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Frank Miller's 300


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I saw the trailer, it looked like a super movie. As far as historical veracity goes, the movie shows the character of the Spartans and heroized them to the point of mythical unrealism. Go back 2400 years and Herodotus does essentially the same thing. Read the section on the battle of Marathon. Heroes come back from the dead to aid the Athenians. And even in the battle of Thermopolae, all the Spartan died on the last day and the allies had returned home, how would anyone have know what had actually happened. All in all, I think the movie will be good because while it dosen't capture the details faithfully, it will display the legendary stature that the Spartans had gained on that day in the 5th Century B.C..

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I just saw the preview in the movie theater this last weekend. It looks pretty good, but purists may not enjoy the goblin-mutants and ect.

 

Even my friend said he'd want to see that movie, and thats a good sign!

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I saw the trailer the other day as well, the hints of middle earth were unmistakable.

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I have the graphic novel version and it is pretty good, especially the final battle scenes with the Persians.

 

Like "Sin City", I think the movie will be shot in the same style that was used for Miller's drawings. Instead of building elaborate sets, most of the film will be shot on blue screen, like a play. Later, they will add CGI and literally paint in every missing detail of the scene, using computers and Miller's drawings / sketches / artwork.

 

While I'm not really against this style of filmmaking, I don't know if I would rather prefer the old fashioned way of making a historical action movie with actual sets and a cast of thousands. Of course, there is the cost issue involved and the era of making historical epics such as "Ben Hur" is long dead.

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Of course, there is the cost issue involved and the era of making historical epics such as "Ben Hur" is long dead.

 

I wouldn't say that necessarily Skarr. In no particular order:

Troy,

Braveheart,

Gladiator,

Kingdom of Heaven

Alexander,

Last Samurai,

Master and Commander....

 

Those are just quickly off the top of my head. The real problem is not that the era of making historical is dead, but rather most of those that are made just aren't very good.

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Of course, there is the cost issue involved and the era of making historical epics such as "Ben Hur" is long dead.

 

I wouldn't say that necessarily Skarr. In no particular order:

Troy,

Braveheart,

Gladiator,

Kingdom of Heaven

Alexander,

Last Samurai,

Master and Commander....

 

Those are just quickly off the top of my head. The real problem is not that the era of making historical is dead, but rather most of those that are made just aren't very good.

 

Perhaps I should have stated a little differently... I meant the real elaborate kind of movies like "Ben Hur", "Cleopatra" etc.. Most of those kind of movies cannot be produced today.

 

Braveheart didn't have many sets and England has many castles still which can be converted easily enough. Gladiator / Alexander used a lot of CGI and so did Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Although the Last Samurai and Master and Commander are historicals, I don't think they really qualify for the epic scale I'm talking about .... Recreating a Japanese village and a ship are not that difficult as compared to say, shooting a film set in ancient Rome, where you have to show the city.

 

This is the point I was trying to make and it didn't come across clearly. My apologies.

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Of course, there is the cost issue involved and the era of making historical epics such as "Ben Hur" is long dead.

 

I wouldn't say that necessarily Skarr. In no particular order:

Troy,

Braveheart,

Gladiator,

Kingdom of Heaven

Alexander,

Last Samurai,

Master and Commander....

 

Those are just quickly off the top of my head. The real problem is not that the era of making historical is dead, but rather most of those that are made just aren't very good.

 

Perhaps I should have stated a little differently... I meant the real elaborate kind of movies like "Ben Hur", "Cleopatra" etc.. Most of those kind of movies cannot be produced today.

 

Braveheart didn't have many sets and England has many castles still which can be converted easily enough. Gladiator / Alexander used a lot of CGI and so did Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Although the Last Samurai and Master and Commander are historicals, I don't think they really qualify for the epic scale I'm talking about .... Recreating a Japanese village and a ship are not that difficult as compared to say, shooting a film set in ancient Rome, where you have to show the city.

 

This is the point I was trying to make and it didn't come across clearly. My apologies.

 

Ahh yes, I understand that. Though even the recreated CGI effects can have an epic feel. Lord of the Rings comes mind immediately. I agree though that the chances of seeing a multi location epic with hundreds/thousands of human "extras" on hand is highly unlikely.

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Just heard in todays Variety that 300 will be premiered on IMAX screens on March 9th.

 

The trailers I've seen are quite intriguing. I don't mind the "fantasy" feel of it at all and am quite looking forward to it as an action piece with some historical flavor.

 

I saw the trailer for the first time at the cinema this week end, and it looked pretty impressive, especially on the big screen. It's like a usual historical movie but with a dark and sinister look to it.

 

One thing stood out though......since when did the Persians use armor plated Rhinoceros's in battle??? :ph34r:

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The girlfriend and I were in the theatres last night (we watched "The Messengers" - a watchable if rather predictable horror film) and saw the previews for this.

 

I saw the monsters and film style and thought: "Oh my gods, Sin City meets Lord of the Rings." I think the last stand of the Spartan 300 is intriguing enough without the need to embellish it. I expected a little Hollywood-ization insofar as a lot of beautiful people engaged in superfluous love affairs. But monsters and demons in the age of classical Greece? And yeah, what is with the Persians being black Africans?

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I saw the monsters and film style and thought: "Oh my gods, Sin City meets Lord of the Rings." I think the last stand of the Spartan 300 is intriguing enough without the need to embellish it. I expected a little Hollywood-ization insofar as a lot of beautiful people engaged in superfluous love affairs. But monsters and demons in the age of classical Greece? And yeah, what is with the Persians being black Africans?

 

The film is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, which did contain rather black looking Persians as well as a monstrous looking Ephialtes. It is obvious from watching the trailer that Zack Snyder (the film's director) has gone several steps further by adding all sorts of monsters and even a battle rhinocerous. I've read that Snyder has a liking for 'freaks' in his other films, which sort of explains why they feature so prominently in this new film. It certainly looks as if it's going to be an amazing action film, even if it is low on historical content.

 

 

I watched a new trailer for this movie this morning. How many trailers does this film have? I've watched at least 3 or 4 in the last few months!

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