I give the movie an 8/10, it's not the greatest I've ever seen, but I love that it was so faithful to the graphic novel. I kept wishing they would fast forward the council subplot, I wanted to see more battle.

My friends and I were cracking up and enjoying how the Spartan tactics worked, bounding overwatch to keep a fresh front line, and that wedge against the calvary charge was brilliant.

I read this post before seeing the movie, so I went in looking specifically for the issues you brought up. Is it just me, or were Xerxe's generals and envoys darker than the regular rank and file soldiers? Except for the one at the end of the battle, it seemed to me that those leading the armies had a more african phenotype than the ones they led.

Amazing that no mention of slavery was made in Sparta, that we can agree on and I don't think Miller deserves a pass on this one. And he often sugar coats the point that you make about eugenics. I mean, the Quasimodo dude is a perfect example...between the lines the message is that if he had been discarded as law stated, he wouldn't have been alive to betray Leonidas. That's one of the biggest things people overlook when they praise Plato's "The Republic" he flat out states that weak or deformed babies should be left to die

That whole line of fighting against "Tyranny and Mysticism" Am I the only one that thought the part about Mysticism was against the Spartan traditions (the elders, the reliance on the oracle, etc).

Overall, I loved the movie though, I was looking for a movie version of one of my favorite graphic novels. And I got exactly that.

>it sounds like you are in the same situation i am/was...
>
>i was so excited for this film, and was very disappointed. i
>hope you can enjoy it. but if you're already noticing
>miller/snyder's leonidas spouting rhetoric about freedom....i
>believe you'll be dying laughing by the end of the film.
>
>what is hilarious is...for all of the "democracy" and "free
>men" drum beating.....the spartan / greek community in the
>film followed the direction of those corrupt priests, and they
>basically practice eugenics by throwing babies off of cliffs.
>
>
>also i'm being general with the use of "mediterranean"...my
>point is...greeks aren't the strapping white, scottish and
>british men we are watching in the film.
>
>also, thanks for giving me a little credit...i know that
>syria, lebanon, and palestine didn't exist then, i just didn't
>know what empire it fell under at the time of this battle.
>
>
>