EB poll of '300'

Whether or not it does a disservice to the history of this period is uncontroversial. It does a great disservice precisely because of the reasons submitted by Xtiaan72, but as Kartlos stated, it's based on a comic book by Frank Miller. Whether it's canonical to this comic book or not, I have no idea, since I haven't read it. I think the real story is far more dramatic.

If we just look away from the fantasy elements, it still portrayed the Spartan people incorrectly. Their behavior was not "Laconic" so to speak, except for their laconic derision, which was a direct quote taken from Herodotos where "Dienekes" says "we will fight in the shade". The overall Spartan experience was only shown in terms of the Agoge (child military school) and these extreme parts of their life. Yet, it did not see fit to exhibit any of their constant abuse, oppression and political malice on the Helotes. "Free Greeks" standing against an army of slaves is a bit of a propaganda/hypocritical comment, considering the nature of the Spartan state. The movie was a droll action fest which made me yawn. Much like The Fast & The Furious made me yawn and actually go to sleep for 30 min, despite being an action movie. When Leonidas yelled "This is Sparta!" and kicked the emisarry into the pit, it really made me cringe.. because Spartans were known to be low-key, yet intimidating in their own way. The way they fought in combat was totally inconsistent with what they were talking about in the very same movie. It might have gone down my memory-hole for not being historic, but when it's not even canonical to the movie itself, then it's critique-worthy. They state in the movie that the Spartan phalanx is strong when it's close together, as soon as there's a single hole in this phalanx, the whole phalanx breaks. Leonidas said this to Ephialtes. But then, when they fight, what do they do - collectively? They all break rank and commence individual single combat. :no:

Weak internal consistency. Extremely cheezy. I might as well have been watching some B-movie. Sure, it had great effects, great cinematography. The colors were true to the comic book (from what little I've seen of the comic).
Certainly not a director or movie worthy of defecating on such a grand tale. I now hear they are thinking of making a sequel. Plataia or something?
Throw the stone!:beam: