300

[Sufficient]

Read the comic, it's damn good. I doubt the movie will be worth the tix price.

[Send]

it's ironic that we currently are learning about athens and sparta and the persians in my AP World History class

Why'd you feel the need to say that you're in an AP class?

[Mantra-Slider]

I take it that AP is short for something special and advanced but it sounds really retarded to me and its much more fun thinking necro is retarded

so

necro is a retard!

[Dameon Angell]

This is one of those action/war movies that requires you to remove the stick out of your ass before watching. Just an FYI for some of you here.

[Necromotic]

agreed mantra

[PUNK rock]

They bottleneck'd the Persians. That's how they beat them.

Actually all the Spartans died and the Greeks didn't win the war till later. Scurvy had it the closest. The Spartans did have other allies at the battle, but they either died or fled, leaving the 300 Spartans on their own. Being the warriors they were, the Spartans obeyed their king and held their ground. Supposidly a local Greek showed the Persians a path which they used to flank the Spartans and defeat them. The Greeks didn't defeat the Persians on land till later, after the sea battle of Salamis. The Persian king retreated to Asia minor and the Greeks mopped up the rest of the Persians.

[Centurion]

Man, the Spartans were kickass.

Was there not an old saying of Spartan mothers...
Something along the lines of "Come back with your shield, or on it."?

As for the movie, I'm with Epi on this one.
I fear it will be far too 'Hollywood'

Much like 'Hero' was, in my opinion.

I WILL however say that the Trailer was insanely badass.

[Send]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephialtes_of_Trachis

Faggot.

[Sufficient]

Man, the Spartans were kickass.

Was there not an old saying of Spartan mothers...
Something along the lines of "Come back with your shield, or on it."?

As for the movie, I'm with Epi on this one.
I fear it will be far too 'Hollywood'

Much like 'Hero' was, in my opinion.

I WILL however say that the Trailer was insanely badass.

Hero was too deep ... my dad watched it and said that you really need to know Chinese history to get why it ended like that. Otherwise the ending is kinda weird and seems pointless. Whoever directed/wrote it didn't do a good job conveying the idea of why the guy had to die to the audience.

[Epinephrine]

Hero was too deep ... my dad watched it and said that you really need to know Chinese history to get why it ended like that. Otherwise the ending is kinda weird and seems pointless. Whoever directed/wrote it didn't do a good job conveying the idea of why the guy had to die to the audience.

The movie was made by a Chinese director, in China, for a Chinese audience. There was no need to explain. Everyone in China knows this history, it is extremely basic. As for why the guy had to die, it makes sense in the context of the history and the movie.

[Sufficient]

The movie was made by a Chinese director, in China, for a Chinese audience. There was no need to explain. Everyone in China knows this history, it is extremely basic. As for why the guy had to die, it makes sense in the context of the history and the movie.

Obviously Americans won't know Chinese history. So yes, I think I would have liked a better explaination of why the Emperor guy decided to kill the Nameless One even though they had an understanding with each other. And Quentin T. was involved for the American distribution I believe.

[Bilbo]

Because chinese stories don't have happy endings.

[Liquid Blue]

http://www.kungfucinema.com/articles/2004-08-15-01.htm

In addition to the weapons, Nameless also presents the King a scroll with the word "sword" written. In his original version of events, Nameless requested that Broken Sword write this specifically with different brush strokes as it was known that the assassin's sword skill was tied to his calligraphy skill. Nameless intended to study this character in order to find Broken Sword's weakness before engaging him. (Traditional Chinese characters and calligraphy can bear more than one meaning and at this period in history there was often more than one way to "write" a word.) Ultimately, it's the King who deciphers the character as a three-step guide for mastering martial arts. The first step is "unity of man and sword" where anything including a leaf can become a weapon. The second is where the "sword exists in one's heart." Li describes this as stopping a fight before it begins. The last step is "absence of sword in heart and hand." In essence, the warrior is at peace with the world and his enemies, and their is no need to fight. Li's character goes through all three of these steps, which also have great meaning for him in real life.

Li states, "Whenever I work in the United States, the young people say, 'Yeah, Jet Li! You kick ass,' because I've only shown them that martial arts hurt people. I haven't had the opportunity to show them that the important thing is not kicking people's asses. If you understand the yin and yang balance maybe you will grow up."

In Hero, Li clearly saw an opportunity. "When I read the script, I cried twice. In my twenty-two year career of making movies, this is the first script that made me weep. It is an incredible story, and an important question about what kind of person we can call a hero."

It is the image of Jet Li as a nameless warrior standing before a massed army awaiting his fate with quiet resolve that drives the message home. Unlike martial arts films of the past, there is no revenge here, no hatred and no will. The warrior has become one with his sword, carried it in his heart and finally discards it. It's a powerful message within a powerful film that remains engaging on multiple levels.

[Epinephrine]

Obviously Americans won't know Chinese history. So yes, I think I would have liked a better explaination of why the Emperor guy decided to kill the Nameless One even though they had an understanding with each other. And Quentin T. was involved for the American distribution I believe.

Good point. Like I remember when I was watching the Patriot... Why didn't the British win at the end? Was Mel Gibson really that good? What war was this anyway, I never heard of it before.

[Vykromond]

Unfortunately this movie is based on a comic book... it's going to be all weird and stuff I can just feel it. It won't have any of the 'historicalness' of even Gladiator (which was 'fake-historical' at best) to lift it up. I can imagine seeing those Spartans in the movie doing Matrix-like kung-fu moves or something too...

This is too bad, because the battle of Thermopyle was one of the most important battles in the history of the Western world and as a movie it could be so much more.

You're incorrigible. The movie hasn't even come out yet but already you're declaring that it "could have been so much more." Just wow.