It sits somewhere in between prequel and sequel and provides an interesting look at the legendary figures of ancient Greece and Persia. Producer: Gianni Nunnari, Mark Canton, Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder and Bernie Goldmannģ00: Rise of an Empire is a perfect follow up to 2006’s 300. Starring: Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro Written by Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad (screenplay), based on graphic novel “Xerxes” by Frank Miller Roadshow Pictures presents a film by Noam Murro Reviewed by Nicki Newton-Plater on March 30th, 2014 The characterization of the democratic Greeks (noble and scarred, bearded but chest-waxed) and the theocratic Persians (proto-Nazi berserkers dressed by Lady Gaga) is sheer nonsense.By Nicki Newton-Plater 300: Rise of an Empire – Film Review It's unlikely, however, that either woman resembled a Marvel Comics superheroine quite so much as they do here.Ĭo-written by 300 director Zach Snyder, the script is based on Frank Miller's unfinished graphic novel, Xerxes, which draws on Hellenistic writer Herodotus (aka "the father of lies"). Also genuine is Sparta's Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), who serves as the narrator. There really was an Artemisia, although the backstory the movie provides is fiction. Random scraps of this scenario are historically true. No wonder Green's character is the film's most memorable, and loads more fun than Stapleton's earnest Themistokles. Rise of an Empire has such a thing for decapitations that severed noggins become almost routine, but only Artemisia thinks to lift a freshly separated head and kiss it on the lips. She leads repeated sallies against the Greeks, and never seems happier than when fighting one-on-one with implements that elicit what she calls "the ecstasy of steel and flesh." Other turn-ons: leather breastplates, setting things on fire and slaying ineffective subordinates. Luckily, the Persian king can count on Artemisia, who shares his goth-punk fashion sense but is much more focused on combat.
The way he struts around - gleaming, pierced and nearly naked - it appears that what Xerxes really wants is to be on the cover of L'Uomo Vogue. So Darius' brooding son Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) seems to crave vengeance against the Athenian, although it's hard to tell for sure. Themistokles, it turns out, is the guy who took out Darius, the Persian king who led a failed assault on Greece 10 years earlier. While those 300 Spartans fight invading Persians on land, Athens-born Themistokles leads a Greek-coalition fleet against a much larger Persian armada. It's an effect that soon becomes numbing - but then so does everything else in Israeli director Noam Murro's drab, repetitive sequel to 2006's 300.Īctually, Rise of an Empire isn't exactly a sequel it's more of a simul-quel, since most of the action takes place at the same time as the battle in the earlier film. They're all primed to mangle, skewer and dismember each other, generally at angles that send red-black CGI blood spurting directly at 3-D-specs-wearing viewers. The other characters in this movie, a superstylized battle epic that doubles as an S&M comedy, suffer no such confusion. But then Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) and Artemisia (Eva Green) can't decide if they want to make love or war. Talk about meeting cute: The first time they're alone together, the protagonists of 300: Rise of an Empire rip each other's clothes off. With Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey Rated R graphic violence, sex scene, partial nudity, profanity
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