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But now, with the success of 300, I think Atlas Shrugged has a great chance.

I would like to second that.

Also, by looking at the critical reviews of 300 we can get a taste of what the vapid masses will think of AS. It will probably get panned in the popular press for the same reasons 300 did.

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But now, with the success of 300, I think Atlas Shrugged has a great chance.

This is just my opinion, but I think 300 did well in the box office because it was stylishly shot with lots of people being killed in slow motion, not because of its heros. Yeah okay when Leonidas was hollering about freedom and fighting against mysticism, I can see how some people like that. But frankly all the characters in that movie is thinly developed, and their lines consisted mostly of 70% yelling and 30% one liners.

If you want Atlas Shrugged to succeed the same way that 300 did, I'd have to say you're better off adding gratuitous nudity, hard bodies, sex scenes, and lots of violence in slow motion.

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This is just my opinion, but I think 300 did well in the box office because it was stylishly shot with lots of people being killed in slow motion, not because of its heros.

I don't think so, the limited audience present when I saw it vocaly cheered numerous times when one of the heroes gave one of the villians his due and everyone I know who saw it reported similiar reactions. When is the last time you heard people cheer at a theater? It isnt just the style of the movie, its the message as well, presented in a good style, that resonates strongly with people. I for one find myself filled with a little more hope for America since a movie like this is doing so well in the box office.

This reminds me of Star Wars, where in the late 70's movies had disco sound tracks and were nihilistic (coming out of the 70's vietnam protest era) Star Wars came along to tell an uplifting and grand heroic moral epic with a classical soundtrack. Likewise in our sea of moral relativism and 'flawed' heroes (forget the plethora of movies that actually glorify villians, like 'Natural Born Killers' ) 300 comes along to tell a powerful inspiring tale of moral absolutism and heroism.

I guess we'll have to see what hollywood follows up with, grand heroic moral epics, or movies that are merely stylistically violent, and see which are more popular.

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I don't care about historical accuracy of this movie. It was not it's intent.

This is truly a Romantic movie.

It portrays man as a heroic being, strong, efficacious, not afraid to fight against tyrany and mysticism even if the adds of winning are not good. Reason vs. Mysticism (and not only mysticism of the Persians but against the mysticism within their own society as well). Not afraid to risk his life for freedom. And, for such a noble cause, not willing to surrender.

It portrays woman as matching values of her hero and thus truly worthy of him. What a Queen!

If everything someone saw in this movie was beefcakes running arround shedding blood - I feel sorry for this person.

I just saw this movie. Yes, there was some revisionism and a good deal of creative license was taken in depicting the events (like one on one combat outside the phalanx). However, given the historical significance of this battle, how this really marked the beginning of a unified Greece and set into motion the chain of events that would ultimately lead to the end of the Persian invasion of Europe, I loved it.

Would there have been a United States of America if Greece had not been able to repel the Persians?

I can't say the movie deeply stirred me until the final scene. The scene where (was it Aristodemus with one eye?) was rallying the Greeks in the final battle at Plataea. I literally got tears in my eyes. Yes, ancient Greece wasn't perfect, but the idea depicted here, of Free men defending their values against mystics who were trying to enslave them literally brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't believe it.

I've got to get my wife to see the movie now... she hates the graphic violence in these types of films though...

Demetrius

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I don't think so, the limited audience present when I saw it vocaly cheered numerous times when one of the heroes gave one of the villians his due and everyone I know who saw it reported similiar reactions. When is the last time you heard people cheer at a theater?

I don't go to the movies as often as I used to, but I recall people cheering in just about every epic I've ever seen from The Matrix to Star Wars to The Gladiator to the Lord of the Rings.

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It just occurred to me that if Leni Rafenstahl had made a movie about the Battle at Thermopylae it would have come out just about like -300-. How about -300 Storm Troopers- or -Die Drei Hundert-? Ephialtes the Traitor would be portrayed as a Jew, of course. I am sorry to be such a sour face about it, but getting wrapped up in this movie is on just about the same level as being carried away by Rafenstahl's movie of the 1936 Olympics or even worse -Triumph of the Will-.

Heroic battle epics, first rate photography and a kick-ass sound track blind the eyes of the righteous and pervert the words of the wise. Even I got took in! (Darn!).

Bob Kolker

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I don't care about historical accuracy of this movie. It was not it's intent.

This is truly a Romantic movie.

So was Leni Rafenstahl's documentary on the 1936 Olympics. It celebrated the beauty of the human body and the heroism of athletic excellence. It magnified the Greek view of athletic excellence. Aryans as Athenians. Great Hera and Mighty Zeus!

There is a cautionary tale here. Beware of Epic Movies. They can suck you in just like that.

Bob Kolker

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Heroic battle epics, first rate photography and a kick-ass sound track blind the eyes of the righteous and pervert the words of the wise. Even I got took in! (Darn!).

I do not think these things are the primary reason why people like this movie so much. As for your comparison to Nazi propaganda movies, I cannot imagine that those movies were pro-reason and anti-collectivist given the essence of the Nazi philosophy...

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I don't think so, the limited audience present when I saw it vocaly cheered numerous times when one of the heroes gave one of the villians his due and everyone I know who saw it reported similiar reactions. When is the last time you heard people cheer at a theater? It isnt just the style of the movie, its the message as well, presented in a good style, that resonates strongly with people. I for one find myself filled with a little more hope for America since a movie like this is doing so well in the box office.

I agree with this as well; I won't deny that many people enjoyed 300 for the wrong reasons, but I would say that a huge amount of them appreciated the romanticism of the story, if only at a very shallow level. I think people are much more responsive to romanticism than we give them credit for, even if their understanding of it is only immediate/subconscious and childlike.

That said, I loved 300 far more than I expected to (for all of the reasons people listed above - the heroic story, etc). The cinematography, not to mention, was gorgeous; I think I could take a screencap of any point in the movie and hang it on my wall (excepting the ones with Xerces. I could NOT wake up to that face.) My only reserve with the story were that the soldiers seemed bred to be soldiers, and to fight for ideals that had been ingrained in them (not necessarily conclusions they had reached).

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