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This guy took the words out of my mouth.

http://grumpygamer.com/9361493

And for those that do not know Ron Gilbert aka "Grumpy Gamer" is actually the guy behind the Monkey Island games. (the first two at least), back when Lucasarts was truly amazing.
He truly is Mr. Monkey Island.

Going to see it in iMax sunday I will tell you how great it was

The Visuals are nothing more than technical masturbation.

*giggles*

My fiance went to see it opening night... I hate going to movies opening night.. too many people! they are loud, disruptive and steal all the good seats from me! I like middle of the week, middle of the day movies much better!

Needless to say I have not seen it yet, but I want to because of the quote above, and I knew that before I read that quote

Very historically inaccurate but so macabre that you cannot miss it. Luckily I had a historically knowledgeabletudenessguy that could set some of the items straight, or gay as it were since Spartans considered beards to be homosexual in nature.

300 was really good though...

Laughable. But at least he makes the correct point in the end.

300 is a vacuous film filled with bad dialog, stiff acting, a pointless one-dimensional plot and interchangeable characters that hardly deserve to be named in the script. The film barely has a first act and does nothing but drive to a preposterous conclusion led along by a sequence of ridiculous events. The Visuals are nothing more than technical masturbation.

So what's your point, Beavis? We're not going to watch it for the dialogue, acting, OR plot. We're going to watch the visual technical masturbation!

Simply put, 300 is the best damn film I've seen all year. I haven't had this much fun watching a movie in a long time.

Exactly.

The movie is just that a Movie. But it's a Movie based on real life events that are fairly epic in the telling as it is. That they threw historical accuracy out the window is expected really. It's not the small details that matter. Who cares if the Spartans have beards when they should be clean shaved. The story of the battle of Thermopoli is about alot more than just the Spartans. Up until the last day of the fight there were allies from every city state in the pass. They withdrew when it became obvious they were about to be flanked. The Spartans stayed. You can't deny the bravery and commitment of any of the Greek city states men who fought there. Making a strategically sound retreat and preserving your forces for future battles isn't cowardice.

A later example of Greek bravery illustrates this.

The march of the 1000.
Cyrus the Pretender had a vision of what the Persan Empire could be. It was a bold new vision but there was one thing standing in his way. His brother who had rightfully and legitimately ascended to the throne.

Cyrus determined that to enact his vision he must depose his brother. He found many willing allies as the Persan Empire was a fractious Empire. But Cyrus knew the weaknesses of Persian troops. He determined that the answer was a formation of Greek Hopilites with pikes. He hired 1000 of them. He also hired Thracian slingers.Then he marched on the Persian Empire, Many battles were fought and soon Cyri\us army was deep in Persia. Cyrus felt himself a hero and refused to wear a helmet in battle. As can be expected someone took his head clean off his shoulders. With the death of Cyrus his loyal Persian troops quickly came to agreements with the Persian Emperor. The Greeks were offered no such deals. They were told to surrender and would become slaves. The 1000 and the slingers refused. They were in deepest Persia and cut off from the sea. Their former allies now blocked them from retreat. So they marched North rather than west through some of the worst terrain know to man to the black sea where there were greek colonies and they could take ship home. The marche the entire distance in a hollow square with their baggage, women and children in the center. The Slingers acted as screening forces. They never took a step without fighting for it. It is the longest and most heroic military retreat in history. They made it and stayed free, Were they led by a Spartan? No! They were led by an Athenian. In fact there were very few Spartans in the 1000. Sparta required it's men served the state. They weren't free to become mercenaries.

Which is something that film makers would do good to remember. Sparta was a dictatorship that exposed infants they deemed sickly or deformed. Putting Sparta forward as an example to follow isn't much different from promoting Nazi Germanys ideals.

But it's a Movie based on real life events that are fairly epic in the telling as it is.

I don't mean to nitpick, but technically this movie is based off a myth, not real life events. EDIT: I jumped the gun, it's actually based off a specific battle, but it's the "300 vs a bajillion" that's way off. There was a battle wherein the greeks were way outnumbered, but the tale was "spun up" a bit.

The Persians during the real campaign that this particular battle was part of are esyimated at having anywhere from 40.000 to 50.000 troops by conservative estimates. Less conservative estimates put it over 100.000 to 200.000. The Persian Empire was vast and could field huge armies if it had to. The Emperor was personally marching as the commander of this Invasion so it's likely he was bringing every man who could be spared. Yje infamous Immortals were his personal bodyguard the best hand pick troops he had. They were Immortals because if a man fell in battle he was replaced immediately so That the unit was always 1000 strong. The frontage of the pass was very narrow. Cliff on one side and rapids on the other. Men in heavy armor who fell in the water sank like rocks. As most city states in Greece could field 2000 or so men even a 50,000 man army would of been scary juju is my point.

The Pass today is alot wider than it was historically Theres a highway that runs through it and the rivers a good football field from the highway.