Frank Miller\'s 300 -- The Prequel

[Narukami]

io9 is reporting that Dark Horse comics will have a 'first look' at Frank Miller's sequel to 300, Xerxes.

http://io9.com/#!5793485/wednesday-bring...rijuanaman


[attachment=631]FrankMillersxerxes.jpg[/attachment]


:wink:

Narukami

[Dithrambus]

I think Frank Miller has been spending too much time with marijuanaman.

[Magnus]

I am not a fan of frank miller's movie adaptations. I don't like anything about them...didn't even like 300 for the action. This is one movie I will be avoiding.

[Alanus]

io9 is reporting that Dark Horse comics will have a 'first look' at Frank Miller's sequel to 300, Xerxes.

http://io9.com/#!5793485/wednesday-bring...rijuanaman


[attachment=631]FrankMillersxerxes.jpg[/attachment]


:wink:

Narukami

As an archer, I'd like to know what kind of arrows Frank Miller uses to punch through bronze helmets and shields... or did the Greeks and Persians invent latex? Or are the arrows made from Kryptonite?

If the movie is as stupid as Miller's cartoons are, then it will be worth a good barf.

Hello!! Wake up! Grow up... please.

[caiusbeerquitius]

Folks, it´s a Comic. A Comic. See it as one.
It´d be easy to find loads and loads of mistakes in Asterix, too. ^^

[Robert Vermaat]

Folks, it´s a Comic. A Comic. See it as one.
It´d be easy to find loads and loads of mistakes in Asterix, too. ^^

I don't mind the mistakes. Although Asterix also has modern political references, Miller's ones are more ominous.

[Dithrambus]

The fact that Frank Millers' comics are just that..comics, is fine, however these particular comics are based on historical subjects and the fact that Hollywood would rather base a film on a comic which is veeeeery loosely based on history than basing a film on history itself (these stories require no embellishment) speaks to the idiocricy of Hollywood and their perception of the audience. The biggest problem I have with 300 and the forthcoming Xerxes (or whatever the hell it will be), is the fact that those who watch the films with no prior knowledge of the events will be left with a very inaccurate and twisted view of historical events, plus the fact that these subjects are much less likely to be adapted to the screen in the future, I would much rather have seen Gates of Fire adapted to the big screen than 300, which is now much less likely to happen. :-(

[Ghostmojo]

Probably only the Brits on this site will get this but ...

Considering this is off-Topic, and knowing how Hollywood loves to rewrite history then you can bloody well bet that Marathon (as seen through the eyes of FM) will become Snickers!:lol:

[Dithrambus]

Probably only the Brits on this site will get this but ...

Considering this is off-Topic, and knowing how Hollywood loves to rewrite history then you can bloody well bet that Marathon (as seen through the eyes of FM) will become Snickers!:lol:

Marathon? I thought that FMs new comic was based on Artemisium? :???: Oh what am I saying, I mean, does it really matter? :lol:

[Narukami]

Frank Miller's 300, and Zack Snyder's film there of, is even one more step removed from the history.

By Miller's own admission, his comic book was based upon the 1962 film The 300 Spartans (which his parents took him to as a young kid) that was based, somewhat loosely on the historical events.

The ever present "Silver Lining" with these films is that some viewers will be motivated to seek out the history behind the film and will be better informed for their effort, However...

As Dithyrambus, and others, have pointed out, many more members of the audience will are now convinced that:
The Persians used armored rhinos as Thermopylae
That the Emperor Commodus was killed fighting in the Arena
The Praetorians wore black armor & tunics (as if a proto-SS)
That the Ninth Legion was destroyed in Scotland by the "Seal" People
Or that the Roman Navy used slaves to row their ships ...

The blame, is not Hollywood's alone -- it is all about "the Benjimans" and if these films did not make money Hollywood would not keep making them.

Now, I took some heat in another thread here in the Forum for suggesting that even a poor film about Rome is better than not film about ancient Rome. I was saying that with tongue firmly in cheek, but most us must admit, even a bit shame faced, that we did watch The Last Legion, no doubt hoping against hope that it was better than we feared.

After sitting through Zack Snyder's latest film, Sucker Punch, it is clear that he has great visual sense but very little story sense, so I have little hope that the sequel to 300 will be other than a visual feast with little substance and no historical illumination. I could be wrong ... but in the case I doubt it.

:|

Narukami

[Ghostmojo]

I like Frank Miller's stuff. But you have to take it for what it is - a comic book tradition of reimagining history along the lines of the superhero mould.

We are due a film about The Mighty Thor very soon and no doubt some out there will think there is some Viking mythology in there. Well there is - kind of - but only as a jumping off point for fresh fantasy which clearly refers to its inspiration without being slavish to the historic/historio-mythic boundaries.

The clips I have seen of THOR look great BTW - I am a fan of all those great golden age US superheroes 8)

The only problem with this stuff is that in the case of the more historic (rather than mythic) situations - these reimaginings stifle any attempt to approach the real thing.

There was talk in movie circles for a long time about a real attempt to produce the ultimate Thermopylai film (whether based upon Pressfield's book - or Herodotos) which might have been directed by Michael Mann and had guys of the calibre of George Clooney and Bruce Willis expressing interest in the lead role of Leonidas I. The early drafts for this aparently made Gladiator look like a picnic when it came to the battle scenes.

Sadly, the appearance and success of 300 may have rendered any further interest in telling the real story - properly - of limited appeal in Hollywood now...

[Ghostmojo]

Probably only the Brits on this site will get this but ...

Considering this is off-Topic, and knowing how Hollywood loves to rewrite history then you can bloody well bet that Marathon (as seen through the eyes of FM) will become Snickers!:lol:

Marathon? I thought that FMs new comic was based on Artemisium? :???: Oh what am I saying, I mean, does it really matter? :lol:

I knew only the Brits would get that!!! Artemsium is after all not a chocolate bar!:lol:

[Magnus]

We shouldn't discount the value of any historicaly based movie...if it wasn't for Gladiator, I never would have been motivated to read some fictional stories about rome, and from there find Matt Amt's legio XX site. From there I became a reenactor, so some credit is due, though I'm probably the severe minority in those circumstances lol.

I also remember when a script was being tossed around regarding Gates of Fire...had some big names intrested in doing it too. It's a shame it's been put to the wayside...

Has anyone heard of any other film projects Hollywood is intersted in that may be more historically accurate in terms of Rome/Greece?

[Dithrambus]

Ghostmojo wrote: There was talk in movie circles for a long time about a real attempt to produce the ultimate Thermopylai film (whether based upon Pressfield's book - or Herodotos) which might have been directed by Michael Mann and had guys of the calibre of George Clooney and Bruce Willis expressing interest in the lead role of Leonidas I. The early drafts for this aparently made Gladiator look like a picnic when it came to the battle scenes.

Gates of Fire has languished in developement hell since the late 90s, I had hoped that given the financial success of 300, Hollywood would have struck while the iron was hot and moved forward with production (though I'm not sure that I agree with Clooney or Willis in the lead role). Films based on the same subject have coexisted multiple times in the past (and present, Centurian and Eagle for example). Steven Pressfield is just such a wonderful person and quite gracious, while I'm sure he's dissapointed that his own book has not been adapted, he has never (to my knowledge) said anything derogatory concerning Frank Miller or 300.

BTW Howard, I get it now. :-P

[Alanus]

I like Frank Miller's stuff. But you have to take it for what it is - a comic book tradition of reimagining history along the lines of the superhero mould.

How can we "reimagine" history? History is the relation of fact to the writer's best ability, and writing fiction of the superhero mold is something else entirely. It's fantasy, and that does not equate with fact.

When a young person reads something like Miller's twaddle, he or she is left with the impression that an outsized hero or twisted humanoid might be a historical person. The 300 was disgusting enough, Zemeckis' Beowulf was a total barf-ride; and the saddest fact is this stuff is obviously becoming more and more popular. "Hollywood history" has always been inaccurate but it just gets worse. And in the end, we're going to have an entire generation which has no idea of what history actually was.:neutral: