense to Allah,Also is currently building a dam will plunge Cyrus the greats tomb underwater.
Now actually gives a rats ass about their Zoroastrain religously tolerant human rights creating ancestors,Because some kafurs in hollywood in their mind is trying to "humiliate them by depicting ancient iranians as savage beasts with giant mythical monsters who bullied the world.
Quote:Historical innaccuracies? It's based on a comic book! There are MONSTERS! This probably has all the historical accuracy of Lord of the Rings.
It was written by comic book authors, but it IS based on historical events (and as far as I know doesn't have monsters, though I could be wrong), so historical accuracy certainly does count, and the film is lacking, just like Troy was. Could very well still be fun to see, though, but as a student of history if I notice historical inaccuracies they can irritate me...
Quote:I will say the Shah Xerxes portrayal in the film was alittle over the top especially the part about him declaring himself a god, A taboo all monotheists pretty much abstain from due to purgatory plus the fact alienated enraged cult devoutees may try to kill you for blastphemy.
Uh, ASM, the Shah? That was Islamic Persia, a regime wouldn't be founded for over a millenium after the events of the Persian Wars... Xerxes was Emperor of Persia.
As for the 'god' thing, I'm not sure... I know that Persia then was Zoroastrian, which was an essentially monotheistic religion, but I'm not sure if they considered the monarchs some form of deity or not...
Quote:Clearly they forget Mel Gibsons Patriot , Which many complained of its Portrayal of the British as a band of murderous thugs who shoot children when they fancy,Which irritated many Englishmen into boycoting it.
Another case of "cinema putting theater above historical fact". It was a decent enough movie, and I liked it, but yes, historically... well, they definitely exagerated the actions of the British in some regards (there is no evidence they burned people alive in a church like that, as far as I know, for instance...), even though that was a bloody, violent war there.
Quote:Iranian regime goes nuts claiming warmongering conspiracy
The problem with complaints like this is that they seem to think that there is a connection between the US Government and cultural products of the nation such as films, something that is simply not true... the movie directors have said that they were just making a movie, not a political statement, I believe. I'd tend to believe them...
A Black Falcon Wrote:It was written by comic book authors, but it IS based on historical events (and as far as I know doesn't have monsters, though I could be wrong), so historical accuracy certainly does count, and the film is lacking, just like Troy was. Could very well still be fun to see, though, but as a student of history if I notice historical inaccuracies they can irritate me...
Uh, ASM, the Shah? That was Islamic Persia, a regime wouldn't be founded for over a millenium after the events of the Persian Wars... Xerxes was Emperor of Persia.
As for the 'god' thing, I'm not sure... I know that Persia then was Zoroastrian, which was an essentially monotheistic religion, but I'm not sure if they considered the monarchs some form of deity or not...
Another case of "cinema putting theater above historical fact". It was a decent enough movie, and I liked it, but yes, historically... well, they definitely exagerated the actions of the British in some regards (there is no evidence they burned people alive in a church like that, as far as I know, for instance...), even though that was a bloody, violent war there.
The problem with complaints like this is that they seem to think that there is a connection between the US Government and cultural products of the nation such as films, something that is simply not true... the movie directors have said that they were just making a movie, not a political statement, I believe. I'd tend to believe them...
Actually the word king in both ancient persian and modern Farsi is "Shah" , Cyrus's title was Shah'an'shah "King of Kings" more or less emperor, Their culture never had such a title as a emperor since the persians were really the first to have such a massive collection of territory and conquered nations, China did not even exist yet. Local tribal kingdoms like Israel were subordinate to them.
Islam has nothing to do with it , The Arab monarchs up untill Genghis khans invasion who ruled over Iran refferd to themselves as sultans since they were arabic and they made their language official , But with the advent of Shia sect and devision with the rest of Islam a new dynasty of native rulers helped the local cultural regain a revival along with Farsi , So Shah became the title again.
Some Kings tried to associate with a angelic being who ruled as a lord within their god's court amongst 6 other figures two of which are female. Cyrus tomb pretty confirms that he didnt have a god complexe, As it was inscribed with a prayer to Ahura mende in penitent for his misdeeds and transgressions while on earth and be allowed to cross over the celestial bridge into heaven. Records of his burial suggest he gave some kind of offering to a spirit gaurdian who's job it was to judge who was worthy of going into purgatory or paradise .
The faith was scriptural and some of it called the gathas was taught like the hindu vedas with oral recitating hymns.
Irans goverment is intentionaly making a deal of this to falsely feed the idea to their people that americans are making hate films about them , Like I said before the Islamic republic has a poor record for honnoring Irans heritage so their claims are hypocritical to say the least.
The only way hollywood could counter this attack would be to make a Cyrus the great film do like Mel Gibsons films and have it in ancient Farsi.
I have seen some people claiming to be Iranian complain about the depictions of the persians in 300 but they were quickly eased from any emotional gripe when people pointed out from the Uk how BraveHeart and the Patriot trashed their image , That its simpily hollywood custom to exaderate and inflate things for the sake of adding drama and not some racially motivated slander.
Maybe Edward the great was a butcher but the english folk werent serial killers. But for the sake of drama lets have them spit on William Wallace and cheer his execution like Passion of the christ except with englishmen instead of jews.
Quote:Actually the word king in both ancient persian and modern Farsi is "Shah" , Cyrus's title was Shah'an'shah "King of Kings" more or less emperor, Their culture never had such a title as a emperor since the persians were really the first to have such a massive collection of territory and conquered nations, China did not even exist yet. Local tribal kingdoms like Israel were subordinate to them.
Islam has nothing to do with it , The Arab monarchs up untill Genghis khans invasion who ruled over Iran refferd to themselves as sultans since they were arabic and they made their language official , But with the advent of Shia sect and devision with the rest of Islam a new dynasty of native rulers helped the local cultural regain a revival along with Farsi , So Shah became the title again.
ome Kings tried to associate with a angelic being who ruled as a lord within their god's court amongst 6 other figures two of which are female. Cyrus tomb pretty confirms that he didnt have a god complexe, As it was inscribed with a prayer to Ahura mende in penitent for his misdeeds and transgressions while on earth and be allowed to cross over the celestial bridge into heaven. Records of his burial suggest he gave some kind of offering to a spirit gaurdian who's job it was to judge who was worthy of going into purgatory or paradise .
The faith was scriptural and some of it called the gathas was taught like the hindu vedas with oral recitating hymns.
*deletes paragraph expressing uncertainty about details*
*spends at least an hour wandering around Wikipedia reading about Persia/Zoroastrianism/Parthia/etc*
Quote:I have seen some people claiming to be Iranian complain about the depictions of the persians in 300 but they were quickly eased from any emotional gripe when people pointed out from the Uk how BraveHeart and the Patriot trashed their image , That its simpily hollywood custom to exaderate and inflate things for the sake of adding drama and not some racially motivated slander.
Yup. Whoever the badguy is in a Hollywood movie is going to get a "they are pure evil" depiction, given how Hollywood prefers black-and-white divisions to shades of grey pictures of reality...
Quote:Irans goverment is intentionaly making a deal of this to falsely feed the idea to their people that americans are making hate films about them , Like I said before the Islamic republic has a poor record for honnoring Irans heritage so their claims are hypocritical to say the least.
Well of course, but when your government is anti-American, they'll seize on anything they can, whether or not it makes sense compared to how they treat their own citizens... (not that we are innocent of doing the same thing at times either, of course -- cultures would rather look at the flaws of others rather than the problems within their own, since their own troubles are probably much more difficult to fix than simple complaints about the issues of others are, and it makes you feel better too! :))
The previews I've seen have giant wolves, some mutant freak, and an even larger mutant freak which I'm pretty sure is a Warcraft 3 Abomination.
It's not a historical recreation. It's "inspired by historical events".