# 300: So FRIGGIN COOL! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 4, 2007, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513 "2007-03-04T05:04:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/21 "2007-03-04T22:32:23Z")
Wow. That’s ahistorical. The Spartans (and their Thespian reserve, which was about 700 men) were wiped out to the last man. Their sacrifice gave Athens time to deploy their navy, which subsequently destroyed the Persian navy at the battle of Salamis. Also the “We will fight in the shade” is an actual historical quote (as I see **Alessan** has pointed out. Fantastic real-life one-liner. Also of note is Leonidas’s famous one-liner. When instructed by Xerxes that the Spartans should lay down their arms, Leonidas famously replied, “Come take them,” a line that has been used to greater or lesser effect in action movies since the beginning of the genre (most recently and badly, of course, in _The Fellowship of the Ring_. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/22 "2007-03-04T22:44:10Z")
[QUOTE=Ogre] Wow. That’s ahistorical. The Spartans (and their Thespian reserve, which was about 700 men) were wiped out to the last man. Their sacrifice gave Athens time to deploy their navy, which subsequently destroyed the Persian navy at the battle of Salamis. [/QUOTE] I think you were whooshed. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/23 "2007-03-04T22:52:02Z")
Apparently so. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/24 "2007-03-04T23:09:23Z")
[QUOTE=Ogre] Wow. That’s ahistorical. The Spartans (and their Thespian reserve, which was about 700 men) were wiped out to the last man. Their sacrifice gave Athens time to deploy their navy, which subsequently destroyed the Persian navy at the battle of Salamis. Also the “We will fight in the shade” is an actual historical quote (as I see **Alessan** has pointed out. Fantastic real-life one-liner. Also of note is Leonidas’s famous one-liner. When instructed by Xerxes that the Spartans should lay down their arms, Leonidas famously replied, “Come take them,” a line that has been used to greater or lesser effect in action movies since the beginning of the genre (most recently and badly, of course, in _The Fellowship of the Ring_. [/QUOTE] Thats not very happy. Why would they make a movie about that? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/25 "2007-03-04T23:12:00Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Thats not very happy. Why would they make a movie about that? [/QUOTE] It’s OK. They break out into a cheerful musical number after they rain arrows onto the battlefield until nothing moves. Oh, and then Mike Brady comes out and gives everyone an Uplifting Moral Lesson. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/26 "2007-03-04T23:23:49Z")
[QUOTE=Ogre] It’s OK. They break out into a cheerful musical number after they rain arrows onto the battlefield until nothing moves. Oh, and then Mike Brady comes out and gives everyone an Uplifting Moral Lesson. [/QUOTE] Thank God. Maybe I’ll go see it after all. Ok I’ll stop. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/27 "2007-03-05T00:16:35Z")
From what I’ve seen in Trailers, there’s a lot of slo-mo in the movie… Not just battle slo-mo, but walking from a to b slo-mo. Does it get grating, or repetitive? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/28 "2007-03-05T02:04:14Z")
[QUOTE=bubastis] From what I’ve seen in Trailers, there’s a lot of slo-mo in the movie… Not just battle slo-mo, but walking from a to b slo-mo. Does it get grating, or repetitive? [/QUOTE] There were a lot of slo-mo, enough for me to mentally comment on it. There were times when you just want them to get on with it. It’s not that the slo-mo scenes are very long, it’s that they happen fairly often. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/29 "2007-03-05T02:12:25Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Thats not very happy. Why would they make a movie about that? [/QUOTE] Because it’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/30 "2007-03-05T03:53:18Z")
“I liked _Titanic_ , but why’d they have to make it so _sad_?” I am super excited to see this movie, but very disappointed that none of the IMAX theaters in Iowa are getting it. _Happy Feet: the IMAX experience_ can kiss my ass. ---
**Author:** ![aclubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@aclubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aclubs)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/31 "2007-03-05T04:35:02Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Because it’s awesome. I suppose there’s no arguing with that. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/32 "2007-03-05T04:40:16Z")
Is there anything besides fighting and chest-beating to this movie? Is there any backstory so we can give a flip about who gets killed? It LOOKS fantastic, but if it’s just CGI-enhanced equivalent of a wrasslin’ match, I think I’ll pass. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/33 "2007-03-05T04:52:39Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] Is there anything besides fighting and chest-beating to this movie? Is there any backstory so we can give a flip about who gets killed? It LOOKS fantastic, but if it’s just CGI-enhanced equivalent of a wrasslin’ match, I think I’ll pass. [/QUOTE] Don’t look at it that way. Look at it as if it were a comic book come to life…which is exactly what it is. Aside from the fantasy elements, I understand that Miller’s version of Thermopylae is quite accurate. The actual, real-life event was so extreme that what actually happened would strongly resemble a blown-out-of-proportion Hollywood movie. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/34 "2007-03-05T05:14:48Z")
I’ve been excited about this for a while. It opens in Chicago on Friday but River East 21 is having a midnight showing Thursday night/Friday morning. We’ll be there. ---
**Author:** ![Grossbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba8739/32.png) [@Grossbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grossbottom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/35 "2007-03-05T13:54:49Z")
I’d love to see this green screen thing used to do a trilogy of the Punic Wars. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/36 "2007-03-05T15:52:27Z")
[The full story of Thermopylae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae#Epitaph_of_Simonides). Since it happened 2500 years ago, does it really need to be spoilered? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/37 "2007-03-05T16:29:17Z")
In the movie, the Thespians are there, but they retreat on the final day. According to the Wikipedia site, 700 Thespians stayed behind. So there’s some artistic license taken. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/38 "2007-03-05T17:05:42Z")
[QUOTE=Ogre] Also of note is Leonidas’s famous one-liner. When instructed by Xerxes that the Spartans should lay down their arms, Leonidas famously replied, “Come take them,” a line that has been used to greater or lesser effect in action movies since the beginning of the genre (most recently and badly, of course, in _The Fellowship of the Ring_. [/QUOTE] I noticed in a trailer another line that I’d heard previously in a movie: Leonidas says something like, “Before this battle is over, the world will know that few stood against many.” Conan said something similar in his prayer to Crom in **Conan the Barbarian**. “All that matters is that two stood against many.” Great lines echo on through history, I reckon. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/39 "2007-03-08T16:42:15Z")
I’m bumping this thread to note that the review for this film, The 300, which appeared in the Village Voice is so hilarious I did not want anyone to miss it: [http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0710,lee,75993,20.html](http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0710,lee,75993,20.html) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513/40 "2007-03-08T16:59:41Z")
It finally opened today in Bangkok, but only one or two shows late at night. That’s the way it often is at first, then after a week or two, it will be shown during regular times. They did that with “The Queen,” which just got bumped up into the regular times. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-so-friggin-cool/394513.md?page=3)