300: Rise of An Empire

                Back in 2007, before his fans were divided by all the talk of “Man of Steel,” Zack Snyder was best known for two movies: the remake of “Dawn of the Dead,” and the adaption of Frank Miller’s “300.” Based on Greek history, the film tells of the Battle of Marathon, in which King Leonidas and his Spartan army go up against the Persian army lead by Xerxes…and that’s it. Sure, there’s Queen Gorgo trying to recruit back up for the battle, but there really isn’t much plot to be said. All the film is is stylized action scenes, accompanied by tremendously cheesy moment after moment in-between and slow-motion shots, to make the film seem more epic. While this does seem like a film that IS up my alley, I didn’t think it was as investing as everyone says. It could be from either expecting a bit too much, or because I saw the film four years after its popularity went down for a while. But despite it all, I did think it was entertaining, especially since we don’t get that many R rated action films now-a-days.

                It wasn’t until years later that they decided to make a sequel to it. It had been in the works for quite some time now, and had many delays added to it for quite some time. The original release date was set for the first weekend of last August, which was also set to compete with the “Robocop” remake’s original release date, but then both were pushed back. Snyder was originally set to direct, but he declined to direct “Man of Steel,” so it went to Noam Murro after he turned down to direct “A Good Day to Die Hard.” And let me just say, this film ALREADY proved itself to be a much better film than that travesty.

                In this new film, we learn the back-story of Xerxes and how he became the true ruler of the Persians, after his father had been killed by Themistocles, General of Athens. When brought to present time, Themistocles and his army of Athens start to go up against the Persian army on the sea sides, lead by Artemisia. Technically, the film is more of a parallel film to the last one, as the events of the first movie are brought up at times, cutting to stock footage indicating that it is happening. I thought this was a clever way to expand this story further. From what I heard, this film is supposed to be based on Frank Miller’s sequel comic, “Xerxes,” which is what certain points of this story are taken from.

                In terms of casting, I found them enjoyable. Lena Headey and Rodrigo Santoro reprise their characters from the first film as Gorgo and Xerxes, despite the lack of screen time they have, as the focus is more put on the war going on. With the new cast, Themistocles is played by Sebastian Stapleton, and for a replacement for Gerard Butler, he manages to pull through in a different tone. Whereas the Spartans and Persians are more focused on winning the battle, Athens and the rest of Greeks do have remorse over the loss of their men, which fits the position that Themistocles is in.

                As for the rest of the cast, none of them really do stand that out as much, as they do seem to mostly be the same stock character; that is, except for the main villain of the film, Artemisia. Oh my god, Eva Green’s performance in this movie is absolutely STUNNING. She is so crazy, so bold, and downright reasonably evil; I could not take my eyes off her whenever she was on-screen. With how the film has similar elements that could be recycled from the first movie, they do have the negotiation scene between generals, only it’s a sex scene. All I have to say is, this is what the sex scene from “Dark Shadows” SHOULD have been like, if they simply made it an R rated film. Movie still would have sucked, but it would have at least made it more interesting. And it makes it all worthwhile, when Themistocles and Artemisia have their final battle, resulting in one of the best insults I’ve heard in film for a long time.

                The action scenes, keeping in the same style of the first film with blood and slow-mo, do keep the film entertaining at times. The only problem is that there are moments that seem to drag on and slow down the pace the film is going. I wouldn’t be so harsh about it, but it drags it to where I almost fell asleep, or until it actually got to Eva Green again. If it weren’t for her, the film wouldn’t have been as good as it was.

                Overall, “300: Rise of an Empire” is pretty much like the first film. If you didn’t like the first film, then I have no doubt you’ll like this one, unless you go just for Eva Green’s performance.

Rating: 6/10

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