I watched 300 last Friday, and the movie blew me away. It looked interesting (a historical war movie that just looks different than others), but what I personally found most interesting was the way of fighting, tactics, and such. I know it's not historically correct, but that's not what I'm after. This is not a review (although I might do one if it strikes my fancy), but rather my thoughts on it, however short they may be.
Just a note, if you haven's seen the movie yet, I'll try to spoil it as little as possible, but there might still be a thing or two that I need to say for my explanations.
The first thing that struck me as odd was the location of the battles. Sure, strategically, it makes perfect sense to have a small gully through which a large army has to squeeze its men through. But what surprised me is that they were fighting on open ground, not having a siege. Especially after they mentioned and showed the big wall the Spartans were repairing.
But let me come to what made this movie "work" for me. It was plainly the discipline and fighting skill of the Spartans. I won't go into details (lest I spoil them), but let me say that it's beautiful to watch (if you can look at hacked off body parts and remind yourself that this is just a movie). It's much more than what I thought it would be like. The phrase by King Leonidas, "The most important thing to a Spartan is the man next to him.", really sums it up.
Now, I am really inspired by this movie, because it shows a prime example of an elite soldier force. I just have to change details to fit it into various worlds, but the base, and most importantly, the image, is the same. A force that is fearless, highly disciplined, where soldiers show not only physical prowess and weapon skill, but an awareness of what their comrades are doing, as well as initiative. Their ability to fight many different kinds of enemies and still seem cool (yes, I know that's Hollywood spice, but heh) is a nice touch to such a troupe.
This is also the second movie (the first being Troy) which has showed me many uses for spears, and the different ways of using them. When most people think of spears, it's just long sticks with a pointy end that are slow and clumsy. Not so in this movie, and it gave me a broader perspective on archaic weaponry.
Overall, this is a nice movie just to watch for the action, but once you think about it, there's a few things that can be taken as new ideas. Just my two cents.
Until my next post,
Qi
Just a note, if you haven's seen the movie yet, I'll try to spoil it as little as possible, but there might still be a thing or two that I need to say for my explanations.
The first thing that struck me as odd was the location of the battles. Sure, strategically, it makes perfect sense to have a small gully through which a large army has to squeeze its men through. But what surprised me is that they were fighting on open ground, not having a siege. Especially after they mentioned and showed the big wall the Spartans were repairing.
But let me come to what made this movie "work" for me. It was plainly the discipline and fighting skill of the Spartans. I won't go into details (lest I spoil them), but let me say that it's beautiful to watch (if you can look at hacked off body parts and remind yourself that this is just a movie). It's much more than what I thought it would be like. The phrase by King Leonidas, "The most important thing to a Spartan is the man next to him.", really sums it up.
Now, I am really inspired by this movie, because it shows a prime example of an elite soldier force. I just have to change details to fit it into various worlds, but the base, and most importantly, the image, is the same. A force that is fearless, highly disciplined, where soldiers show not only physical prowess and weapon skill, but an awareness of what their comrades are doing, as well as initiative. Their ability to fight many different kinds of enemies and still seem cool (yes, I know that's Hollywood spice, but heh) is a nice touch to such a troupe.
This is also the second movie (the first being Troy) which has showed me many uses for spears, and the different ways of using them. When most people think of spears, it's just long sticks with a pointy end that are slow and clumsy. Not so in this movie, and it gave me a broader perspective on archaic weaponry.
Overall, this is a nice movie just to watch for the action, but once you think about it, there's a few things that can be taken as new ideas. Just my two cents.
Until my next post,
Qi
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