I think they just can't tell the difference between Brazilians and Mexicans, frankly.
There is a difference?
On a more serious note, they probably just realized brazilian guys are hott, and didn't care about anything else.
Which should be a more widespread attitude, really.
I didn't realize 300 was going to be Sin City Thermopylae.
Hey! That guy's going to be in "Lost" this season!
From the plot summary: 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian enemy, drawing a line in the sand for democracy.
Right, because nothing says "democracy" like Sparta.
Speaking of Democracy, is this bit of Wikipedia true? It says a group of 700 democratic Thespians elected to stay behind and fight alongside the Spartans. No cite, though. Anyone know any history?
7: It's in Herodotus:
So the allies, when Leonidas ordered them to retire, obeyed him and forthwith departed. Only the Thespians and the Thebans remained with the Spartans; and of these the Thebans were kept back by Leonidas as hostages, very much against their will. The Thespians, on the contrary, stayed entirely of their own accord, refusing to retreat, and declaring that they would not forsake Leonidas and his followers. So they abode with the Spartans, and died with them. Their leader was Demophilus, the son of Diadromes.
The thing I forgot to mention in this comment is that it looks in the preview as if the line is delivered with a standard action-movie defiant growl. But come on. This is the country that gave us the word "laconic", after all.
b-wo: I thought the same thing! not laconic enough!
The Defense of the 300, minus the slaves, support crew, donkeys and basketweavers and sorters of mixed fruits. The Defense of the 300 Important Enough To Write Down.
I'm sure it will be a fun-but-brainless movie, sort of like Gladiator: brainless, but who really cares once the tigers! attack Russell Crowe. But it is too bad how all the heroes of Famous Past Times end up being American Cowboys in Drag.
YES! The delivery bothered me too. The whole reason it's striking is the message "I'm so awesome/crazy that I am nonchalant about the threat you describe." Yelling it actually undercuts that message.
But actually I always imagined that line going down in more of an American Cowboy voice. Eastwood was famously laconic, no? Maybe we could get him to dress up in drag and deliver it.
Good point about Eastwood; what I had in mind was the scene in Gladiator where Maximus Biggus Generalus describes his values and they're all very modern American values.
10: My favorite action movie line ever, from Henry V: "We would not seek a battle, as we are; Nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it."
God, that 300 movie looks really, really awful. Like a sword-and-sandals version of I'm the goddamn Batman.
I'm waiting for Frank Miller to make a comic book that's just two naked Greek statues sexing each other to death to work all of this out of his system.
Finally went over there and watched the trailer. 10 and 11 are fine. What's up with that bearded guy? "Spartans! Tonight! We dine! In... Hell!" "This... Is... Sparta!" He thinks he is announcing for the WWF. The thing just has a ludicrous look to it in general.
The comic is big fun and takes laconic to a high pitch.
Ext. Dusty plain
Leonidas is taken before a giant throne carried by hundreds of slaves.
LEONIDAS:
So, you'd be Xerxes, then?
In the comic, Miller takes the line that Sparta, while not democratic, recognized the idea of individual rights and of the existence of the individual, while the Persians did not. I dunno how true that is or isn't.
The comic was pretty, also.