Movies: 300: Rise of an Empire

Score:  **1/2 out of ***** (C-)

Long Story Short:  Seven years later, the long-expected sequel to the surprise hit 300 arrives in theaters.  Although it tries to offer up some variety with a naval setting and a female enemy, 300: Rise of an Empire is more of the same - but worse.  Newcomer Eva Green is fun but the other humans are either just meat cleavers or the cleaved.  Add a butchered story and incessant, numbing repetition of action and you've got a film that most should avoid.


After a nice run of movies early in the year, my prediction of a short drought proved accurate.  Looking ahead again, I'm not sure which films I'll see next and when (I've got my eye on a few), so we'll just wait and see.  My decision to see 300: Rise of an Empire was driven primarily by desire to see a fun action film; since Liam Neeson's latest clone of Taken didn't interest me, I chose this one.  I saw 300 in the theater back in 2007; I wasn't nearly as impressed as some but at least it was unique.  Previews showcasing naval battles and - shock! - a female main character gave the impression that this wouldn't just be a carbon copy of the first.  Despite middling reviews (43% on RT), I went ahead with it.  300: Rise of an Empire was directed by Noam Murro and stars Sullivan Stapleton and Eva Green.

The first act of this sequel is an extended prologue, narrated by Spartan Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey).  Prior to the events of 300, Athenian General Themistocles (Stapleton) led his troops in defending Greece from a Persian invasion.  In the process, he kills the Persian King Darius with the king's son Xerxes at his side.  Persia retreats and grieves its king, but a cunning naval commander, Artemisia (Green), convinces Xerxes that he must exact revenge on the Greeks.  The Greeks discover the imminent invasion, but are divided on how to respond.  The proud Spartans refuse to cooperate, instead sending the famous three hundred to defend their own land.

It's up to General Themistocles, then, to try to stop as much of the Persian fleet as he can before it reaches Greece.  Though outnumbered, he quickly shows tactical brilliance and develops a rivalry with Artemisia.  The fate of Greece hangs in the balance as Themistocles tries to hold off the Persian hordes at sea while Leonidas (in the background; see 300) does the same on land.

The cast of 300: Rise of an Empire is not very good overall; the filmmakers clearly prioritized fit bodies over talented thespians.  Leading the charge in this sequel is Sullivan Stapleton (what a name!).  While I'd hardly call Gerard Butler a great actor, he was a much better choice (as Leonidas in 300) for this kind of film than Sullivan.  He's simply bland; nothing distinguishes him at all.  When he started to launch into one of many "pep talks", my attention immediately began to wander.  Fortunately, at least his co-star, Eva Green, is intriguing to watch.  Green, in stark contrast, is highly distinctive and the one human worthy of attention in the film.  She isn't just a girl who happens to be on the enemy team - she is more sadistic than any of her brethren.  Unfortunately, despite being leader of an army, Artemisia ends up being another cliched female villain - using her sex as a weapon (which the hero enjoys momentarily then rejects as beneath him) and ultimately losing the war due to her "feminine" arrogance and emotionality.

OK, OK, you might be saying.  The acting might be bad, but that's not the point of these films!  It's all about the action/violence and visual effects!  Don't worry, that is certainly the case.  Despite a bizarrely long prologue which leads to an unnecessarily complicated yet arbitrary plot, there are precious few minutes in which blood is not being spilt.  For the first few minutes, it's kind of neat to watch the stylized violence (this coming from a young man).  However, it gets a bit dull and numbing after, oh, the fiftieth kill or so - and there are still about a thousand to go.  300 ran into the same problem to some degree, but they mixed things up considerably better.  And the naval battles?  Boring (with the exception of one neat engagement).  Much of the failure in this area is due to the "despite the fact that the enemies are more numerous and powerful, they are also dumb as ****" syndrome.  The special effects are well done, technically speaking, but they just pile on more and more rather than making it truly special (other than a few instances).  To conclude, there were a number of times that I laughed, but I believe only once was I supposed to (during the sex scene of all places).

***

It's official - 300: Rise of an Empire is the first dud of the year (that I've seen).  I probably should have been more prepared for it; considering my lukewarm feelings about 300, it was never likely that the sequel would be any better (and, in fact, it's significantly worse).  On the other hand, it's kind of fun, in a mean way, to write reviews for films of this quality.  Much easier to write about what a film does badly than about what it does well.  And this film isn't all bad; I didn't give it an F or even a D, after all.  Eva Green's Artemisia is entertaining to watch (even if the script slowly destroys her), a few of the battles are interesting, and it's visually unique.  Of course, the ridiculous/cliched/bland plot, lack of interesting characters other than Artemisia, and numbing abundance of (over)kills far outweigh the positives.  I'd only recommend this if you were crazy about 300 - and even then, you still won't like this one as much as the first.