300 Spartans New Version--opinions?
I just finished seeing this film. The original version is much better. Why, because it's more accurate historically, and believe it or not, despite all the present technological advantages enjoyed by movie makers today, it is also far more realistic. Part of the problem perhaps is the temptation to use all means at their disposal to enlarge things beyond believability. The recent King Kong film went in that direction but in comparison is tame. In three
Hundred Spartans what we have is unrestricted special effects debauchery which instead of enhancing only serves to distract due to its unhistorical nature and even more--by its impossibly nature.
In short, what you are going to see in Three Hundred Spartans the newest version, is far more akin to fantasy than history. Something like Lord of Rings but done with far less taste, disregard for a strong plot and character development in favor of the shock value via the continuous presentation of the deformed, grotesque, "people" who look more like monsters from another planet, and the incessant display of violence slowed down so that every minute detail of dismembered limbs can be appreciated by the supposedly enthralled audience.
Another unnecessary which is ever-present in the film is the narrator voice which explains the obvious via admiring platitudes in an effort to have us dull witted historical ignorants understand-that the Spartans were excellent warriors. On he drones through the whole film until one wishes Leonidas would stuff a pomegranate in his mouth.
Then there is the innacurate portrayal Spartan method of fighting itself. The original film made an effort at portraying a phalanx. After all, it is the key to holding the pass and compensating for being outnumbered. Not in this film brothers. This film has the Spartans break formation and charge into the enemy each man using a sword instead of the long spear. In short, since the phalanx formation wouldn't lend itself to the close-up man to man fighting which would supposedly awe us they flippantly discarded it. This despite the fact that the triple hunchback begs to participate in the battle but is denied participation precisely because he would be unable to fight in the phalanx formation due to his deformities. So much for logic and audience ability to notice the obvious contradiction.
There are many more annoying things in this movie, such as having an elephant sized rhino, and imperial mastodon sized elephants appear briefl and be dispatched with ridiculous ease. The uglier and bigger the better was the modus operandi and historical accuracy be damned. Darius himself, for example is a bald nine-foot-tall semi effeminate giant with about twenty gold rings attached to his face. The Greek traitor who revealed the pass to the Persians so they could outflank the Spartans looks more like a deformed gnome. Huge triple hunches on his unatomically incorrect back, gnarrled deformed limbs, a plethora of rotting black and yellowed teeth, bulging bloodshot eyes all seem to say somtheing which I am still trying to figure out.
Want a good 300 Spartan film. See the original. In my opinion
