A war between several thousand Greek Spartans lead by their King Leonidas against three hundred thousand to a million Persians lead by Xerxes! A historic battle between good and evil, an Alamo of our time! The movie 300 captures this heroic story of valor and sacrifice in a way comparable to the great movies such as Gladiator, The Patriot, and The Last of the Mohicans. Where in sight of overwhelming odds and certain death 300 Spartan soldiers must hold their ground or die trying.

“Spartans! Tonight we dine in Hell!” – King Leonidas

Leonidas as every Spartan at birth would be inspected for defects, weakness and poor health. Those Spartan children that failed the inspection would be exposed to the elements and left to die. Spartans figured if a child had any defects at birth, they were not up to par to the elite warriors of Sparta, and would probably die from the harsh training that one must go through to become a warrior. Leonidas of course passed the first test.

At age 7 Leonidas was torn away from his family to start his training to become a Spartan Warrior! At 18 he was giving a do or die test to prove his prowess! He was faced against a wolf four times his size with an unquenchable apatite for killing. Leonidas knowing he wouldn’t be able to face off directly against the beast lures the wolf into a narrow rock passing to trap and kill it. When he returns to Sparta he is to become King, General, and leader of Spartans finest!

Leonidas, ten years after becoming one of two kings of Sparta was asked to help defend Thermopylae from the massive Persian invasion force. At this time of the year for Spartans their law forbids any fighting. Leonidas confronts an oracle on what he should do. It’s either Sparta will be lost to the Persians or Leonidas must sacrifice his life in war to overwhelming odds of the Persian army. Leonidas chooses death and glory!

Three hundred of Spartans finest and several thousand Greek soldiers go to Thermopylae to hold against a million Persians bent on destroying Athens for their support years earlier against Persian’s army by sending soldiers to assist in the Ionian Greek cities revolt; a move that has come back to haunt the Athens.

For two days Leonidas holds the Persian’s army from passing through the cliffs of Thermopylae and kills tens of thousands of soldiers with little loses on his side. The elite Persian ‘Immortals‘ are no match for the shields, armor and elite trained soldiers of Sparta. After losing a good chunk of his army, Xerxes is lead by a Greek spy around a narrow pass behind Leonidas to flank the Spartains. But before that can happen, a scout reports Xerxes’s advance, which gives Leonidas enough time to see all but 300 of his army retreat. Three hundred Spartans stay for a last stand!

Spartans are trained to never surrender and to never give up! The fighting in 300 is the best I’ve seen in a movie… ever. This is by far the best action movie I have ever seen, and I’ve seen them all. Imagine in the movie Gladiator when Russell Crowe faced off against 10 fighters at once, and mowed them down like nothing. Now replay that over and over again, but with 300 elite Spartans!

The swords play, action, special effects, gore, slow motion, drama, and valor were all there in 300! My perfect movie! The acting from Gerard Butler as Leonidas couldn’t have been better. This guy has set of lungs on him!

Madness?! THIS IS SPARTA! – King Leonidas

In the end, only two survive the relentless attacks of the Persians. Aristodemus because of an eye injury and Pantites; Pantites was sent by Leonidas to attempt to raise support in Thessaly but returned to Thermopylae only after the battle’s conclusion. Pantites hanged himself in disgrace after being shunned as a “trembler”. That part wasn’t in the movie. Aristodemus however was to later fight with suicidal recklessness at the Battle of Plataea in 479 B.C. This time the sides were one Greek soldier for every three Persian.

Greeks won! Sparta won!
300 is a great movie, beyond anything I expected it to be, and I expected a lot.

A++

If you’re a history buff, love action and adventure then you’re going to love Blood Diamond!

Blood Diamond is a story of the South African struggle for control of the region. There are the local rebels, government troops and everyone else. Precious diamonds which are recovered and sold at any cost to foreign companies, fuel the on going war. The diamonds are so rare that most people mining them never see one.

The story begins when a local fisherman’s village is under attack by rebels looking for workers for their diamond mines. The rebels are mostly children who have been brain washed and drugged into thinking their family hates them and has abandoned them. Rebels kill or mutilate most of the villagers and take others for the diamond mines.

The fisherman, Solomon, manages to help his family escape the rebels but is caught his self and spared to work in the diamond mines.

The South African civil war and chaos started when ‘white’ leaders left the place to have Africans govern their self. It didn’t work out so well.

While in the diamond mines, Solomon finds a rare diamond worth millions. He is just able to hide it before government troops sacked the place and either killed or put most of the rebels in jail.

While in jail, Solomon is called out for having found the rare diamond by a rebel leader. Danny Archer a South African mercenary and diamond smuggler finds out about the rare diamond and seeks out Solomon to find the diamond.

With the help of Mandy Bowen an American Journalist, the two men embark on a trek through rebel territory to recover the rare pink diamond. A journey that could save Solomon’s family and transform Archer’s life.

Overall I loved every moment of this movie. It’s historically accurate to the truth of blood diamonds and the millions effected for the few to gain a buck. Companies who buy blood diamonds are the same as the murders their self. With each diamond rebel’s sale, they’re able to buy more weapons to kill more people each day. To this day there are over 200,000 child rebels in South Africa.

I urge everyone to watch Blood Diamonds to gain some knowledge of the situation behind this black market trade. I for one will only buy conflict free diamonds if any.