300 : an erotic thriller | Canadians First Time Watching | Movie Reaction | Movie Commentary
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- Simone & George are reacting to 300 (2006) for the first time! Canadians React!
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00:00 - Intro
01:02 - 300
25:16 - Discussion
Welcome to Cinebinge, we are watching 300 (2006) for the first time!
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Fun fact: Gerard Butler improvised shouting this is sparta. After that, he went up to Zack and said "Was that too much?" And Zack replied "YEAH, BUT IT WAS AWESOME!"
The line is in the comic, but delivered deadpan and not shouted.
I still remember the Spartan techno remix
Eff Yeah but we are keeping it! :D
@@ThreadBomb Except this time because he said he improvised shouting it, right? 😅
@@ThreadBomb in this case no, the scripts says the line is whispered, Gerard on another take tried shouting the line, many of the crew laughed but as @The Gunslinger stated, Zack did like it and thus used it in the movie. And so a legendary war cry was born out of it, popularized by memes too. So after all, it is a 'fun' fact.
A few historical points:
-The Persian invasion of Greece actually had the opposite effect the Persians intended. They thought that the Greeks wouldn't put up much resistance as they'd be too busy fighting one another to unite to defend their homeland.
-The Spartans did actually wear body armor.
-The Persian Immortals were called such because there were always 10,000 of them; if one died, another soldier would take his place.
-Thermopolaye was the classic delaying action battle, buying time for others to get away.
-The sequel shows the following major battle, where the Athenians showed they were masters of the sea as the Spartans were the masters of the land.
And it wasn't a wolf they killed, it was a slave.
@@tremorsfan Aka the helots. :)
The only thing I’d quibble with here is your last point. The battle of the Artemisium Straits took place at the same time the events in 300 were going on. It was headed by the Greeks so the Persians couldn’t land their ground forces.
Additionally, the ephors were not creepy old pedophilic priests, that was the name for the Spartan advisory council that was under the King :P
And yes, Spartan hoplites were essentially walking tanks with the armor that they wore and those big, beautiful shields. One of the reasons they were so dominant in warfare in the Classical era. Until the advent of the Roman usage of manipular and cohort legions, that is, which capitalized on the inability of a phalanx to guard its flanks effectively and its slow speed in shifting to directional/flanking attacks.
Spartans never used phalanx formations.
That was famously Alexander's.
“Even my gate’s a little hot”... i about died when you said that. Absolutely hilarious.
“Then we will fight in the shade”, “Persians, come and take them”. Two lines that were included in the movie that most scholars believe were actually said during the Battle of Thermopylae, albeit more simplified here.
"Molon Labe" isn't much more complicated....
@@dernwine The real “fight in the shade” line has more substance and was not said to the Persians but among the Spartans by Dienekes or Leonidas. “Molon labe” was also not said on the battlefield, it was a written exchange between Xerxes and Leonidas. The movie simplified the context in which these lines occurred.
@@brianhampton923 Of course, the Spartans were always lighting it up in letters. Like how they held off Macedonian invasion by sending a letter that just said "If."
The discarding of malformed babies (and left handed children for some reason) was also true. One of the most famous story-tellers Aesop was discarded as a baby because he was deformed and was saved by a shepherd. Ephialtes is also considered part of history. Also, when the Queen told Leonidas to come with his shield or on it, is also something that was said by Spartan mothers and wives " I tan I epi tas" (loosely translated) This movie has more historical easter eggs than most people realize
Also “come back with your shield or on it” and “only spartan women give birth to real men”. The women were historically badasses too!
Gerard Butler, who plays Leonidas, recently revealed that the epic slow mo scene at 12:45 was actually him doing the action and not a stunt double. It was also done all in one shot on the first attempt!
They had planned for Gerard's stunt double to do the scene, but Gerard had been begging Zack Snyder and the crew all day to let him do it. The stunt double encouraged Gerard by practicing with him on the side of the set, which Zack saw and decided to give Gerard a shot at the scene.
Gerard said that when he finished stabbing the dude on the ground at the end of the scene, he looked up and the crew was stunned. He thought he had messed it up, until everyone started cheering and going wild.
He said its favorite moment in any film he's ever done.
Another good Lena Headey movie is Dredd. A great film that didn't get the recognition it deserved at the time.
So underrated
Agreed! Please watch Dredd (2012) 🙏
Yep, great movie!
And these two would love it!
Yes, Dredd (2012) should be the next comic book movie from this to react to.
Then The Raid: Redemption as a loose comparison and a solid martial arts movie reaction.
She's my second favorite Sarah Connor.
Miller wrote this from the perspectives of a Spartan telling a legend...so you get the heroic musculature (in the book they were naked as Spartan depictions of heroes often were), and the enemies were of course monsters. If you view this through that lens, both the book and the comic make much more sense.
100% this. The medium is very much the message here - with comic books telling modern legends.
I always imagined what we see depicted on screen is the imagination of some spartan adolescent kid who is being told the story hence the giant elephants and monsters. I would imagine their mind would exaggerate a lot of things.
@@joshuaortiz2031 The narrator from the beginning of the film is Dilios who is the only Spartan to survive because he was ordered by Leonidas to withdraw with the other Greeks before the final battle. Not only because of an eye injury but because of his story telling abilities. He is telling the story on the eve of the Battle of Plataea to rouse the Spartans to battle. All the fanciful imagery come from his story telling. A lot of the historic points are surprisingly accurate. A lot of the quotes such as "Then we will fight in the shade" an "Come and get them" are attributed to the actual events, with the second being a moto of a modern Greek special forces regiment.
@@SoupDragonish I know this. I saw the movie and I have read about the battle of Thermopylae. I am just saying these oral stories get passed down. Dilios was not the last man to tell the story. And as usual when oral traditions are passed down they are slightly altered every time to the point that it becomes almost fantasy.
the original tale is written from the story a wounded greek soldier tells after he was given aid at the persers warcamp, not sure if it was a spatan.
so miller is not far away from the original.
My very old history professor said he really liked the movie...
Not because it was historically accurate, but because it accurately depicted how the Spartans sold their victory at the time.
Yesss...
It's what I love about this movie is it feels like a fairytale. I can imagine being a small boy of the time and hearing this story and imagining at a super hero level like this
Exactly. When you consider that this is Dilios telling the story, you start to see why it is the way it is.
Well,they didn't have to do much selling. The persians kept very good records. They lost 10,000 men in 3 days at the hot gates alone.
@@promnightdumpsterbaby9553 y'all fake internet historians are the worst...
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2pm7l1/how_is_the_battle_of_thermopylae_recorded_in/
Thermopylae is heavily scrutinized due to it's use as propaganda and perhaps it happened as heroically or close to as told.... BUT.. to say the account of the 300 at the hot gates has a contemporary account outside of Greek sources is false.
Feel free to link any source to correct me if I'm in error.
Yes we learned about this battle in college. It was most influential as solidifying western cultural ideals at the Mediterranean Sea. Culture west of this battle was free to flourish and give birth to Europeans and then America. "Strange that all oppressed are fleeing west, to the dying sun to find a new day."
I saw Frank Miller in a behind the scenes video saying that he saw the 1962 movie "300 Spartans" when he was a kid, and it was eye opening for him because it was first time he had ever seen heroes who didn't win but instead sacrificed themselves for a greater good. It changed his concept of what a hero is from an embodiment of wish fulfillment to an embodiment of values/ideals.
The 1962 version is obviously dated but I really enjoy it.
“May you live forever” is an insult of the highest order, since Spartans believed that to die in battle was the greatest honor possible.
Probably my favorite Zack Snyder movie, it perfectly matches his style of filmmaking.
I always thought this line has more than one meanings.
Indeed is an insult. One and most common interpretation is that Ephialtes will never had a "glorious death", but I believe is deeper than that.
I think he also meant that his memory of him being a traitor will live forever... which is something that actually happened.
In Greece, since the ancient times, still the word for "nightmare" is Ephialtes. He was so much hated that when someone had a bad dream, said he/she saw the traitor... as I said, even today we modern Greeks are using the same word.
I think Frank Miller learn that when he visited Greece and Thermopylae (Hot Gates) before he create the 300 graphic novel, that's why he wrote that line.
It generally feels more like foreshadowing of what his name came to mean.
I always thought that the line actually held compassion. That Leonidas forgave him in that moment. I might be wrong but it doesn't feel malicious at all.
In many ways it did not feel very malicious. I still feel as if it was the writer showing off his knowledge about events that were to come making the line oddly prophetic. It's the kind of witty fourth wall break that writers enjoy utilising to try to make themselves look clever.
@@mysticsaxophone4181 Well, you're not necessarily wrong, as I said, that line is opened for interpretation.
For all we know, it could be a simple reminder that we all are going to die someday so we better die for something that is worth.
This movie was soooo much better than I expected when I saw it. “Even my gate is a little hot.” George! You’re killing me! lol
Ill allow that pun. Just this one time
I had one of those history teachers who takes his job way too seriously, and he actually played this for us one day. Ofc he had to make it known that there were some historical inaccuracies, but it was surprising and I find that it speaks for the movie.
That's actually accurate.
The Oracle Of Delphi, Pythia is thought to have been under the influences of an assortment of hallucinogenic vapors from spring waters flowing under her temple, geological gasses, and fumes of burning oleander, which might cause visions and/or epileptic episodes.
I think they're just applying the same logic to all oracles.
"Do you indulge in volcanic fumes?"
One should add that is just one theory.
Fun story: For you Canadiens, your southern neighbors here in Michigan have a university in East Lansing called Michigan State University and the mascot is a Spartan. I was a Sophomore when this movie was released and we got a early showing before theaters got it. I cannot tell you the hype this movie got and the pop culture references that still go on today. Football and Basketball games play sound bites from this movie still. The most popular is they play the clip "Spartans, what is your profession!?" And just imagine tens of thousands of people yelling AROO AROO AROOO. Gerard Butler was filming another movie at one point in Michigan and stopped by campus during a football game. At half time he went out to midfield and asked the same question that got such a crazy loud response. It was epic.
That’s really cool.
Please tell me there is a video of that!
That's a great story. Gerard Butler actually saying this to a roaring stadium sounds absolutely epic.
@@prollins6443 There's 2! Not great quality cuz it was over 10 years ago and phone quality is what it was.
czcams.com/video/8OOevMG244Y/video.html
czcams.com/video/7VxWoYVpjGk/video.html
Go GREEN!
The guy in charge of training the actors is Mark Twight. He's a record-setting alpinist and does a lot of work with US military branches. While he definitely put the actors through a tough regimen, he made sure it was all focused on a "living off the land" baseline, which is why the actors are shredded rather than bulky. Even the director took part in the training.
@@phantom8906 yeah, most obviously the narrator guy.
@@ge2719 don´t disrespect Faramir ;)
What does "living off the land" mean nutrition-wise?
@@TheNeonRabbit I'm guessing it would mean like if you were living off the grid all natural outdoors
@@TheNeonRabbit in Greece? Olives, Feta and Retsina :D
In Greece we hold one sentence so sacred, to this day although there is a modern equivalent, we still use the ancient words. When shown in Greece, the subtitles were in Modern Greek, when the sentence "Spartans, lay down your arms." followed by "Come and get them." The subtitles said "Molon, Labe!!!" Every Greek lost their minds and rightly so. That sentence is at the heart of our national pride.
Interestingly, it was also referenced in The Force Awakens when Kylo Ren says "That's my lightsaber" and Finn holds it threateningly and says "Come get it." I didn't much care for the sequel trilogy, but that was a nice historical callback.
Give us your weapons..
Followed by come and get them is a phrase as old as humanity
Nuts!
@@bryansmith1691 I mean given that Molon Labe was recorded by Herodotus, it is at least as old as recorded History....
@@bryansmith1691 Its not that simple. Cause "Come and take." is said different ways, even in ancient Greece. Molon Labe is not used as an offer. Its is said as a challenge. "COME AND TAKE!!!" It is a very challenging phrase to death. It is an invitation to fight for something if you are willing to die for it.
That's the most accurate prediction Simone has ever given for a movie. lol
"Yelling. And abs!" Yup.
*prediction
The title for this one made me snort laugh. Freaking love this movie! Had me randomly yelling “THIS IS SPARTA!!!” Sooo much in games and just whenever really.
The picture is great too
While Sparta did have abhorrent practices, they were well known for their peak physical condition, what this movie got right is that they trained from childhood for warfare and battle, the girls did too but at a later age and not as in depth (mostly hand to hand combat and wrestling). I forget who, but a historian had said Sparta had the most beautiful and conditioned people, thanks to their physical training. They had slaves do all the menial work such as farming and other necessities. It also may be true that a queen of Sparta had said the line “Only Spartan women give birth to real men” but it was in response to a foreign woman, who had asked her why Spartan women were allowed such freedom to do as they please. I forget which queen and which person had recorded it, but Sparta was well known for their “Laconicism”, quick witted short replies.
Helen of Troy was actually Helen of Sparta, which explains the hotness :)
Actually their main focus was drill not physical might. Personal physical might was seen as less important then other city states. They famously lost Olympian contests as that required personal glory which was the antithesis to their culture which promoted the whole over the self. Thebans famously defeated them in wrestling too. But yes they're known as being incredibly fit, just not amazing warriors. Sparta was a martial society, not a warrior one.
@@mormacil Well yes, they didn’t actually train as soldiers until adulthood, everything during their childhood was to make them more disciplined and compliant, but I don’t think anything I typed was contrary to anything you have said, so I’m a little confused by your comment.
@@CChissel It was more meant to emphasize they're not these amazing warriors, they were soldiers instead. One on one they were average at best.
@@mormacil Oh, well of course. You could say that about any ancient or modern warrior. They are only as good as their leaders and equipment could make them. The thing about Spartans though, like you said, is the drilling. They could execute certain tactics with perfection, usually giving them superior organization than their enemies, which is what made them so successful to an extent. But that and their martial society was also their downfall. They could not adapt very well to change on or off the battlefield.
@7:12 "Come back with your shield, or on it" is also such a powerful saying.
A spartan was expected to either come back from battle alive and carrying his shield, or dead, being carried on his shield. But coming back without your shield, claiming that you lost it, was dishonorable - a true spartan would have gotten it back, or died trying.
Loved this reaction for obvious reasons.!
“Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but heroes fight like Greeks.”
- Winston Churchill
Basically, yes, that is what the "oracles" actually were. In spring water near the temple of the Oracle of Delphi, a geology team found ethane, methane, and, ethylene gas. So, their "divine visions" were, in fact, hallucinations.
This was actually a really revolutionary film at the time. The fact that the whole movie is just a visual representation of the narrator telling the story around the fire is a great way to frame it. Also george, you kinda nailed it. Everyone always says that leonidus missed Xeres with the spear but killing him was not the goal. It goes back to when he said that everyone will know that 300 free men would stand up to tyranny and before it was done, even his own army would see that a god king could bleed. I am not a huge Zack Snyder fan but this was just an all around killer movie...
I'd say this is easily Zack Snyder's best work.
That doesn't make any sense though, because just killing him with the spear would have a much greater effect... Showing that a 'god' can be killed is better than showing he can bleed. Leonidas DEFINITELY meant to kill him. He missed.
@@fluffylittlebear Maybe, maybe not. Killing a king can cause chaos - a power vacuum - or even increase the resolve of the enemy. Strategically, it might be better to leave him in power and show he can be taken down a peg, rather than just killing him.
"We will fight in the shade", and "Go Tell the Spartans passerby that here by Spartan law we lie." are historical quotes..
This was the first time I saw Lena Headey, she was so great and memorable in this. As a fan of all things Greek I'm surprised George hadn't read the comic series source. Snyder used slow-mo to mimic the original panels, like a moving comic book, similar to Watchmen. It's a neat movie.
Lena can play the worst bone-chilling villain, and still be super awkward and shy in real life.
she's a complete 180.
19:45 but Leonidas did offer the hunchback to be part of the team, to still help with the camp and support the troops. He could have found his place with them but he wanted glory.
He also could've just let him go berserker mode once they break phalanx formation like they did throughout... it wasn't the best excuse...
@@Fordo007 Tell that to the Spartan who would have died when Ephialtes couldn't hold his shield up properly. A phalanx is dependant on proper execution, and he fell short of being able to do what was required in battle. He could still have had a place with the army, but letting him fight would have been a mistake.
Zach Synder packed incredible visuals and music, in a simple easy-to-follow storytelling format. With awesome memorable scenes that highlight the warrior way central to the Spartan way of life. As well as intimate dialogue that reveals many of the character's approaches to maneuvering the politics and conflicts in Spartan society. It's a prime example of how a relatively simple movie on its surface can tackle a lot of deep concepts through the interactions of the characters.
to be fair he had the graphic novel to go on. Many of the shots are almost direct takes on what appeared on the page. The film basically had its storyboard already written. But Snyder ran with it brilliantly.
Fun fact: Many of Leonidas's most badass lines were historically documented. When he kicks the messenger down the well, what he historically said was, "If you want earth and water, you'll find both down there."
And he also says that in the movie
@@filipemorais7509 I forgot about that. 🤣
One of my favourite movies of all time!
The whole movie is told from a odyssey/storytelling perspective by the victor. Thus the supernatural creatures and epic battles.
Just a couple years ago someone mentioned it was propaganda, basically nuanced tall-tales. Told around the fire to pump up the larger army at the end.
At first I scoffed at how over the top some of the visual elements were, like the wolf at the beginning. Then someone said something to me that made a lot of sense. You can't think of it as an accurate portrayal of the events. Rather see it as how someone back in the day sitting around a campfire listening to the narrator's story would have imagined it in their mind
There were multiple magazine and online articles on the training regime that Gerard Butler and the other actors went through to get the abs we see in this movie. I recall that a number of kettlebell exercises were involved.
"Talk about hot gates" and Simone's laugh afterwards. I almost spit water all over my monitor.
If anyone takes what they're seeing in this literally, you deserve to be disappointed. So many obvious artistic choices were taken to visualize these incredible feats, making them seem larger than what they really were.
Snyder respected the graphic novel for doing exactly that. Elevating this already incredible moment in history to mythological proportions.
And also, within the story, this entire movie is David Wenham's narration visualized for the Spartan army we see in the end. He's getting them fired up. God knows what liberties he took to big-up everything he saw; making the scary Persian elite soldiers sound actually supernatural; making all the animals sound twice as big as they actually were, etc. Making the 300's (and especially Leonida's) feats much more impressive.
Snyder is a hack director worshiped by incels.
@@jackdubz4247 Awful take from someone who's never been outside
Graphic novels and movies are both visual media. Zack Snyder understood this, and once Marvel started their own studio, understanding that is what made the MCU work so well. Unlike so many previous attempts to adapt comics, instead of making the story more "movie-like" for Hollywood standards, they started making the movie look like the original graphic story instead -- and it worked better than anyone dreamed it could.
nah, its a spartan telling this tale...historically, sparta milked these events for political capital in greece for years, embellishing the tale to ridiculous degrees.
Two lines that really happened in history:
1. “Only Spartan women give birth to men.” A woman in Athens once asked Gorgo (Leonidas’ wife) why women in Sparta are treated so much better than their Athenian counterparts. She said “in Sparta we know it is the women who give birth to the men.” Basically just saying that in Sparta, women are valued for their unique abilities.
2. “We will fight in the shade” Almost word for word correct. It was just a little longer
“Our archers’ arrows will blot out the sun.”
“Good, it is hot today. We thank you for the shade.”
To speak laconically (in badass one liners) means to speak like one of Lacon, which is an old name for Sparta.
Simone's face at 17:27 is everything 😆
I always thought Predator should have been called Testosterone: The Movie, but this movie claimed the title.😂😂😂
This is a great movie!
Testosterone: The Sequel😂
I walked out of 300 and said, "That's the most testosterone-filled movie I've ever seen." You're right -- it took the title from Predator.
The difference is that this movie doubles as a gay fantasy, as evidenced by all the "It's Raining Men" video tributes.
@@jp3813 I mean if you look at the music video of Rammstein - Mann gegen Mann (man against man) its almost the same dress code and oil usage just a bit more wrestling than sword and spear fighting xD
@Latest Obsession Accurate? From a Frank Miller comic series? Got a feeling that real Spartans still wore armor.
One additional information, when Leonidas tell to Efialtis that may live for ever , Efialtis for almost 2500 years is the equivalent for "Nightmare" in Greek Language. when someone have a bad dream says that had an Efialti . so we can call that he lived for ever bad with a very bad reputation .
One actor slightly overlooked in terms of "Oh my God! He's in this too!" Like everyone does with Michael Fassbender and David Wenham aka Faramir from LOTR is the Captain played by Vincent Regan who prior to this was the Captain along side Brad Pitt in the other Greek battle movie of the time: Troy. This movie was a whose who of fantasy action actors of the day. They they knocked it out of the park with the casting for this movie.
For other good Frank Miller adaptations, there is the animated movie(s) The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 and 2 (or you can watch the deluxe edition which is both parts back to back) which adapts his four issue mini-series of the same name.
Batman Year One was great too. I thought Sin City 2 was worth a watch, mainly the Dame to Kill For segment
Both you guys genuinely made me laugh out loud a few times here My favourite episode so far 👌
The line "Return with your shield or on it" refers to some one who panics and runs from the battlefield. Since the shield is heavy and bulky the runner usually drops it so they can run faster. Needless to say if you show up back at Sparta without your shield it will be a really, really bad day for you. The line "may you live forever" is actually an insult. As seen earlier in the movie Spartan males seek a "beautiful death" usually in battle. So living forever means you will be denied a beautiful death. As for all the torso baring muscled Spartans there was a type of body armor called a cuirass that was made from either boiled leather or bronze that was worn back then. the front of the cuirass was molded into the form of a muscled male.
The shield was large enough to protect the body. It was also large enough to be used to convey the dead and wounded from the battlefield. And as you said, it was usually the first thing discarded when someone fled.
Please watch THE NEVERENDING STORY!
I saw this movie in Seattle, a small theatre meant only for sundance and independent films opened their doors to "300". It was classy, curtains rolling and everything?!, the theatre manager came out and gave out free popcorn spoke for 5 min about himself and this theatre history... asked for donations (felt like i was in church). Then the movie played and i was floored at the end. I left w/ a 20$ donation
Frank Miller, the creator of the comic book on which this is based, has said lots of times that the thing to remember is that this is a story being told by a soldier to pump up his allies right before a war. He -- the soldier, that is -- isn't bothering with realism. I've always liked that. The fact that what we sat through was, for the most part, bullshit thought up by a story teller to get people's blood pumping.
I have watched this video SOOO many times... and yet every time I laugh so hard at Simone: "I - I - I like it. Look at - look at that. Look at ALL of that." 😂🤣 Priceless. And so very true 😇😁
I love your reaction to a real classic , 300 was one of Gerard Butlers best rolls and your thumbnails equally priceless . Fellow Canadian rocking the reaction community
For such a stylistic film that is so heavily influenced by it's comic book origins, there is a solid undercurrent of historical truth to this film.
The Spartan that said 'we shall fight in the shade' really said that.
As is the call for the persians to 'come and get them', that is also a real quote.
the Spartans really did stay until their deaths, holding a rear guard that allowed the other greeks to withdraw and fight another day.
And the spartan that lost his eye really did get sent back to 'tell sparta of our victory' when Leonidas new they would be making their last stand.
Interestingly, him returning instead of dying in the battle, even though he had been ordered to leave, meant he was held in great shame by the rest of Sparta.
He is said to have redeemed his honour in the battle of pletea, a year later, when we see him lead the charge against the Persian army, by fighting like a true spartan, killing many persians, and dying with honour on the battlefield.
In my opinion the true story of the last stand of the spartan 300 is even more incredible than this stylized version, but as a story told by an 'unreliable narrator' that is trying to build confidence in his own forces to fight an army that outnumbers their own, I like the liberties he took with the truth to make the persians out yo be monsters.
Loved her description of the movie in the beginning 🤣
The complete sentence at 24:24 ("Remember, etc".) is written near Leonidas' monument at Termopili, where the battle happened.
"Even my gates are a little hot"
10/10 content George. That was a smooth ass joke.
Also I think Leonidas missed on purpose. If he just impaled his head with the spear, Xerxes wouldn't be alive to realize even Gods can bleed.
Simone is going to like this one. Haha
While heavily fictionalized, the Battle of Thermopylae is a textbook example of using terrain as a force multiplier.
Whoever is doing your thumbnails, I keep jumping into your binges, not just b/c I love your reactions, but those Thumbnails are certified Gold!
LoL
i believe George makes them all.
The movie was largely shot in Montreal. A friend's daughter - being a competitive synchronized swimmer at the time - was being recruited to be in the movie as the Oracle (the part at 4:56 - because yes, it's shot under water). But she was 17 and her parents said "hell no" when they found out the scene would be partly nude, so they cast someone else.
Yep. It was shot on the soundstages of Mel's cite de cinema in Montreal right off the Bonaventure expressway. They also shot x men movies there. I saw the town Pheonix destroyed every day on my daily commute. My co-worker was an extra in the Sparta scenes. 800cdn to walk around in a toga
The one liners are actually somewhat historically accurate, Spartans had a very good philosophical and social education as well as a military one and were stated to be very witty. A good example is during a war between Athens and Sparta the Athenians sent an envoy saying something along the lines of: "If we defeat you there will be no mercy. We will burn your lands, slaughter your men and make slaves of your women and children." The Spartans response was one word.... "IF!"
Pretty sure the message was to Philip of Macedonia, Alexander the Great's father.
@@FranciscoMartinez-369 Just double checked and yes your are correct sir ^_^
whenever you see stickers or signs saying "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ", this is what there are referring to. when the greeks are told to lay down their weapons and the response of come and take them.
The Spirit. Directed by Frank Miller based on his run on the comics.
It's amazing how much of the campy dialog for this is straight out of Herodotus.
After I saw the movie the first time, I looked up the Battle of Thermopylae on Wikipedia, and was absolutely delighted to learn that "Come and get them" as a response to "Surrender your arms" was an actual historical quote.
One of the greatest responses of all time.
@@kevinlaw6185 μολὼν λαβέ, indeed.
Every time I watch this I can't help but think "This Leni Riefenstahl movie is kinda odd"... but then again, it fits the subject matter and narrative style pretty well.
It's a triumph of the something.
The thumbnail for this is the best thing I've seen for a long while.
Interesting fact this story was the source of inspiration for the Irish rebellion against the British in 1916 ( the easter rising) which lead to a war of independence. The leader of the rebellion was a school teacher and thought history. There is even an old Irish song which mentions it ( a nation once again ) its in the first lines of the lyrics. A hopeless military engagement that will end in failure but that will inspire everyone else to fight.
I appreciate georges enjoyment of ancient greek stuff! its such a fun time to learn about
Not frank miller films but if you want some more fun comic book/graphic novel based movies then I'd definitely recommend Watchmen and V for Vendetta if you've not seen them, both some of my all time favourite movies and if you want a bit more of a cult classic Tank Girl is just good fun
Ah yes.. Zak Snyder, right.. all the cinematic close up and scenes, every shot like an epic painting... Wonderful. Didn't think about him as being watched by you as it is a relatively new movie and director. You should watch the sequel, ideally in 3D and my personal favourite Sucker Punch. He makes awesome movies. While writing, I wonder if he is a younger reincarnation of Paul Verhoeven.
Sucker Punch is the first thing I thought of when they asked what to watch next. It's one of my favorite movies and I love the various layers of reality that Zach Snyder used to tell the story.
LOL. George was all, "Sweet cinematography." Simone was just, "Abs, Abs, Abs!"
I was waiting so long for Simone to say "I'll be in my bunk".
Please watch the STAR TREK movies! 🖖
I saw some people on Twitter accusing Zack Snyder of misogyny because in his version of Justice League the Amazons were wearing revealing outfits with bare midriffs. I was like, Bruh, have you seen 300? I'm pretty sure there's an aesthetic happening here that has nothing to do with gender.
This movie was presented in the theatre with a 3D option. THAT was an experience!
Whoever does the editing - chef's kiss for the Kassandra insert. That really made me laugh.
Hilarious reaction watching Simone stutter over abs and testosterone in this film! 😍
George has mentioned how a lot of the scenes seemed like they were lensed to be great poses. Those scenes are literally from the artwork panels from the graphic novel the film is based on. If you look up scene comparisons of graphic novel to film they look so very similar: czcams.com/video/dyxqkqvnkKE/video.html
The graphic novel is cool but this movie is pure junk food
- I believe the actor who played Xerxes(?) also played the office love interest to Laura Linney's character in LOVE ACTUALLY. Looks COMPLETELY different here.
- 23:53 - "It's an honor, to die, at your side." // "It's an honor, to have'lived, at yours." ... DAMNIT, what a nice response. Is "300" about to make me cry a little?! 😢
- 25:32 - "The brave 300 did all of those exercises so we don't have to." ... THAT's your takeaway?!?! 🤣
I love the historical detail that the sky is sepia or orange-hued in this movie. In the language this tale was written in, there wasn't a word for blue when describing the sky. The word the story used is bronze, because it was as bright as polished bronze gleaming in the sun. It's a weird, tiny story-accurate addition that works really well with the style.
Fun movie, and from what I remember there were articles after this movie with Gerard Butler where he explained that the regiment he had to undergo to get in this shape really messed up his health for a long time afterword; he looked amazing though. Only criticism I have of this film is sort of... I dunno, I could see people getting annoyed with me, I don't like the way the Spartan's are lionized in this movie and the Greek allies role is minimized - a little bit of historical information on spartan society and I found them to be repulsive, their entire society was based on slavery and the reason their main army rarely left their homeland wasn't about prophecy but out of concern of slave revolts. How was it so many Spartan men were professional soldiers, who does the agriculture, who does the countless jobs a society requires to function? The spartan solution, just have the helot slaves do it; their society was brutal and ultimately became a cultural backwater with relative to its other Greek neighbors in the ancient world. To be clear, I'm not an expert and this movie is fun; I can divorce the Spartans in this movie from the actual historical ones, but just wanted to be "that guy" for once lol. All that said, they did have some progressive views on inheritance laws and property right with respect to women - at one point in their history, the wealthiest members of their society were women. Anyway, I saw this movie when it came out and loved it lol.
Yes the Spartans were pretty much the hitler ideal
Just like Brad Pitt with Fight Club , is just unnatural to look like that ... even Zac Efron has admitted it.
Honestly, even for their historical neighbors Spartans were brutal. However frank Miller is kinda sympathetic to fascist ideals (if you read his work, he very often has this uebermenschen-trope going on, also in his early work [and how he writes women is another thing]), so it is kinda fitting he likes the ancient Spartans xD
The grossest part about this retelling is of course that Sparta was one of the least free societies at it's time. While Spartan women had more rights then say Athenian women that only extended to the Spartan elite. They ruled over vast groups of slaves and treated them worse then Athens. Persia is depicted as this great villain but they tended to have a harsher opinion of slavery then the Greeks who practiced it whenever they could. But that of course doesn't resonate with the contemporary audience of the original comic. Visually a stunning movie of course, just it's dialogue rings hallow.
It's a warrior culture, you buy in to their perspective for the length of the movie, or you don't.
@@ideologybot4592 It's a martial culture, warrior cultures value personal valor. Think Celts where the power of a chieftain relied on their personal valor and accomplishments in battle. Sparta was a martial culture, pointing to your own accomplishments was seen as boasting, downright sinful. A true man was judged along his brothers.
Other Frank Miller stuff: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2013) is an animated adaptation of one of Frank Miller's most famous works, stars Peter Weller (Robocop) as the voice of an older, retired Bruce Wayne. Obviously he un-retires, hence the name. It's a two-part animated series, but each part runs about an hour and fifteen minutes, so it's basically a movie.
5:49 "i love it when a director goes out of their way to make a cool shot" you mean every Zack Snyder film ever? that man is a visual gold mine.
What I love so much about this movie is that the absurdities make sense because this entire film, and the graphic novel its based on, is being told as a inspire-the-soldiers speech prior to a massive battle. Naturally the story teller is going to exaggerate everything to ridiculous degrees in order to inspire a sense of patriotic pride and righteous, vengeful blood-lust within his audience.
So it totally makes sense for the elephants to be the size of sky scrapers - we won't go into why they're that big in that Guy Ritchie King Arthur movie - and Xerxes to be a 7-foot-tall God-like man.
This entire movie is nothing more than a Spartan hyping up his fellow soldiers by reminding them all of just how awesome Sparta and everything associated with it is. It's basically the equivalent of Gibson's "They'll never take our FREEDOM" speech in Braveheart; presented as a tribute to their fallen king.
The four hour long justice league snider cut is pretty good. Basically this movie but with super hero’s
@ 14:25, this is what ancient wisdom defines as selflessness and part of the path toward enlightenment/inner peace; the rest of the virtues being humility, gratitude, delayed gratification and not comparing yourself to others. The Buddha understood the love of self as the source of all suffering because it leads to an overgrown ego (that demands self-serving "fairness" and a life free of all suffering that it can never have) and addiction to mind-numbing first world temporary pleasure- which lead to the corruption of Ephialtes later on in the film.
I love the Malaka cutscene in the middle
Hope you do the sequel. In my opinion equally as cool. Especially because of Eva Green.
I think it's funny that Leonidas talks so much about fighting as a single unit, but then it shows the Spartans fighting one by one throughout the movie.
Yeah...the little gollum had a thrust that looked like it could knock a horse off it's feet. He could have been the guardian of the pass at least.
yeah, well.. not much you can do when the enemy is already disorganized
what do you do? chase them all out 300 to 1, one by one?
They showed them fighting as wall also though. It just meant he had to be able to do it all and he couldn’t.
I always like that the guy who betrayed them to the Persians his name from that day on even today means Nightmare in Greek Just love how the say in the movie they will never be forgotten
Interesting. In the U.S., the name "Benedict Arnold" became synonymous with "traitor," or "betrayer" after our Revolutionary War -- although the term isn't used as commonly as it once was.
17:22 George's look to camera is perfect.
Also the Spartan way of life was incredibly untenable. Only those born in the 5 villages that made up Sparta could be considered citizens, everyone else were basically slaves. They also were notoriously bisexual (as were most Greeks) so the modern concept of them looking down on Athenians for *that* is hilariously wrong. And after the Peloponnesian War they held some hegemony over Greece but that was short lived when their army was destroyed by Thebes. Who then got conquered by the Macedonians and Alexander.
Frank Millers movie adaptations:
- Elektra
- Daredevil
- 300
- 300 Rise of an Empire
- Sin City
- Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
- The Wolverine
- Batman Year One
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
The two last ones are animations
A few years back, maybe 15 or so. I had a Nephew (6'4" and 270lbs.) , that had a helmet much like they wore in this as a Spartan. In a very crowded multi building single story shopping center, at night, wearing nothing but that helmet and carrying a shield and sword , totally naked, streaked from one end of the shopping center to the other ( 250-300 yards) shouting...."This is Sparta ! !". I have to admit he had way more courage than I. I'm not sure I could have done it fully clothed. He left in a car waiting for him.
the visuals... the way they replicated the comic was amazing. in some cases, shot for shot.
Simone's initial impression of the movie from the poster is quite accurate lol. When I rewatched the film years ago, I laconically described it as "two glorious hours of Gerard Butler screaming".
Frank Millar was a writer for Robocop 2 and even has a cameo in the film, they brought him on because of his robocop comic run he was working on at the time. Also I think "The Spirit?" Which is not his creation but was made in the style of Sin City and he wrote for that movie as well.
The dude who plays Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) was also in Love Actually, playing the guy that flirts and goes on a date with Laura Linney's character.
Order vs Chaos. Stoicism vs Hedonism. Liberty vs Servitude. West vs East. So many big themes in a slick as hell package. Props to Frank Miller for recognizing the storytelling potential of the Battle of Thermopolaye.
I believe it is more accurate to say that this was based of the comic rather than the historical event itself.
Every frame of this movie is like a Renaissance painting.
I remember seeing this in cinema in greece everyone was super hyped!
Talking about the hot gates. That was a gold one I haven't heard yet.
Historical accuracy (or lack of it...):
*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 shield. 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 appropriate. 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 like 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.
Great synopsis of the battle!
The Wolverine is based on a Frank Miller story. From the Netflix Daredevil series, Murdock's early costume, Elektra, and Stick were created by Frank Miller.
This movie is from the perspective of a spartan story teller. Which is why
xerses appears so huge, he a giant formidable opponent. Also why so many of the enemies appear as deformed monsters. That's how they are viewed by the spartans
I always think of the this is sparta dubsteb remix, an icon of early youtube meme culture