300 : RISE OF AN EMPIRE (2014)

300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (2014)

I think when this film was being promoted I had the idea that it was going to follow the battle which is teased in the original film at the end. Instead in what I thought was a brilliant move, the story actually starts before 300, then moves to during 300 and even moves into the aftermath of the fall of the 300. The plot basically revolves around Greek general Themistokles (who isn’t nearly as likeable as King Leonidas was) and the Persians led by Artemisia, the extremely pissed commander of the Persian navy.

There are a few writing ploys used in this that actually seem to completely dismiss what happened in the first film, as being just a really bad insult to the Persian empire. Artemisia (played by Eva Green who acting just outshines everyone around her) is given a really sad back story that almost makes you want to see her succeed (okay not really, but kinda). The rest of the Persian army isn’t given as much of the dark and sinister supernatural feel that they are in 300, and aside from an almost underdone story regarding Xeres he really isn’t much of a part of the action here. I was happy to see Lena Heady back but they should have handed the narration over to David Wenham once again. I know some critics didn’t like the historical departure citing how close 300 was to the real story Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Having said that this has got to be just a really bad oversight. It’s very unlikely Leonidas leaned on the understanding of half men, who relied on the advice of a floating half-naked teenager. So yes, you want to walk into this with the idea that it is NOT REAL. Repeat after me, NOT REAL or “ridiculously loosely based”. It is the kind of storytelling that takes serious liberties akin to Greek Mythology. 

The film succeeded in spades when it came to the look and feel. It succeeded in increasing the battle intensity and it succeeded in increasing the drama (especially when it came to Artemisia). It did not succeed in creating the number of sound bites that you can use to pump up your team before or during a sporting event. Sullivan Stapleton the film's lead is just not really that good at all and I actually liked some of the secondary characters quite a bit better. This movie is in no way a disaster and is certainly an interesting if not revealing follow-up to the legendary 2007 version of 300.

I give this movie a 5 out of 7. 

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