Hynu

Perhaps the most unpleasant thing I got was that only Greeks were allowed to be the good guys.  Among the bad guys we had Persians, blacks, arabs, disfigured people and an androgynous god-king.  It kinda left a bad taste in my mouth.  On the other hand, I think Ephialtes definitely made the right choice: would you rather stick with the uptight, fascistic Spartans, or the Persians with ungodly gorgeous whores who almost seemed turned on by your grotesque appearance?  I know what hat I'd be wearing.

This was my feeling exactly: Xerxes most definitely organised the best parties!  I'm not surprised it's p*ssed off the Iranians - those Mullahs would never allow them that much fun...

The overall effect is that the movie is going to send me back to the history books - in fact I would rather had more historical accuracy than the comic book elements.  Xerxes was pure camp, and it certainly seemed after a while that we had tumbled through a gap in the space-time continuum into Middle-Earth - with Haradhrim, Orcs, Trolls and even oliphaunts on the rampage, mixed up somehow with the occupants of a travelling circus-cum-vaudeville sideshow.   The much-trumpeted violence was of the video-arcade variety with (as Scott Oden has noted on his blog) minimum blood.  Someone can be beheaded in slow-motion with not so much as a spurt.  I'm no gorehound, but this stuck out like a sore thumb!

I don't begrudge the ticket price, and I might even buy the dvd if I saw it in a sale, but really this was a bit of a disappointment overall.  But all good fun if you're not too bothered about historical accuracy or non-PCness.

I went into it telling myself not to get hung up on the historical inaccuracies.  I pretty much knew it'd be heavily cheesed, and the artsy fartsy sex scene was unnecessary too (even though shes a fit lass ofcourse ).  Thought it was a fun view aslong as its taken with a pinch of salt.  

I have seen another film based on this same battle, though much older, it must be a 50's to 60's version.  Anybody know the name of it?

I'm still waiting for the next one. I really didn't like how he split the story in the latest book. All my preferred characters are in the as yet unpublished one!

I've come across some of the Lovecraft stuff on the internet, but I find I really struggle to read for any length of time from off of my monitor. Will have to purchase me thinks. You cant beat the feel of a nice new book in your grubby palms