I never really cared for 300. It was fun enough, but dramatically didn't do anything for me. It had its bloody fun, but was also too ridiculous for me to buy. It had gorgeous cinematography, but clunky pacing and campy acting. It worked for who it was made for. But for me, it didn't totally work.
300: Rise of an Empire serves as a completely unnecessary sequel/prequel/spin off that manages to surpass its predecessor in some ways but completely miss the mark in other ways. Visually it absolutely succeeds, becoming more of a Zach Snyder looking movie than the last Zach Snyder movie. (It should be noted that while Snyder wrote and produced 300, Rise of an Empire was directed by Noam Murro, a man who made a movie more stylistically reminiscent of Snyder than Man of Steel was even close to being.) It keeps a bright tone, one which let me feel the heroism of it's absolutely ridiculous soldiers as if it was really happening, and more importantly like it really would be remembered for a thousand years. I loved the villains look, and the design and interpretation of the Persian army was a lot of fun to look at.
But it must be said that Rise of an Empire made one mistake that I found jarring. Rather than focus on the violence, it focused on blood. It seems like a silly point. But 300 made our heroes look powerful and uncompromising by showing the way they fought. Slow motion was used to show how they moved in perfect style, efficiency, and brutality, able to take out soldier after soldier effortlessly. There's an element of that in Rise of an Empire as well, but rather than use slow motion to show off fighting choreography, it uses it to showcase the poorly CGI'd blood flying from bodies in ridiculous ways. The film also was much more aware of its status as a film, often allowing blood to splatter on the camera lens. For an audience that's hyped up to see some heads chopped off, it works. But it left something to be desired for me. I missed appreciating the brains of our bad-ass Spartan soldiers.
There is one person who made this film really enjoyable. That one person is Eva Green as Artemisia, a creepy, sexy, and terrifying warlord leading the Persian Navy. She constantly put a smile on my face, whether it was from her creepy demeanor around her peers and Xerxes, her reactions to the enormous failures from the officers constantly failing her, or her kick-ass fighting which left even the overblown heroes dying in droves at her feet. She's what I always love to see in an action villain - someone who can fight on every front, be it emotional, psychological, or physical destruction. She reminded me so much of Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender (my favorite television show, for those who don't know me).
Overall, Rise of an Empire didn't impress me. But it did give me something to smile about for a bit. Its bloody antics kept me cheering, even if I missed the badass action of the previous 300 film, and it had Eva Green to keep things interesting and fun. I guess that's about all you can really hope to expect from any film in this series.
Rank - 3/5
But it must be said that Rise of an Empire made one mistake that I found jarring. Rather than focus on the violence, it focused on blood. It seems like a silly point. But 300 made our heroes look powerful and uncompromising by showing the way they fought. Slow motion was used to show how they moved in perfect style, efficiency, and brutality, able to take out soldier after soldier effortlessly. There's an element of that in Rise of an Empire as well, but rather than use slow motion to show off fighting choreography, it uses it to showcase the poorly CGI'd blood flying from bodies in ridiculous ways. The film also was much more aware of its status as a film, often allowing blood to splatter on the camera lens. For an audience that's hyped up to see some heads chopped off, it works. But it left something to be desired for me. I missed appreciating the brains of our bad-ass Spartan soldiers.
There is one person who made this film really enjoyable. That one person is Eva Green as Artemisia, a creepy, sexy, and terrifying warlord leading the Persian Navy. She constantly put a smile on my face, whether it was from her creepy demeanor around her peers and Xerxes, her reactions to the enormous failures from the officers constantly failing her, or her kick-ass fighting which left even the overblown heroes dying in droves at her feet. She's what I always love to see in an action villain - someone who can fight on every front, be it emotional, psychological, or physical destruction. She reminded me so much of Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender (my favorite television show, for those who don't know me).
Overall, Rise of an Empire didn't impress me. But it did give me something to smile about for a bit. Its bloody antics kept me cheering, even if I missed the badass action of the previous 300 film, and it had Eva Green to keep things interesting and fun. I guess that's about all you can really hope to expect from any film in this series.
Rank - 3/5
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