Posted on 03/12/2014 11:15:50 PM PDT by lee martell
I don't usually go see gladiator movies, but I thought I'd give the new '300' a try. Within the first five minutes of the film, I realized I'd made a mistake, because of the very graphic violence, violence that is, actually appropriate to the storyline. I suppose I was just curious, because the first '300' got such rave reviews. I was so glad chose not to see the movie in 3d, especially when the warring sides began their sword to sword advance. The director had a visual gimmick of depicting the moment when one soldier slices or skewers the other; there would be a roundhouse swinging motion with sword drawn, followed by a spray of blood shown in slow motion and suspended in air. I started to leave the theatre right then and there, but I thought wait, don't be so quick to cut and run. Let's see where it goes from here. Maybe the director is finished playing with his new FX toys.
I like seeing good fighting techniques, battles with evenly matched opponents. There was a lot of that. You can tell there was a lot of practice and drilling to coordinate timing, accuracy of placement and dispensing of strength. I like seeing the blocking the parrying the sneak up garroting of the enemy. The woman cast Eva Green is incredible as Artemisia, Queen if the Persians. I would not want her as an enemy. This is the kind of Xena-on-Steroids role the Angelina Jolie used to have. The leader of the Greek Army appeared to have just stepped out of Super Cuts Salon. The dialects and accents were all over the place. Maybe that was on purpose to say the armies were manned by citizens throughout the respective countries.
When they were not depicting on land battle, with all the mud and the blood, there was battle on the water. I found some of the Greek at sea tactics against the Persians were creative. The Greeks were vastly outnumbered, so they had to plan carefully. During their initial on water confrontation, the Greeks came forward with about 12 ships in circle formation. They approached the Persians, about 30 ships in V formation as with a flock of birds. Themistokles; the Greek leader instructs his men to aim for the weakest spot in the Persian formation, which would be the absolute center. This plan works very well, disorientating the Persians to the point of ramming into their own ships while in pursuit of the tiny Greek formation. That was good. This scene was soon followed by Artemisia beheading a prisoner, sweetly kissing his now loosed head, then cast the useless head over the side. At that point, I had seen enough for the day.
that movie was blasphemy!
it was madness!
It was SPARTA!!!!
I should have specifed what I was referring to. Someone was good enough to post a short clip of a movie ‘Mongol’s Last Battle’ was the title, I believe. A Chinese production done quite well, and so so heavy on the gore as was 300 #2. I was looking at a scene with the Mongols on their horses, as they charged forth to confront another group. This opposing group was less decorated in mail, less cloaked in protective garments, but equally fierce. The Mongols seemed to have the advantage in armaments; each horseman rode his steed holding on only using his legs. In each Mongols upraised fist was a long sword pointed out, allowing them to sheer their way through the opposition unless otherwise outmanueuvered. Take a look at it (an earlier post here) and see.
I’m in the process o watching RED CLIFF I&II. Excellent movie.
“Once the “wow, she is really hot factor wears off”, It get’s pretty old and silly fast”
And I think also contributes to the coarseness of todays young women who act rough and tough and fight because, well, it is hot to do so, popular media shows it to be so, and no matter how out-classed in weight and muscle, a little girl CAN beat the stuffing out of a big guy.
And this leads to bad things when reality hits fantasy
Just get a copy of the old movie THREE HUNDRED SPARTANS with Richard Egan.
So you want them to change history to accommodate your desires?
Sorry, but Artemisia was a real person, (Queen of Halicarnassus not Persia) and she did command ships at the Battle of Salamis.
Still loved the movie-- I guess the director probably couldn't find riders ready to ride with those costumes without stirrups.
The Roman cavalry used to perform incredibly elaborate riding exercises while wearing gold and silver plated masked helmets with ribbons (and no stirrups).
Probably would strike us as a mix of the Lipizzaner stallions, Jason and the Argonauts, and La Cage aux Folles.
Horses were smarter then :-)
It is Hollywood that is changing history to accommodate feminist desires/delusions.
Sorry, but Artemisia was a real person, (Queen of Halicarnassus not Persia) and she did command ships at the Battle of Salamis.
There's a big difference between history, where she commanded the ship (a.k.a gave orders from the "sidelines") vs Hollywood where she swashbuckles onto enemy ships and single handily takes out entire regiments of Greek Marines.
To anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, several annotations.
1) Yes, it is ultraviolent. It is also extremely stylized, almost to the point of animation, and very few movies are technically comparable to both 300 and its sequel. Visually it is very intense as well.
2) The movies are ridiculously macho, with as much testosterone flying about as blood, of which there is copious amounts. Both men and women theater goers are left panting, but for different reasons.
3) The Persians are depicted as caricatures, and very monstrous ones at that. In the first movie, you could guesstimate that the Persian leader is around 8 feet tall.
4) Because of the intensity and violence, they truly deserve a legitimate NC-17 rating.
5) This being said, 89% of the audience liked ‘300’ (IMDb rating 7.8). 300: Rise of an Empire (IMDb rating 7.1) fared less well, but is still very popular.
Stirrups weren't as bad as the repeating cross bow used in the Coliseum or the Roman soldiers who were wearing Blue Jeans
The original Spartacus had several scenes where you could see wristwatches on some of the slaves, and for lack of sandals they had desert boots with “straps” painted on them.
She was original Warrior Queen if you ever read real story on her
BTW that old movie Three Hundred Spartans been on THIS TV network lately
bttt
Good flick
What she really did do was ram and sink one of her own ships that got in the way. I believe she was a renegade Greek, too. I wouldn't cross her.
The idea that this was united Greece defying the barbarians is comic-book stuff. A significant number of the Greeks were perfectly happy to welcome the Persian army.
I have to see this but am under no illusions it will be any more accurate than its predecessor. Got a Classics Professor friend who spits at the mention of 300 but will admit under pressure that he's seen it...twice.
BLUE JEANS?!! What? You saw Roman soldiers wearing Blue Jeans in 300? Hah! I definitely overlooked that one, as did the technical advisors. Well, if they did commit that historic faux pas, rest assured those probably were NOT Mom Jeans.
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