Posted on 03/11/2007 9:20:06 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
Only after watching the epic movie "300"--about free men of the West willing to die at Thermopylae rather than kneel to an Eastern king--did I read the reviews.
I'm conflicted about the film, but the reviews were quite entertaining.
Especially the reviews that were so turgid with praise, focusing on the rippling chests and rippling abdomens of the near-naked Spartan warriors, the slo-mo blood globules and the thrusting, thrusting, thrusting of the spears. OK, OK, I get it. Warnography is hard to define, but you know it when you see it.
Some ripped the movie, including one East Coast reviewer upset there were no African Spartans in the film. But surely this outrage can be remedied with a few federal judges and a time machine.
Others examined "300" in the current U.S.-Iraq-Iran context. They ask if America is anything like Sparta, or are we now more like decadent Persia, with our celebrity culture and people rendered almost numb by narcissism.
A few fear the film is a Karl Rovian Republican plot--but isn't everything? Included among Rovian schemes is the TV show "24," except for the parts when the noble President Barack Obama archetype struggles with scheming white Southern conservatives who want to toss out the Constitution.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Jack hasn't killed enough people this year. The snipping of the finger was cool though.
I look at the season as what happens when you have weak leadership at the top and "too diverse" an administration.
This reading of various political conspiracies into movies is really getting tiresome.
Is America like Sparta? Not even close. Sparta's people were totally dedicated to their country and its survival. Our country has turned into a bunch of liberal cowards. The closest we come to Sparta is our military. If we continue to show our weakness, the rest of the world will turn on America. The world in general relys on our strength, even though some of them won't admit it.
In Sparta a mother said to her son as she handed him his shield (something like this) "Come back carrying your shield, victorius, or on it." They weren't into body counts like we see everyday from the media.
Uh, Jack has tortured his own brother this season on multiple occasions - until Jack's father finally offed his own son. Moslem terrorists blew up California with a nuke. PC?
The reviewer in our local paper said he couldn't decide whether "300" was a wildly over-the-top action movie or simply big budget gay porn.
I'll probably skip this movie.
My son saw it and said it was "AWESOME".
Ahhh...but it's the evil russkies who are manipulating the Muslims and their pure intetions who are behind the nukes. The Muslims are the victims - at the hands of the government and their detention centers as well as the Russion schemers.
Last season started likewise and ended up being all the Republican president's fault.
Movie Kicked ass...
I liked Leonidas' take on Multiculturalism
If you consider the West as the Spartans and the forces of Islam as the Persians it all fits rather well. The story even has backstabbing politicians back in the Spartan council that sound pretty much like today's defeatocrats.
Any RAT watching this film with even a small ability to perceive themes is going to see things reflected in himself they will not like and will therefore respond the way a RAT normally does, by hating the film!
I really liked this film and find it hard to believe it even got made, much less distributed. The thought police of the left really blew it this time.
The Spartan warriors were not hand tied with seven steps of rules of engagement either.
There was one really freaky sex scene.
I don't think I've ever scene anything quite like it: it was the king and the queen makin' it on the night before he heads off to Thermopylae. Freaky. Who knew that married couples did such things. I thought it was just teens and unmarried types.
Live and learn, I always say…
In all seriousness, I'd give the movie 3 out of 4 stars. What nudity there was, was artistic. The oracle, the harem (or whatever) around Xerxes (the purpose being to demonstrate yet another Greek/Persian difference, Spartan beauty vs. decadent/exotic beauty, IMHO).
It lasted a BIT longer than it could have, and I was somewhat bummed that (SPOILER ALERT) the 1000 Thespians who stayed behind with Leonidas and the 300 weren't mentioned at all (they were, briefly, in Miller's graphic novel).
Some good lines, definitely. Probably as historically accurate as one can expect.
Definitely no 'brokeback 300;' I'm afraid homosexuality is not played as a high ideal of Sparta (Athenians are referred to as 'boy-lovers' and a couple of the soldiers trade good natured barbs, including 'offering your rear to those Thespians')
I'm not advocating a return to Phalanx warfare :)
Oh you're no fun.
Hey, at least I didn't say a return to Hoplite warfare
The Phalanx Light is lit.
The Left looks for the political message in films today because they put political messages in seemingly apolitical films already.
Rather than confront a movie about making a stand against invading hordes or the death of Christ, they focus on things like reviewing the physique of half-nude men.
I guess they have to find something to hold their attention when they disagree with the concept of the film.
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