300 : Rise Of An Empire

300 : RISE OF AN EMPIRE

Director : Noam Murro

Year : 2014

Genre : Action

Rating : ****

 

Serving at the time as a prequel, a sequel and as a parallel story to Zack Snyder's bloodstained 2007 adaptation of Frank Millers graphic novel '300', '300 : Rise Of An Empire' expands the worlds and the characters of it's narrative as well as introducing us to a number of new, interesting and sometimes psychotically bloodthirsty heroes and villains. Handing the directing reins to relative newcomer Noam Murro, Snyder' stills serves as the main producer but his influential and idiosyncratic style is still evident throughout the entire running time of this highly entertaining and beautiful looking epic. Full of passion, violence, betrayal and fountains of blood, '300 : Rise Of An Empire' is a worthy successor to the mega fun original and is sure to mean bigger things in the future for the clearly talented Noam Murro.

Greece and Persia are at war. On one side there is Xerxes, the tyrannical God - King whose lust for power and blood is only matched by his psychotic general, the bloodthirsty Artemesia played with some relish by Eva Green. Leading an army of tens of thousands of loyal and violent Persian soldiers, Xerxes and Artemesia are set on the destruction of Greece and the deaths of every single one its inhabitants. However over all of this adversity, heroes are determined to take a stand. One of these is the brave and strong Athenian Themistocles played by Sullivan Stapleton, a devout warrior who killed Xerxes' father Darius during a fierce battle many years earlier; an act that would eventually turn the naive Xerxes into a power hungry dictator. Pitting his army against the seemingly unstoppable forces of Artemesia, Themistocles leads his armies and fleets into bloody battles while King Leonidas leads his brave band of 300 Spartans (the events that are told of in '300'). As victory seems unlikely, Themistocles must endeavour to force the proud and hard hearted Spartans to ally with Greece and form an immeasurable battalion against the common enemy. 

Utilising the same comic book aesthetic and slow motion filming style that made '300' such an influential benchmark, Murro seamlessly matches the cinematography and mise en scene from Frank Millers brilliant graphic novel. The battle scenes are incredibly entertaining and the characteristic blood spraying is as over the top and as graphic as before. However, if I have a complaint about the violence it is this; in '300' although the blood was clearly CGI, it was still shot in a way that felt like people were actually getting hurt and there were even some moments when I winced while watching it. In '300 : Rise Of An Empire', the blood is once again computer generated but it is executed in such a way that feels fake and painless. One of the reasons I like the original '300' so much is that I felt the pain that every single blow of a sword or arrow in the chest had attributed to it. In this film, I didn't at all and this does mean that rather than involving me in the violence and bloodshed, I was taken out of it by it's obvious artificiality. However, this doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy seeing heads being severed and spears going through a body like a hot knife through butter but an investment in the violence would have made the battle screens more intense and palpably painful.

As well as featuring some of '300's original characters, it's sequel introduces us to a number of new faces. In the lead this time we have Sullivan Stapleton playing Themistocles. While he may lack the overall virility of Gerard Butlers' portrayal of King Leonidas, he still brings an air of revenge and loyalty to his performance making for an interesting character and central protagonist. Leading a much bigger army than that of Leonidas, much more pressure and trust is put onto the shoulders of Themistocles and through the use of body language and a number of evocative speeches, Stapleton manages to counteract the evil that is clearly felt throughout the running time of the film. Unlike Leonidas who cared more about the promise of a beautiful death rather than the welfare of his men and his people, Themistocles is the perfect opposite who respects the soldiers who fight by his side and the city in which he lives, once again making for a hero who is easy to invest your emotions in. Best known for his roles in David Michod's crime thriller 'Animal Kingdom' and Rubin Fleischer's neo noir gangster epic 'Gangster Squad', Sullivan Stapleton is becoming much more of a screen prescence and '300 : Rise Of An Empire' showcases him at his best. 

Counteracting the brave and strong Themistocles is the tyrannical Artemesia, a ruthless and cold blooded killer played with ferocity and anger by Eva Green. Beautiful but deadly, Artemesia rivals any of the male villains of the cinema and thanks to her stone cold persona and vicious tongue, Green gives a fantastically crazed but simultaneously controlled performance. Holding her own against the mostly male cast, Green shines out as a highlight of the film and all of her scenes are brutal, sexy and exceptionally bloody. Harboring a soul that would scare Satan himself, Artemesia is one of the best antagonists that I have seen in recent cinema history and one that is sure to bring much darker roles to this usually rosy eyed actress.

Bold, bloody and beautiful, '300 : Rise Of An Empire' is a fantastically fun time at the movies and I look forward to seeing it's inevitable sequel. It's not a masterpiece, it's not intellectual and it's certainly not arty but it's not supposed to be. It is supposed to be a full blooded action epic that focuses on masculinity, war and violence and it does its job perfectly. Of course there are going to be those who criticize the violence and the quite graphic sexual scenes but if you are familiar with Frank Millers groundbreaking graphic novel or Zack Snyder's epochal 2007 action bonanza then you will know exactly what to expect.