A turtle who happened to sneeze.

Once upon a time, a sea turtle lived deep in the abyss of a vast oceanic expanse.

The very fact that it lived so deep without much light, made the weather down there very very cold.

As expected, the sea turtle caught the infamous cold. It could barely come to terms with the cold, and it sneezed.

Complete darkness. It took a few seconds for it to realize that it was inside it's shell. The sneeze had pushed it's head in. Well..

It pushed itself out at once. It sneezed. But this time it managed to anticipate the back force.

The warm currents from the east passed by. The turtle fought the cold. And won.

Note that the turtle fought the cold and not the sneeze.

300

480 B.C

Xerxes I prepared this for years. He amassed army so staggering that every single day, the sheer force in its numbers was remembered by some King in his slumber. Nightmare was merely the beginning. Xerxes I, inspite having older brothers, had so powerful an influence that he ascended the throne. So determined was he to avenge the Greek, he prepared for 4 long years. He was to fight many battles before he could fulfill his dreams of burning Athens in his fire.

Spartans. The warriors who were trained from birth with a singular goal in mind - to defeat the enemy. Be it man or animal or God himself.

The finest soldiers from Sparta were called to defend their nation and were instructed to engage with the Persian Army at the Vale of Tempe. The Persian army, cleverly made a detour around the gorge.
The Greek's when informed of the advancements, concluded with a strategy to intercept Xerxes I army at Thermopylae ( Thermopylai ).
As the Spartans prepared with their excercises of fitness and grace in a ritualistic fashion, Xerxes sent scouts to gauge his enemy. The scout returned back and reported to Xerxes, the observations of the athletic excercises and the ritual of combing hair by the Greek and thier extremely miniscule number. This was confirmed once again by Xerxes who could not believe it.
He expected the Greeks to get back in no time. He waited for their retreat. He waited for 4 long days for the Spartans retreat from the narrow pass of Thermopylae. When they did not, he was furious and considered it to be impudent and obstinate. He ordered his army to proceed to the pass. Thus began the Battle of Thermopylai.
This battle, lasting 3 days is one of the most valiant battles ever fought.
300 Spartans. 300 Spartans along with Thebans and Thespians fought against a massive army far much greater in number, about a MILLION and held them up for 3 days. The battle proved that human beings were many, but the men were few. Led by the Spartan King Leonidas, the Greek's fought with courage never heard before. The dark and brooding future of the Spartans ending with inevitable death did not deter them from doing everything they could to stop the Barbarians. It is said that even when the Greek's lost their spears and shields, they fought barehands and drove the Persians away.

Dienekes, the Spartan who was praised to be the best, when told by one of the men from Trachis - the enemy are so great in number that when they shower their arrows, the multitude of arrows blot out the sun, he replied in a laconic way, - this is good news for then we will fight in the shade.

The dispropotionate losses on the Persian side was unbearable by Xerxes I. This loss of his only continued to be more, and finally ended with his retreat.

Nobody but Frank Miller could have narrated the history in the dark and gripping way it is supposed to be. And to bring Miller's imagination into celluloid is a tough task. And with what the trailers promise, I say it's done as it should be.