After watching the 1962 film The 300 Spartans, I can't help but notice that despite the complete lack of special effects, the somewhat hokey dialogue, and the sub par (by today's standards) fight choreography, how much more I enjoyed it than the much bigger budget special effects spectacular 300.
I guess having a coherent plot - including a reason why they were fighting (freedom for not only Sparta, but all of Greece and western society), decent acting, and some historical accuracy means more to me. And the lack of ridiculous crap like magic ninjas, cyclopses and other monsters, and homo-erotic images of greased up half naked men throughout proves that sometimes less is more.
Sadly, though, the History Channel special on the battle of Thermopylae (which oddly enough happens to be on right now) is far more entertaining than either. Perhaps the moral of the story is that quality stories are better told by a narrator than hammy acting.
1 comment:
A historical recount definitely does change your perspective on certain aspects of the battle.
I kept having the captain of my softball team say "What would the 300 do?". This is on an all male softball team. I kept trying to tell him that may have other homoerotic implications.....
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