First time watching 300! (and I was NOT prepared)

Remember, the whole movie is being told through the eyes (or eye) of the one-eyed soldier they sent back, so there are embellishments and dramatizations (like the giant and the guy with blade arms). He’s retelling the story like this to hype up the rest of Sparta and to stress how brave and invincible (or nearly) the 300 were.

When I first saw this in the theater, I said to myself "Every frame of this movie could easily be a work of art hanging in a museum."

I'm so happy you recognized the insult of "may you live forever"! Many reactors miss that!

One thing i feel like most people who watches 300 are missing is that leonidas said ''The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed.'' So he did what he said he was gonna do

Spartan women who died during childbirth were honored the same way as men who died in battle because they gave their lives for Sparta

26:00 - "Oh, you really are expecting to die." Leonidas went to Thermopylae intending to die. It's not included in this movie, but the Spartans consulted the Oracle of Delphi to seek advice on what to do about the Persian invasion. The Oracle told the Spartans that either Persia would sack Sparta, or a Spartan king must die. Leonidas knew he had to die in order to save Sparta. And in dying, Leonidas and the 300 proved the superiority of Greek hoplites (heavy infantry) against the lighter-armed troops of Persia. Greek hoplites were not the nearly naked guys in leather Speedos shown in the movie. They wore heavy bronze breastplates, greaves and helmets which, along with their large shields, made them nearly impossible to injure. In most battle of ancient Greece the winning side had very few casualties. The loser's high losses only came about when their lines broke and the men started running away. Then they'd be slaughtered when they weren't really capable of defending themselves with a shield wall anymore.

Another face (or voice) you might have missed is David Wenham, who played Faramir in Lord Of The Rings. He is the narrator and one of the 300 that loses his eye, Dilios.

Addie is so adorable when she watches super violent gory movies 😂

This was a wonderful realization from the writer of the graphic novel Frank Miller. Obviously the story is based on history and inflated beyond belief! Yes, Leonidas had 300 Spartans with him. He also had 900 helots, 400 Thebans (from Thebes), 700 Thespians (from Thespa), and about 7400 free greeks to fight off about 300,000 Persians. Leonidas was in command of all of the greek soldiers. After the third day dawned, a runner told him that the pass had been discovered. Xerxes had sent his remaining immortals (about 10000 of them had already died at the gates) to the mountain pass. Realizing that they could be surrounded and slaughtered, Leonidas' hoplites (Spartans) and 2000 soldiers stayed to guard the retreat while the rest went through the pass. It was this and his strategy of fighting them in the narrows of the Hot Gates (Thermopylae) that earned his recognition as a Greek hero. His moves saved thousands of Greek lives!

I like how Addie kept using the word "We" in her reaction. Its as if she identified herself as a Spartan warrior. I guess the real Addie has now emerged!

Very interesting angle regarding the insult "Ephialtes, may you live forever." I kind of interpret this figuratively. By saying that, Leonidas tells him his name and his treason will live forever in history. And it ended up being true. More than 2 and a half millennia after the battle of Thermopylae, and we still can find from the books (or this movie) that the name of the Traitor was Ephialtes of Trachis.

"may you live forever" is the worst insult a Spartan can give someone. To them, the greatest glory is to give your life fighting for something, saying that you hope one lives forever is to say 1. that they are a coward, but mainly 2. that they will never have something they would care enough about to sacrifice themselves for, or never be able to. I just imagine it as "may you find something you'd sacrifice yourself for, and not be able to do it"

300: Rise of an Empire is a highly underrated sequel

People joke that this movie would be 20 mins shorter without all the slow-mo. I believe it really adds to the stylized comic book feel since it was based on a graphic novel. This movie has so much visual personality and a very distinct look.

The reason they were called the immortals wasn't because they couldn't die, it was because when one of them did die in battle, he was immediately replaced. The number remained 10,000 at all times. The battle of the 300 was brutal and they certainly earned their place in history. Historians argue over how many casualties they caused but it was somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 out of the 200,000 estimated in Xerxes' total army. The Athenians put about 1500-2000 men on the line in the battle of the gates, and they caused quite a bit of damage too. Spartan Krypteia (the 300) were the finest trained soldiers in the world though so they contributed the bulk of the persian casualties. They're trained very similarly to Army Rangers today, but even more brutally punished for wrong-doing and were EXTREMELY dangerous men. Modern military training is similar to Agoge

300 is based on a graphic novel, which is based on a 1962 film called "The 300 Spartans," which is based on Herodotus' accounts of the Greco-Persian Wars called "The Histories." It's mean't to be stylized, but that's what makes it entertaining.

I still remember seeing this in theaters with my mom. She was sitting next to 3 teenage girls. In the scene when the men were running at the camera she said they were like "Oh God I want that one on the right" and "The guy on the left, I want his baby!!!" She was sitting there cracking up.

Addie is so freakin cute with her facial expressions and random dancing.

This is been long awaited. This interpretation of the battle of Thermopylae may be dramatized to the tee, but it's still epic.

In the "Last Samurai" Nathan tells Katsumoto about this conflict