300: Rise of an Empire
Director: Noam Murro
Cast: Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey
Length: 102 minutes
Country: USA
When considering how I would rate 300: Rise of an Empire, I decided that it would be fairest to review it with a nod to who the target audience is in mind. You would not go to see it in the hopes of intriguing dialogue, a perfectly logical and flawless storyline, and an accurate historical background. If that is what one hopes for, it would fail on all accounts. 300 is a film of action, serving gore on a stylish plate whilst embracing CGI and digital blood splatters like no other film. For a relaxing popcorn flick, it certainly serves and appeals.
Eight years after the huge action epic 300, along comes not quite a sequel, rather a sort of a prequel, a parallel story to the first film: the battle shifts from the 300 Spartans fighting the onslaught of Persians on land to the battle fought at sea by the Greeks. The storytelling is clear and fluid and yet the short fleshing out of characters is overshadowed by the continuation of slow motion splatters of digital blood. The background is one of six-packs with stunningly shot battle scenes from start to finish. The film begins quite simply and develops into a greater caricature, leaving the audience with more questions than answers, and the great 3D ride eventually results in an acceptance that the storyline cannot be taken seriously.
The dialogue is awkward, some scenes are laughable and one particular sex scene is bizarre, leaving a bad aftertaste and taking a step too far in putting style over substance and gore over characterization.
300: Rise of an Empire is sensational in style, taking full advantage of contemporary cinematic technologies and their ability to enhance visual effects, but its campiness and silliness overbears the previous film. The film inadvertently crafts a more compelling villain, whilst the Greeks become stilted and dull, and the titular character, Themistocles, so greatly lacking in any enthralling traits simply blends into the background after a while, pointing out the sad absence of Gerard Butler. The dialogue is awkward, some scenes are laughable and one particular sex scene is bizarre, leaving a bad aftertaste and taking a step too far in putting style over substance and gore over characterization.
Eva Green, best known for playing a Bond Girl in Casino Royale, seems to be having fun playing the over-the-top pouting villain Artemisia, attacking her role with glee and adding some campy entertainment when decapitating a spy and kissing his severed head with tongue. Her character echoes notions of the previous film, being energetically over the top with its signature visual flourish, and taking the audience into the carnage with great blows whilst elongating its gory effects with slow-motion. And even though it looks impressive, it has already been done without feeling the need to cringe. In 300, obviously.
However, for its target audience it delivers a backstory, presents large scale combat and stylistic devices, booming the over-the-top epic speeches that made its predecessor iconic. It delivers a similar quality, and for anyone searching for a guilty pleasure, it’ll rise to the occasion; after all, it is an action film.
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