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- City of the Angels
Saw it this weekend. The local cinema complex was using 2 of their shoebox theaters to run it and the viewing I attended was 3/4th full...200? people. Too many dumbazzed parents with little kiddies though. This ain't no Sponge Bob romp of fantasy folks!
But fantasy it is in some sense. While it is based on the events of the Battle of the Thermopylae Pass in 480 BC we must realize that much license has to be taken with any story where the principle participants could not give eyewitness accounts. Dialogue in those situations in any movie is simply a guess.
There was nothing of Themistocles' epic battle with the Persian fleet and the scene of 200 Persian warships floundering in a storm was never seen by Leonidas who led the Spartan warriors. In fact it happened a couple days later as they attempted an end run to flank Themistocles.
If you want absolute historical accuracy you may be disappointed. That's what libraries and the History Channel are for.
The movie itself was all very graphic novel-like in its look and feel as was the intent. Certainly it would have been impossible to re-create much of the visuals that Greek historian Herodotus later described pieced together by Greeks who were at the first day's slaughter.
The time span concentrates on the 2-day epic holding action that the Spartans mounted against Xerces' Persian hordes. The Spartan warriors were simply that and nothing else- warriors by profession- led by King Leonidas. The scenes are extremely bloody as was the actual battle enhanced by CGI. Severed limbs and stacks of Persian bodies rule the film in an effort to depict not the glory of war but more the futility of it I believe.
There is simply no way that regular cinimephotography integrated with CGI could have illustrated the screenplay which was shot indoors against green screen. In some respects it is a fantasy but not in the goofy Lord of the Rings or Star Wars way. This is a script taking liberties on actual historical events short on historical development but long on combat details specifically depicting the battle.
There is little lovey-dovey stuff but if one pays attention they will understand the Spartan fighting philosophy of comradery amongst men in combat and the fact that men in battle mostly do what they do to protect their pals. The Spartans lived for battle and they are not unlike the elite forces of today that train and train for one purpose. These men were the equivelent of fighter pilots and Delta Force personnel today. One purpose- hold the line.
Leonidas was not the persona that carried the film. While he was a central character he was simply another warrior when it all came together. The choreography of the actors involved in re-creating the discipline of true warriors from defensive phalanx formations to the mechanics of close quarters blade-weapon combat was superb. The way each man cross covered his comrades in fighting was accurate and well done. While it wasn't particulary apparent the Greek bronze weaponry was far superior to the Persians from shields to spears and swords. The Persians used wicker shields and their body armor was inferior. Their weapons were not on par in tensile quality to the bronze Greek ones either.
Leonidas' strategy was to confront the Persians where their superior numbers would mean little in the narrow confines of the Thermopylae pass. And that strategy was good since the Spartans dispatched some 20,000 Persians in the 2 day battle. It was only due to a Greek spy who told of the path that would lead the Persians behind the Spartans in an encirclement maneuver the spelled their doom.
The movie did not tell of the 1,000 other Greeks who chose to stay and fight with Leonidas either but their added number mattered little when the fight was on 2 fronts so to speak. Leonidas had the opportunity to retreat if he so chosen but that would have meant confronting the masses of Persians on less favorable terrain. Instead he decided to inflict as much punishment as possible on them so Greek forces could gain a couple days to regroup. He managed an astounding 20-to-1 kill ratio.
Later Themistocles defeated the Persian navy soundly, forcing their complete withdrawal but not before Athens was burned. The conflict continued with Phillip of Macenonia consolidating the separate Greek city states into a true nation and his son Alexander vanquished and conquered the Persian threat as he purged the known world of the enemies of Greece.
But without the sacrifice of the men at Thermopylae democracy would have been extinguished perhaps never to exist again. Their actions galvanized the Greeks into a united nation of free democray that lives today.
I feel that is the true, subtle message the producers and directors were aiming at in this cinematic endeavour. They depicted what free-thinking people hold valuable under the threat of invasion and slavery from abroad.
So you will either love or hate the movie in its technical aspects of production and direction. I can't say it is entertaining unless you enjoyed Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It is thought provoking. I would categorize it as a lesson of ancient history illustrated in the most modern technical sense. You don't leave the theater feeling good like you saw Little Miss Sunshine. You leave it sober to reality that fanatical dictators bent on domination at all costs can be thwarted by a few dedicated men and you marvel at the fact that men such as these once lived, while you hope that some vestige of their deeds lives on today in some of us.
But fantasy it is in some sense. While it is based on the events of the Battle of the Thermopylae Pass in 480 BC we must realize that much license has to be taken with any story where the principle participants could not give eyewitness accounts. Dialogue in those situations in any movie is simply a guess.
There was nothing of Themistocles' epic battle with the Persian fleet and the scene of 200 Persian warships floundering in a storm was never seen by Leonidas who led the Spartan warriors. In fact it happened a couple days later as they attempted an end run to flank Themistocles.
If you want absolute historical accuracy you may be disappointed. That's what libraries and the History Channel are for.
The movie itself was all very graphic novel-like in its look and feel as was the intent. Certainly it would have been impossible to re-create much of the visuals that Greek historian Herodotus later described pieced together by Greeks who were at the first day's slaughter.
The time span concentrates on the 2-day epic holding action that the Spartans mounted against Xerces' Persian hordes. The Spartan warriors were simply that and nothing else- warriors by profession- led by King Leonidas. The scenes are extremely bloody as was the actual battle enhanced by CGI. Severed limbs and stacks of Persian bodies rule the film in an effort to depict not the glory of war but more the futility of it I believe.
There is simply no way that regular cinimephotography integrated with CGI could have illustrated the screenplay which was shot indoors against green screen. In some respects it is a fantasy but not in the goofy Lord of the Rings or Star Wars way. This is a script taking liberties on actual historical events short on historical development but long on combat details specifically depicting the battle.
There is little lovey-dovey stuff but if one pays attention they will understand the Spartan fighting philosophy of comradery amongst men in combat and the fact that men in battle mostly do what they do to protect their pals. The Spartans lived for battle and they are not unlike the elite forces of today that train and train for one purpose. These men were the equivelent of fighter pilots and Delta Force personnel today. One purpose- hold the line.
Leonidas was not the persona that carried the film. While he was a central character he was simply another warrior when it all came together. The choreography of the actors involved in re-creating the discipline of true warriors from defensive phalanx formations to the mechanics of close quarters blade-weapon combat was superb. The way each man cross covered his comrades in fighting was accurate and well done. While it wasn't particulary apparent the Greek bronze weaponry was far superior to the Persians from shields to spears and swords. The Persians used wicker shields and their body armor was inferior. Their weapons were not on par in tensile quality to the bronze Greek ones either.
Leonidas' strategy was to confront the Persians where their superior numbers would mean little in the narrow confines of the Thermopylae pass. And that strategy was good since the Spartans dispatched some 20,000 Persians in the 2 day battle. It was only due to a Greek spy who told of the path that would lead the Persians behind the Spartans in an encirclement maneuver the spelled their doom.
The movie did not tell of the 1,000 other Greeks who chose to stay and fight with Leonidas either but their added number mattered little when the fight was on 2 fronts so to speak. Leonidas had the opportunity to retreat if he so chosen but that would have meant confronting the masses of Persians on less favorable terrain. Instead he decided to inflict as much punishment as possible on them so Greek forces could gain a couple days to regroup. He managed an astounding 20-to-1 kill ratio.
Later Themistocles defeated the Persian navy soundly, forcing their complete withdrawal but not before Athens was burned. The conflict continued with Phillip of Macenonia consolidating the separate Greek city states into a true nation and his son Alexander vanquished and conquered the Persian threat as he purged the known world of the enemies of Greece.
But without the sacrifice of the men at Thermopylae democracy would have been extinguished perhaps never to exist again. Their actions galvanized the Greeks into a united nation of free democray that lives today.
I feel that is the true, subtle message the producers and directors were aiming at in this cinematic endeavour. They depicted what free-thinking people hold valuable under the threat of invasion and slavery from abroad.
So you will either love or hate the movie in its technical aspects of production and direction. I can't say it is entertaining unless you enjoyed Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It is thought provoking. I would categorize it as a lesson of ancient history illustrated in the most modern technical sense. You don't leave the theater feeling good like you saw Little Miss Sunshine. You leave it sober to reality that fanatical dictators bent on domination at all costs can be thwarted by a few dedicated men and you marvel at the fact that men such as these once lived, while you hope that some vestige of their deeds lives on today in some of us.
