My first thought after seeing this film was ‘Why?’ I just could not figure out why this sequel was made. The original ‘300’ was a ground breaking visual masterpiece that pushed the frontiers of what could be accomplished with green screen technology. In addition, it brought nerd idol Frank Miller’s stories to life like no one had ever seen. An almost flawless recreation of Miller’s vision. While the interesting true story of the 300 Spartans facing the million man army at Thermopylae in 420 B.C. was a great canvas, it was the incredible visual execution and sheer ‘Coooollll’ moments that reverberated through geekdom at the time and still does to this day. Despite the film’s genius, it was light on story. It was a case were special effects carried the film (one of the rare cases where it worked). ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ tries to recreate that… and does, but one is left with a sense of been there, done that.
There is some cleverness that I admired. The sequel takes place before, during, and after the battle portrayed in the original. It is told from the perspective of The King of the Greeks, Themistocles (played by Sullivan Stapleton). Unfortunately for the film, Sullivan doesn’t come close to Gerard Butler’s hipness from the original. He has the ability to angrily shout every line just like Butler’s Leonidas, but come on… no one can exclaim: “This …Is…Sparta!!!” with the Shakespearean gravitas of Butler. Sullivan makes an admirable attempt, but falls short. In addition, the story is basically the same; standing defiant in the face of being outnumbered and outgunned. It’s a pale imitation of the first.
There were high points in the film. The Persian general Artemesia played by the sophisticatedly beautiful Eva Green was a welcome addition. A greek orphan raised by the Persians to eventually become leader of their massive armies, she commands the screen and becomes the central focus of the film whether that was the intention or not. Merciless, savage, yet feminine, Eva Green is able to achieve the perfect balance in the boys world of badassery. Great performance. In addition to this great performance, Rodrigo Santoro recreates his role as the God-King Xerxes. It was interesting to see his back story and rise to power. This was a more human portrayal of the omnipotent King from the original. It had an almost super-hero type origin story that worked well in this context.
There were some cameos from the original that served to link the plot to the battle we knew was going on elsewhere during this storyline. Ultimately, it was unsatisfying because you find yourself wishing that you were back there instead of the plot line you are witnessing. Everything in this film was done competently and with equal skill as the original; however, nothing significantly new or fresh was brought to the tale. If anything it was a pale imitation leaving one with fond memories and longing nostalgia, but in the day and age of instant access you would be better off going back and watching the original. It’s not a bad film, but I can think of better ways of spending my movie dollar
I give this film ** stars
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