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.