300 (2006) Movie Reaction & Commentary | FIRST TIME WATCHING

The reason why there are elements of heightened reality as far as the creatures go is because this is a story being told by the narrator. His audience is picturing in their mind what he is talking about.

The end gets me hyped everytime, when 10k Spartans charge the Persians. The idea that 300 could cause so much damage,imaging what 10k could do.

“May you live forever” is a curse because he has a miserable existence, and Spartans arent afraid of death, and so they dont value existing for its own sake, but would rather die with honor than live as a traitor.

Accuracy: *A lot of the stuff they showed you about the Spartan culture was true. A few of the lines are from history. Xerxes did indeed send an emissary that asked for earth and water and was tossed in a well as Leonidas told him "You'll find plenty down there." "Come back with your shield or on it" was the traditional Spartan farewell for soldiers going to war. They were threatened with "arrows that will blot out the sun" and did respond with "Then we will fight in the shade" and he did indeed say ""Eat a hearty breakfast for tonight we dine in (Hades)" *They did NOT go into battle mostly naked. Their armor was in fact super-high tech for the ancient world, providing significant protection and mobility. When Frank Miller, the creator of the graphic novel this movie is based on, visited the site of battle for research and inspiration, he saw a statue of Leonidas that was nude, except the cape, helmet, spear and shoes. Miller found it such an evocative image that he cheated that part and made them all shirtless like fantasy heroes. And the whole thing with "Spartans NEVER retreat! Spartans NEVER surrender!" - Spartans WIN. Spartans fight SMART. They have no problems running, hiding, resorting to hit-and-run guerrilla tactics when necessary. Any decent tactician knows that sometimes retreat is necessary. He SPECIFICALLY didn't retreat on that day but not for any macho grandstanding, he did it to cover the retreat of everyone else. *The scale of the Persian army is not exaggerated by the movie - The main source was the Greek historian Herodotus who claimed that the actual strength of Xerxes' invading force was a million men. The historian Simonides puts at THREE million. Modern scholars put it at around 100,000 *Xerxes did not however have elephants, rhinoceros, and whatever human monster things they showed us. They had cavalry but part of the reason Leonidas chose that spot is because they couldn't get horses up there. Also Xerxes didn't look a giant super-twink with fetish piercings, he was a guy with a much more impressive beard than Leonidas. *ALL the Greek city-states sent small contingents - it was not just the Spartans and Arcadians holding the gates. Leonidas had between 4000-7000 men total under his command. *The whole subplot about bribing the monks was made up - Leonidas was religious and superstitious like everyone in the ancient world and believed like everyone else that 300 guys was all he could take. As brave as their actions were, going to war with such a tiny force was because of their own ancient-world superstitious religious beliefs. *The subplot with his wife and the traitor was just for the movie and wasn't even in the comic, it's just a very testosterone-heavy movie and she's the only female character and they kind of needed something for her to do. As testosterone heavy as Spartan culture was, Spartan women did enjoy an exceptional amount of freedoms and social power relative to other parts of the ancient world, and they wanted a subplot to show us that. Did you recognize her as Cersei from Game of Thrones? *It was a two-front amphibious battle - The Athenian Navy was holding off the Persian Navy at a similar choke point several miles up the coast. Both fronts had to hold, if the naval blockade failed, The Persian ships could get down behind Leonidas's troops and if he couldn't hold The Hot Gates, Xerxes land troops could cut off the Athenian ships from behind. These events are portrayed in the sequel "300: Rise of an Empire" -The secret back way was real. When Leonidas found out that Xerxes found it, he began a phased retreat under cover of night. He got most of the troops out, vollunteering his 300 Spartans to stay behind and hold the position. 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans also stayed behind. The last stand wasn't just the 300, there were well over a thousand men. The battle took all day. Leonidas was killed in the early afternoon. Fighting continued for several hours as the remaining Greeks tried to keep the body out of Persian hands. The last Greeks died in the early evening.

The “one liners” are called laconic phrases. Spartans had quick wit and responses - they actually took part in “rap battles” against each other as part of their training to try to out wit your opponent

All the quotes they said were legit from the time of the Spartans . They spoke with Wity comebacks and were known to destroy enemies with their comebacks

This and Sin City are both incredible Frank Miller Graphic Novel movie adaptations.👍

The night before this came out, me and some of the other managers stayed after work and watched it. After it was over with, we were all pumped up like we were ready to "go to war" lol

It's an adaptation of a Frank Miller comic, which itself strongly implies the story is being embellished by the Spartan telling it. Realism and historical accuracy were never really intended.

There are records dating back to ancient times that the battle of Thermopylae did happen. It is known as one of the first battles for freedom that ever happened thousands of years ago. Alot of people in modern Greece still honor the story of Leonidas and the 300 as one of the greatest stories ever told.

The interesting thing about the film is that many of the most memorable quotes and scenes really happened, and in some cases were toned down. Spartans were known to be quick tongued and they had some epic put downs.

I enjoyed your reaction except for the end. That's like one of the few moments where you can't get away with quick editing and cutting out a bunch of stuff, it's literally the best part of the movie.

Fun fact. The name of the Spartan traitor "Ephialtes" is literally the word used even today in Greece for 'nightmare'

The actual Spartans we're amazing shit talkers historically I believe

The most honorable thing for a Spartan is to die in battle… they can’t bear the shame of retreating or surrendering…

Hellenic hoplites (Sparta included) indeed wore armor... They were the "Heavy Infantry" of the times. Besides the bronze-clad wood 30lb aspis/hoplon (shield), they used the bronze Corinthian helmet, bronze cuirass & bronze leg greaves, the double-bladed Xiphos bronze short sword, and the 8ft. leaf-bladed dory spear

This was followed up by 300: Rise of an Empire and served as an inspiration for the Starz series Spartacus. Other Zack Snyder films to watch are Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen, Man of Steel, Batman vs Superman Ultimate Edition and his cut of Justice League. Other epic fantasies I recommend watching are The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies and Excalibur. I also recommend watching Gladiator

As others have said, the movie is from the POV of the Spartans and they would have portrayed the opposition as vile beings. But from what i remember, the guy who lost an eye was seen as a coward when he returned and rushed to his death in a final battle. Also, numerous lines in the movie were supposedly said in reality. Either way, its a good movie IMO.

Having read the original graphic novel by Frank Miller, I enjoyed this movie even just as an experiment to see how close the movie could come to adapting a comic book and translating the visuals from page to screen. Frank Miller was both the writer and artist (along with colors/paints by Lynn Varley). Zack Snyder basically used the graphic novel as an initial story board for the film. Here's a walk through of the original '300' graphic novel: https://youtu.be/SMbIs6Cb0f8

This is still one of my top theater experiences. My friend Kim and I had zero idea what the movie was about we just were bored and it was the week of my birthday so we decided to go to the mall and maybe see a movie. I don’t want to offend anyone but we were teens and we smoked a lil blunt and headed to the theater to go see a movie. This was one of the movies that was playing along with like a kids movie that wasn’t already started and I will never forget how blown away we were. Literally thee entire movie me and her kept leaning over to say oh my god that was so bad ass looking. For me I love the cinematography of this film but I don’t think this style translated as well to the Justice League as Snyder thought it would. I know there is a fanbase for the Justice League movie(“s”) but for me personally I felt all of the filters and flashy cinematography obviously taking inspiration from this film just made the movie look fake and cartoony. But for 300 it just worked…because it looked like an old painting you’d see in a museum or art history book somewhere. Don’t hate me for that take..it just is my personal feelings about the Justice League (both versions of the film)…I won’t say that both versions of the movie are completely terrible and have nothing good in them or about them. There are definitely cool moments…but overall I just couldn’t get into them fully.