300 Rise Of An Empire – Movie review

This review was first published on Know Your City, burrp!'s features section.

Director: Noam Murro

Cast: Sullivon Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro

b! Says: **1/2

Chiseled bodies, an army of roaring Spartans, drop dead gorgeous Gerard Butler and blood soaked wars; this is what 300, released in 2006, was made of. The sequel, 300 Rise Of An Empire portrays the war beautifully but lacks the rest of the elements.

Based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel Xerxes, this chapter follows the story of Greek general Themistokles (Sullivon Stapleton) who takes on the Persian God king Xerxes’ (Rodrigo Santoro) navy lead by Artemesia (Eva Green), their vengeful commander. The war in the sea runs parallel to the Spartan leader Leonidas marching with his 300 men to meet the army of Xerxes.

Unlike its prequel, 300 Rise Of An Empire has been shot in 3D but doesn’t do complete justice to the technology. However, some shots are brilliantly captured. There’s this same hazy, dark look to the movie which was there in 300 too. Almost all the film is based in the sea and there are some really spectacular underwater shots.

There’s a lot of blood and gore shot with stop motion camera. This has been the USP of the franchise and is consistent in both the films. However, there’s no newness about it. You yearn for something more maddening in the film.

The most interesting part of the film is the story of Xerxes and we wish there was more of him. The comparisons between Gerard Butler and Sullivon Stapleton are bound to be drawn and if you do you’ll always find the latter a tad weaker. Lena Headey fits in her role of Spartan queen like a glove, more so after portraying the role of scheming queen Cersei Lannister in Game Of Thrones. Eva Green looks both beautiful and evil as Artemesia.

Director Noam Murro creates good visuals but falls short on creating the same magic as Zack Snyder, the director of 300. There’s not enough adrenaline rush which is required for a film like this.

300 Rise Of An Empire is a good one time watch only if you keep the comparisons at bay.