300: The Rise of an Empire

[jlw]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zqy21Z29ps

[Tamara]

I was willing to forgive the original 300 a lot because Thermopylae and also I loved how it hewed so closely in visual terms to the Frank Miller graphic novel. This one, however, seems so tenuously connected to historical events as to...

Well, let's just say that as time goes by, the less willing I become to forgive 300 for stifling the Gates of Fire film in the cradle. :(

[CCT125US]

Nice to see Damian Scott up to usual "activities"........

That aside, this should be some good entertainment.

[JHC]

I like movies and don't look to them for history. I can't wait to see it. So long as good guys off bad guys, I'm in.

[Tamara]

Then why don't they just set it in Middle Earth or Cimmeria or Narnia or wherever?

Jeebus. At least try and make it look like ancient Greek warfare and spare me the armored rhinos and twelve-foot-tall axe-wielding hermaphrodites.

Now I'm about to go off on Starship Troopers... I need to go have a lie-down.

[Tamara]

To those of you who read, they were about to make a movie of Gates of Fire. Gates. Of. Kittening. Fire. And this comic book is why they didn't.

Grr...

[jlw]

I was willing to forgive the original 300 a lot because Thermopylae and also I loved how it hewed so closely in visual terms to the Frank Miller graphic novel. This one, however, seems so tenuously connected to historical events as to...

Well, let's just say that as time goes by, the less willing I become to forgive 300 for stifling the Gates of Fire film in the cradle. :(


Then why don't they just set it in Middle Earth or Cimmeria or Narnia or wherever?

Jeebus. At least try and make it look like ancient Greek warfare and spare me the armored rhinos and twelve-foot-tall axe-wielding hermaphrodites.

Now I'm about to go off on Starship Troopers... I need to go have a lie-down.


To those of you who read, they were about to make a movie of Gates of Fire. Gates. Of. Kittening. Fire. And this comic book is why they didn't.

Grr...


So, what you are saying is that you are going to wait until it is on pay-per-view instead of going to see it the theaters, right?

[JHC]

Then why don't they just set it in Middle Earth or Cimmeria or Narnia or wherever?

Jeebus. At least try and make it look like ancient Greek warfare and spare me the armored rhinos and twelve-foot-tall axe-wielding hermaphrodites.

Now I'm about to go off on Starship Troopers... I need to go have a lie-down.

LOL! The key is I never read the books! (can't abide reading fiction but I can watch the hell out of it). I loved the armored rhinos! "It could happen!" (Tenuda)

[LHS]

To those of you who read, they were about to make a movie of Gates of Fire. Gates. Of. Kittening. Fire. And this comic book is why they didn't.

Grr...

Yeah, but didn't George Clooney have the rights to GoF? He would have screwed it up royally. It needs John Milius.

I would rather GoF never be filmed, than see it desecrated as was Starship Troopers.

[Shellback]

Looks entertaining and it's already listed on Netflix so you can "save" it if you choose.

[Tamara]

So, what you are saying is that you are going to wait until it is on pay-per-view instead of going to see it the theaters, right?

Or the $5 DVD. Whichever. ;)

[Tamara]

I would rather GoF never be filmed, than see it desecrated as was Starship Troopers.

...and all the people said "Amen."

[1slow]

That turbine 100,000 RPM whine you hear is Robert A. Heinlein turning over in his grave from the goat raping that was Starship Troopers !

[Dagga Boy]

Yeah, but didn't George Clooney have the rights to GoF? He would have screwed it up royally. It needs John Milius.

I would rather GoF never be filmed, than see it desecrated as was Starship Troopers.

Pure gold. Gates of Fire is probably my favorite book. Even reading it I was seeing Ed Harris and Scott Glen .......oh well.

I like 300. I have the "comic book" print version. I think it was the same guy who did Sin City and the Spirit, so I look at it in the same vein and not as a goofed up Gates of Fire.

[LHS]

Pure gold. Gates of Fire is probably my favorite book. Even reading it I was seeing Ed Harris and Scott Glen .......oh well.

I like 300. I have the "comic book" print version. I think it was the same guy who did Sin City and the Spirit, so I look at it in the same vein and not as a goofed up Gates of Fire.

Precisely. My wife hated 300, because "Spartans didn't fight like that!". Well, duh, they didn't. I see 300 more as something akin to the hero myths of the ancient Greeks, with Achilles, Odysseus, Perseus, etc. These men/gods were seen as so powerful that they didn't need to fight in the phalanx, something above ordinary men. 300 is the same. It's an exaggerated hero tale, meant to inspire and awe rather than be completely factual.

I'd love to see GoF made into a truly epic film, but it would take a great scriptwriter, a great director, and some great actors to pull it off. I'm not sure Hollywood has the will to do so, especially given the themes of responsibility and martial pride running through the book. I can only surmise that they'd screw it up, water it down, make it more politically correct... and I don't want to see that done to such a great piece of literature.

[Paxamus]

I'm glad there are others out there who read and liked GOF, that was one bad ass book and I would rather it not be made as well than get all Starship Troopered

[Erik]

Since I've never heard of it before, are we talking about this Gates of Fire: http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531 ?

[LHS]

Since I've never heard of it before, are we talking about this Gates of Fire: http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531 ?

That be the one. I would put it in the top five novels I've ever read. It's that good.

(Now if only his other books were anywhere near that good. "Last of the Amazons" was boring as hell, and "Killing Rommel" was mediocre.)

[Erik]

That's pretty high praise! I'll have to give it a try. Thanks.

[Tamara]

I'd love to see GoF made into a truly epic film, but it would take a great scriptwriter, a great director, and some great actors to pull it off. I'm not sure Hollywood has the will to do so, especially given the themes of responsibility and martial pride running through the book.

Gladiator. It's a 164-minute paean to the Stoic virtues.

[BWT]

Since I've never heard of it before, are we talking about this Gates of Fire: http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531 ?

It's a great read.

It inspires men to be men, not get a spray-on tan and do cross-fit to get great abs.

I'm just saying.

[Erik]

Note to self: read AFTER spa treatment.

[BWT]

Note to self: read AFTER spa treatment.

It's not really like a inspiration novel. It's just a good read TBH.