Comments on: Awesome Movie Review: 300

By: huitzilihuitl

huitzilihuitl — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I heard Bindi is bringing her dad back from the dead! I knew she was evil the moment I saw the happiness with which she greeted the death of her dad, but using Voodoo to bring his impaled carcass to walk amongst us is a new low.

Xerxes was no Cyrus the Great, not even a Darius the Great.

By: shawn

shawn — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It took me a while to catch the Bindi reference. Us Yanks don’t really know much about the Irwin family. Anyway, a zombie Steve Irwin would be a breath of fresh air in the Voodoo zombie comedy genre. I think all of us were a tad disappointed with Weekend at Bernie’s 2–it was good, but it could have been much better. A reanimated, and presumably dancing, Steve Irwin to bring much-needed charisma to the role of dancing Voodoo zombie.

As for Xerxes, I think you have to feel bad for the guy. After all, he came after Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, so even though he’s Xerxes the Great, that’s not really saying much. When you come from a family of the Greats, being a Xerxes the Great is more like being a Xerxes the Bare Minimum.

By: John

John — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Spears are pretty cheap weapons. I mean, how hard is it to sharpen a stick? If spears were the tops in melee technology, no one would ever bother with swords, halberds, maces, or anything else like that.

By: shawn

shawn — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Don’t knock the spear because it’s cheap and efficient. It might not be the perfect weapon, as it is not so useful in fighting in close quarters, but it certainly hasn’t been giving a fair shake in the RPG world. And remember, even though the spear might seem simple, it’s the weapon upon which all of civilisation was founded. We’d still be rooting around for roots and berries if it weren’t for the spear. It’s no wonder that the sinister monkeys have already begun their spear training. They wish to bring about the downfall of man using the very weapon that allowed us to rise above the animals.

By: John

John — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The spear is perfectly fine for a first technology, as it is both ranged, melee and eventually anti-cavalry. When you get down to it, though, it just lacks the distance effectiveness of a long bow, the armor-crushing ability of a mace, and the all-around deadliness of a sword in the hands of a skilled wielder. It’s basically the second-best option for any task you want to accomplish.

By: Hiddly Diddly

Hiddly Diddly — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Spears used in a Phalanx > a mace.

The spears in 300 were a little short, so let me use this example.

In the time of Alexander the great, phalanx spears were around 4 metres long, and going against them was like running at a wall of spears. Seriously, kind of daunting.

By: shawn

shawn — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Maces are for clerics and clerics are, by definition, pussies. Unless, of course, the cleric is a dwarf fighter/cleric, in which case he’s alright by me.

As for the phalanx of spears, honestly, if I saw just one dude holding a four meter long spear, I’d be pretty damn daunted. In fact, I’d most likely turn and run the other way. Maybe it’s just because I grew up in the suburbs, rather than on the mean streets of 500 B.C. Sparta, but any type of sharp metal object attached to a long stick scares the hell out of me.

By: huitzilihuitl

huitzilihuitl — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I finally saw this movie and I really hated it, while the person I saw it with loved it.

My make the Spartans something they are not. The movie failed to mention that the Spartan kids are not out beating each other up to steal things and survive but beating poor undernourished Helots to a pulp and murdering them to steal their stuff. That is a much better. The only Spartan to Spartan beatings I can recall reading are administered by older men to younger men when they are caught trying to sneak out to see their wives.

Leonidas’ line about philosopher boy lovers should have been said while he was oiling the body, and combing and setting the hair, of one of his Spartans companions – then it actually would have been a funny line; though no doubt less people in the audience would have laughed.

The sword for sword play of Spartan politics was so obvious that the bribed councilor should have seen what was coming to him a week before that council meeting and not turned up; what a clown!

One and a Half heads was too much, given the close resemblance of the fight scenes to the Brad Pitt Troy and the oddly unnecessary re-writing of history similar to the opening of Lord of the Rings or the end of the most recent Pearl Harbour movie.

By: John

John — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The more armor your opponents are wearing, the more useful a mace becomes.