Official Synopsis
The story pits the Greek general Themistocles against the massive invading Persian forces, ruled by the mortal-turned-god Xerxes, and led by Artemisia, the vengeful commander of the Persian navy.
Knowing his only hope of defeating the overwhelming Persian armada will be to unite all of Greece, Themistocles ultimately leads the charge that will change the course of the war.
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The story starts off well enough. We get a backstory of how Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) came to power thanks to the death of his father from the arrow of Greek general Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton). It’s a logical backstory which would explain Xerxes unquenchable desire to conquer Greece and all its neighboring kin in an act of revenge for his father’s death. This is a great way for Xerxes’ life to be explained and it also leaves an opening for an extra character to throw into the mix, the enormously evil, and crazy, Artemisia (Eva Green), who helps to push and lead Xerxes into power, but at the same time setting him up for flaws.
The story shifts into the time prior to the last 300 film. We have Themistocles, now a Greek politician, trying to convince senators and military that they’ve got to prepare for an impending Persian attack. This means not giving into Persian demands, but rather gathering an army of all friends/foes of Greece to ban together and fight Xerxes.
Surprisingly, at this moment in the film, I realized that 300: Rise of an Empire is borrowing from the original 300 film called The 300 Spartans (1962) from 20th Century Fox (didn’t know that existed, did you?). You get a lot of true turmoil from within the Greek senate that is debating whether to surrender to the Persians or risk losing everything. You would think that the last 300 film proved that action can win over story, but 300: Rise of an Empire actually shows some depth to it because of the borrowed storylines. It makes the movie a bit more grounded, which is difficult once you see all the action that director Noam Murrro has in store for you during some intense battle scenes.
Anyway, Themistocles’ military wisdom wins out with the senate and Greece prepares for battle, while also searching out help from the Spartans and other groups. The story moves forward, almost at a parallel to the first 300 film. It’s as if they’re literally fighting on the other side of the island, while the poor Spartans are getting their asses handed to them. Of course, the Greeks are doing better than the Spartans due to the leadership of Themistocles.
Before we continue, I must compliment the thinking of Murro and his writers. You can see how they didn’t want to make a sequel, rather just a story of what was going on while the Spartans were getting drilled by the Persians. That not only keeps the 300 audience on familiar ground, but it also helps to patch up a few things that really didn’t get explain in the first film. It’s a fantastic structure, and pacing to this point, that will sadly not last.
The story shifts gears a bit and begins to lose its footing. Themistocles has been kicking the ass of Artemisia (and her boats) all over the ocean. His knowledge of attack positions, precise movements and what it takes to get the Persians off the waves is nothing short of brilliant. Artemisia knows this, so she sends a boat to collect him for a discussion. Pretty normal stuff in a military-based film. But then we get an unnecessary sex scene between Themistocles and Artemisia that turns the tide of Greeks’ luck. I don’t fully understand why the sex scene is the catalyst for the movie, or why its even in there, but its there and it decides to be that factor that shifts the winning team (Greeks) into the losing team. I’m sure there is symbolism somewhere in the mix, but as a movie goer looking for a film about men killing men, we don’t really need a deep seeded message about the desire of man and how flawed a hero can be.
It’s simply unnecessary to the structure and flow of 300: Rise of an Empire.
After Themistocles arrives back on shore, the Greeks start losing men left and right. They become disenchanted with Themistocles’ leadership (for no good reason) and the story starts taking a dive in the structure department. In traditional hero form, Themistocles eventually does redeem himself and the tides of good fortune turn in the favor of the Greeks. One last fight between Themistocles and Artemisia ensues and — I’ll leave the story from that point on.
I felt that half of this movie was on track to trump the last film. The heavy story elements were a change from non-stop action that Zach Snyder delivered with the first movie. I like an even balance of story and action, and 300: Rise of an Empire almost delivers that to its audience. I just think the sex scene was unnecessary. It didn’t really make sense on how Themistocles, who has an old military mind in the midst of a war, suddenly decides its necessary to control Artemisia and show her his dominance. It actually puts an ugly blight on Themistocles, as well as takes everything that director Noam Murro has built up and throws it all away. He formed Themistocles into this beautiful figure, who was flawed already in the film, as he did start pretty much give birth to Xerxes reign. It takes all of that build and backstory and simply trashes it. It’s an odd turn for much of a nothing scene. There were many different paths that dip could have started on, but the sex scene shouldn’t have been one of them.
Granted the film does its best to recover from it, and it somewhat succeeds towards the end, but it really shouldn’t have been the catalyst that tips the Persians into good fortune. It was weird and oddly placed, and again unnecessary in the story’s scheme of things. I’m not certain who made that decision to write that part in, but it just didn’t make much sense as a turning point in the story.
With that said, the movie is leaps and bounds better than 300 when it comes to story. I really do appreciate the fact that Murro and writers wanted to do more to bring these characters to life. Giving them depth and fully explaining the background of the heroes and enemies helps to make a better film. Don’t get me wrong, the action was beautiful in 300, but that is really all there was in the film. 300: Rise of an Empire was far better in the story department and attempted (a good attempt) at delivering a balanced action/story to its audience. I do appreciate that about the movie, even though it stumbles in the middle.
I am also impressed with the acting from Sullivan Stapleton, as our hero Themistocles. The guy led the film pretty well, especially after following in the footsteps of a loud/boisterous/ripped Gerard Butler as King Leonidas. It was tough to trump that fellow, but I think Sullivan did it.
Opposite of him is the crazy-eyed Eva Green as Artemisia. While I think she still needed to put on a bit more muscle, her performance as the broken outcast who was left to die in the gutter is nothing short of brilliant. Plus, I could listen to the actor talk all damn day. She has a creepy, resounding voice that demands respect. She always brings her ‘A’ game, even when the movie she is in doesn’t.
Anyway, 300: Rise of an Empire is a good follow-up to 300. It certainly has its flaws in story, but the fact that it brings a story (a competent one) to the mix makes it worth your time and effort.
As for the Blu-ray portion of the film, it’s damn good. Of course, when you have a large amount of green screen going on with well-crafted CGI, it’s tough to have visual flaws. I will say that the sets used seemed to be a bit more extensive than its predecessor. That helps with the visuals and gives some great HD moments during the movie, especially during the ocean scenes. I think it certainly looks a lot better than the first film and really carries its yellows, blacks and whites very remarkably. Lots of pretty is waiting for you in this HD release, with almost zero compression or color banding. Another Warner Home Video home run in the Blu-ray department.
The sound in this one is delivered to you in Dolby Digital 7.1 and the film aspect ratio is 2.4:1.
Finally, as for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
– The 300 Effect
o 3 Days in Hell
o Brutal Artistry
o A New Breed of Hero
o Taking the Battle to the Sea
– Real Leaders & Legends
– Women Warriors
– Savage Warships
– Becoming a Warrior
This is a lot of features for a film like 300: Rise of an Empire. You get some interesting history, as well as some solid insight about what the filmmakers were thinking as they were putting the movie together. The only thing really missing here is some solid commentary from Snyder and Murro. All in all, a good set of features for a decent-good film.