300: Rise of an Empire

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
   300:  Rise of an Empire
Released 3/7/14, now in theaters

Zack Snyder returns as the writer and producer of his latest sword and sandals epic, 300:  Rise of an Empire, the sequel (of sorts), to Snyder's 2006 film, 300.  Turning the directorial reigns over to Noam Murro this time, Snyder tells a fictionalized version of the real life Battle of Salamis.  As with the first 300 film, Rise of an Empire is based on another of legendary comic book writer/artist, Frank Miller's, graphic novels. 

With 300 being one of my favorite movies of all time, Rise of an Empire had much to live up to.  And, it does to a point.  You have the typical gore and bloodletting that you would expect.  It is still depicted in an awesome way with captivating stop-motion photography that was made so popular by the first film.  But, the issue is while the action is still great, it's not original any longer which gives the movie an almost ho-hum feeling at times.  Again, don't misunderstand.  It's still good stuff, but it's a little "been there, done that", too. 

Rise of an Empire is both prequel and sequel to 300.  It's also unique as most of it runs concurrently with the first movie as well.  It chronicles the Persian God-king, Xerxes', continued march on the Greek city-states.  This time, the battle is focused on the Persian Navy's assault on Athens while the Army's ground forces deal with King Leonidas and his Spartan Guard from the first film. 

The Persians' animosity towards the Greeks stems from an incident 10 years prior to the events of 300.  At this time, Persian King Darius I's charge at Greece was halted by General Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) of Athens.  Darius paid for the assault with his life thanks to Themistocles, an incident Darius' son, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), would not forget. 

By Xerxes side manipulating him every step of the way is his greatest military commander, Artemesia (Eva Green), a Greek woman taken in by the Persians with a huge ax to grind with Greece.  And, it doesn't help that Artemesia is just slightly off her rocker either. 

Facing overwhelming odds against Artemesia's immense Navy, Themistocles holds his own for a time through guile and determination.  However, he knows it's only a matter of time before his Athenians are crushed by sheer numbers alone, especially if he can't convince Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) of Sparta to join him.  But, the good queen isn't in a helpful mood as she just received word of the fall of her husband, Leonidas, and the 300 to Xerxes' Army. 

The true treat of Rise of an Empire is Eva Green as she is by far the most developed and well-rounded character of the film.  "Cray cray" doesn't begin to describe her.  Watching her made me feel like she was the female equivalent of Darth Vader at times.  Failure is not tolerated under her command for any reason. 

Director, Murro, does a great job of depicting the differences between the Athenians in Rise and the Spartans of 300.  The Athenians aren't warriors by nature.  While they're tough, gone are the "8-pack abs" and love of fighting of the battle-hardened Spartans. They're more philosophical and less physically imposing than their counterparts.  It was an interesting contrast in appearance and style.

Rise of an Empire is a very nice companion piece to 300 which fleshes out what was happening in the other important city-state while Leonidas and his men made their heroic stand.  Eva Green makes it more than just a mere copy of the original with her unhinged performance.  It doesn't get high marks on originality, but it's an adrenaline rush all the same.

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

***3/4 stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Good viewing. Much better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. Could possibly foot the price of a non-Matinee.
5 *= Pure eye candy. Hall of Fame material here.