'300' Movie Slammed by Liberal Reviewer (Bush Reference)

Box Office Mojo ^ | March 9, 2007 | Scott Holleran

[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

Like watching a blood-drunk barbarian on a rampage, 300, like its title, drops the pretense of history—it purports to dramatize the ancient battle of Thermopylae between Spartans and Persians—and offers what can only be described as a mongrel mix of audio-visual fury. 300 is History hijacked by Horror.

A band of Spartan men go to war led by a king (Gerard Butler) married to a queen (Lena Headey) who insulted the enemy that marches upon their civilization, which is depicted as a haven for hateful half-savages. It's easier to follow who's who and what's what than one might expect, yet everything is hyper-exaggerated. 300 is submerged in style over substance.

The king kills the insolent enemy messenger, consults deformed mystics and their undulating nymph slave, mounts his wife every which way and sets out with his grunting group of soldiers to take a stand against the oncoming Persian zombies. It takes almost an hour before the bloodletting begins. The script is filled with words—tyranny, freedom, reason—that go completely unsupported and have no meaning. The Spartans, portrayed as snarling animals seeking hostility for its own sake, claim superiority over mysticism, but cartoonish mystics inflict real damage, thereby negating the power of reason over faith.

But with a military philosophy—the Spartan king regrets that he has so few lives to sacrifice—resembling the Bush administration's foreign policy, the mighty Spartans lack the mind to match the muscle.

If sacrifice is noble, why bother to fight—why not hurry up and die? And why—oh, never mind, this latest message of Doomsday nihilism, which sidesteps history, serves one purpose: to validate chronic fear.

[longtermmemmory]

I going to call "The 300" the ultimate father's day movie because all 300 Spartans were selected for being fathers of sons.

a father does what a father must do.

[wastedyears]

Molon Labe sounds like a tattoo I might like to get.

[Stand W]

Happy cryto-fascist fathers' day to us both!!!!

I plan in seeing it again.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Greek SOCIALISTS hate 300

Even better!

[RaceBannon]

I saw it twice already.

The sex is gratuitous and unnecessary, but otherwise, it is a true guy flick!

[longtermmemmory]

only surrender monkey socialists hated it.

socialists don't want people to learn from history.

[wastedyears]

Just as my opinion, you can't fully enjoy it without seeing it at least in a theater. Probably for the full effect, IMAX might be the best bet (if you can get tickets).

[lilylangtree]

Egads!

[Rummyfan]

The reviewer is obviously gay!

[bondjamesbond]

Xerxes remained incredulous. According to another account, he sent emissaries to the Greek forces. At first, he asked Leonidas to join him by offering the kingship of all Greece. Leonidas answered: "If you knew what is good in life, you would abstain from wishing for foreign things. For me it is better to die for Greece than to be monarch over my compatriots."

Then Xerxes asked him more forcefully to surrender their arms. To this Leonidas gave his noted answer:

Ìïëþí ËáâÝ (Molon labe)

meaning "Come take them". This quote has been repeated by many later generals and politicians in order to express an army's or nation's determination to not surrender without a battle...

Oh, yeah. The Libbies aren't going to like this movie much...

[TC Rider]

Like it? I love it?

[Rummyfan]

The Greeks hate 300.

Why do the Greeks hate it? They should take it as complimentary.....

[Rummyfan]

If sacrifice is noble, why bother to fight—why not hurry up and die?

That is about the dumbest damn thing I've ever read! Sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice alone, i.e. without any underlying reason or context would be such. But that's not what the 300 did.

[toast]

The sex is gratuitous and unnecessary, but otherwise, it is a true guy flick!

Gratuitous sex is a huge component of many guy flicks.

Bond movies would be very diminished without the bared females.

[Rummyfan]

Gee what do those flicks have in common? KILL BILL 1&2 - dumbest, emptiest exercises in gore I have ever been stupid enough to sit through, but at least I didn't waste the entire time necessary to see both start-to-finish.

[Rummyfan]

Kill Bill 1&2 - Pulp Fiction - From Dusk til Dawn

Gee what do those flicks have in common? KILL BILL 1&2 - dumbest, emptiest exercises in gore I have ever been stupid enough to sit through, but at least I didn't waste the entire time necessary to see both start-to-finish.

[Polybius]

If sacrifice is noble, why bother to fight—why not hurry up and die?

Because the Spartans were buying time for the rest of Greece to prepare their defenses. The time bought by the sacrifice of the 300 Spartans saved Western Civilization.

People like the author can only survive as free men in this World because men like those Spartans have made sacrifices for him.

[Antoninus]

Honestly, it would not surprise me if this reviewer does have his head screwed on right. I haven't seen the movie yet, but the adverts made it look quite awful, I must say. Exactly the kind of over-stylized historical action/adventure epic that I generally dislike (Gladiator being the one exception).

I'll withhold judgment until I see it, though.

[Rummyfan]

To Scott Halleran:

Molon Labe!

[pogo101]

The same a$$hole reviewer LOVED "V For Vendetta" -- BECAUSE (in his sick mind) it criticizes Bushitler.

No joke.