Sign up
Search
Advanced search settings

Search only in certain items:

Search results
All (1287)
Content
People
Apps
Books
Orbs
Movies
Music
Podcasts
Shows
Tabletop Games
Tech
TV
Video Games
YouTube Channels
Videos
40x40

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) in Movies

Jun 19, 2019  
300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
2014 | Action, Drama
7
6.1 (13 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Seven years have passed since Frank Miller’s classic Graphic Novel 300 was adapted into a hit film and made a star of the largely unknown Gerard Butler.

The follow up film, “300 Rise of an Empire” is both a sequel and a prequel to the original film as it takes place before and after the events of the first film and involves Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton), a general from Athens who is tasked with defeating the invading Persian navy with only a handful of soldiers and ships who years earlier at the Battle of Marathon put the events of the two films in motion with his actions on the battlefield.

The film also chronicles the rise of the mortal turned god Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his brutal right hand Artemesia (Eva Green), who plays a deadly game against the Greeks and Themistocles based on a long standing desire for revenge against the Greeks despite being Greek herself.

While the film is slow getting started as there is a lot of back story and character introductions to chronicle, the film does start off nicely with the bloody battle of Marathon and then sets up several battles along the way.

Lena Headey is the only returning character of note aside from Xeres and she does a good job in her limited time as the Queen of Sparta who must make hard decisions for her people.

The film uses the same graphical style of the previous film and while there is tons of blood and splatter, it is done with CGI and this helps diminish the impact of seeing copious amounts of blood and gore flying through the air during the numerous battles.

The 3D in the film is effective and seeing the embers from the fires float around was a nice touch.

The cast was engaging and entertaining despite being largely unknown and Stapleton does a nice job with the lead as he does not try to recreate the performance of Butler and instead focuses on his own character.

While it plays out largely like it is, a film version of a comic, Zack Snyder who produced the film and wrote the screenplay has done a good job with the source material. Director Noam Murro keeps the action flowing and gives a nice mix of visuals and character to overcome some of the issues with plot and pacing.

In the end, the film is an enjoyable action film and a worthy follow up to the original which sets the stage well for future films.

http://sknr.net/2014/03/07/300-rise-of-an-empire/