300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

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nTitle: 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

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nDirector:  Noam Murro

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nCast:  Eva Green, Sullivan Stapleton, Rodrigo Santoro

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nHere’s a movie that I had extremely low hopes for…yet endednup loving the hell out of! I love it when that happens. Why was I ready for 300:nRise of an Empire to be a stinker? Well, a couple of factors had diverted my judgment,nnumber one, Zack Snyder was not returning as a director and that to menimmediately brought the film down a couple of notches for me because in myneyes, it was Snyder’s stylish visuals that made 300 (2006) such a winner.nNumber two, I didn’t know who the hell this new director was, when I look himnup he’s only directed one other film called Smart People (2008), which I stillnhaven’t seen, so I had nothing telling me that this new guy had what it took tonmake a decent sequel to 300. I mean, his only theatrical release was a dramaticncomedy, what did that have to do with special effects and action? Nothing. Tonme this new director was simply hired to ape Snyder’s style in order to make ansimilar looking sequel, to cash in on the success of the original. So yeah,nthose were the factors that made me judge 300: Rise of the Empire harshly beforenI’d even laid eyes upon it, something I rarely do. So anyhow, positive reviewsnand great word of mouth made me give this one a go and boy was I wrong! Thisnmovie rocks!

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n300 Rise of an Empire has a very original concept behind it:nit’s not exactly a sequel or a prequel, 300: Rise of an Empire actually happensnparallel to 300, so while King Leonidas and his 300 where kicking ass in Thermopylae,nthis film is happening simultaneously in Athens. I don’t even know what to callna film that happens parallel to another? So anyhow, I thought that was annoriginal concept, so original I don’t even have a word for it! So anyhow, thisntime around we follow Themistocles as he and his naval fleets go up againstnXerxes and his ever growing empire. Will the Spartans decide to help Themistoclesngo up against Xerxes? Can they put a stop to the despotic leader?

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nFirst up, I recommend you pony up the extra dough and go seenthis one 3-D, it really exploits what 3-D technology has to offer, in othernwords, the film doesn’t feel like a cheap last minute 3-D conversion;  blood will practically splatter on your face, axesnwill almost cut your nose!  Trust me, you’llnlove it. Of all the preconceived ideas I had about this movie, I was right aboutnone of them: director Noam Murro is trying to deliver a film similar in stylento what Zack Snyder and crew created with the first film, and we can’t reallynblame the director for this because I’m pretty sure that one of thenrequirements from the studio was to not mess with the formula and give thenpeople more of what they loved from the first film. And 300: Rise of the Empirendoes just that, it gives us more of what we loved about the first film; stylishnvisuals, tons of blood and sand, rousing speeches and awesome battle sequences.nFunny thing is, I can’t say I didn’t like it. You know how some peoplencomplaint about the use of slow motion in these films? I don’t, I freakingnloved it! I wanted to take in these beautiful visuals in slow motion, there’s justnso much to look at. The film is eye candy, it has a lot to offer to yournpupils! Trust me! Best part about the whole thing is that it does feel likenFrank Miller’s drawings coming to life. In his comic book work, Frank Millernhas always been all about style, and the images on the film reflect that. Bynthe way, if you like this film, you should try and find Frank Miller’s Xerxes, a five issue story that’s going to be released through Dark Horse Comics. Funny how the movie came out well before the book! Still, I don’t think we’ll be dissapointed with what Miller is working on. 

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nThis films strengths lie in its visuals, and I’m a suckernfor films that have a strong visual sense. I didn’t want to stop looking at thenscreen, I mean, this is a well constructed film, the people behind it made surenthat the viewer wouldn’t be bored for a second, there’s many exciting andnvisually interesting moments here. You know how most films have this formulanwhere it’s a big explosive opening sequence, then we pull back and slow it downnand then something cool in the middle and slow it down and so forth till thenend? Well, on this one it’s cool stuff happening all the time! One of the coolest things about the film is how much of it focuses on the battles that were waged at sea, between these huge ships! At times it almost felt like a pirate film in that sense. Honestly? This is the kind of film I like to watch more than once at the theater, I wouldn’t bensurprised if I caught myself seeing it one more time in 3-D. Another plus fornme was that on top of the awesome visuals, we actually get a decent story. Howncool is it that we get to see how Xerxes became Xerxes? Very cool to let us innon that back story.

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nOn the negative side of things Sullivan Stapleton as Themistoclesnis a poor replacement for the awesomeness of Gerard Butler’s Leonidas.nStapleton’s Themistocles, comes off as too soft spoken to be the commander of suchna savage army. I’m not saying he does a bad job as Themistocles, I’m justnsaying that in comparison, Butler’s Leonidas was way more explosive andnintense. But everything evens out because we get Eva Green who brings intensitynto her Artemisia, she’s a highlight of the film. Last words on 300: Rise of annEmpire: it kicks ass, great action, never boring, awesome visuals and anothernthing, this is without a doubt the bloodiest movie of the year! A film veryndeserving of it’s R rating, it has blood, decapitations, nudity and violencengalore! Frank Miller would be proud! I didn’t know who this new director was,nbut after seeing 300: Rise of an Empire, I say he’s earned my respect, the filmnhas some visually impressive moments and camera angles, you’ll be blown away,nthis one was made to be enjoyed in a movie theater, go see it!

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nRating: 5 out of 5    

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