Review of 300: Rise of an Empire
By Casey Douglass
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| Image © Warner Bros. Pictures |
I came to the first 300
film (2007) oblivious to both the background history it is loosely
based on and the graphic novel by Frank Miller. While I now know some
of the history, I have yet to pick up the novel, but none of this
really matters. Like its predecessor, 300: Rise of an Empire
is extremely enjoyable in its own right.
Its story runs parallel
to the events happening in the first film, some starting a little
before it, others carrying on from where the original ended. I really
liked this as it was a great chance to find out some of the back
story of Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and other key players in the
conflict.
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| Image © Warner Bros. Pictures |
300: Rise of an
Empire focusses on the travails of Thermistocles (Sullivan
Stapleton) and his naval strategy genius whilst his fellow countrymen
are defending the Hot Gates with King Leonidas. Basically, 300:
Rise of an Empire is the first film but at sea on big ships. In
my opinion, that is a good thing!
What I did find
surprising was that Xerxes was not in the film a great deal. I don’t
know why I thought he might, as thinking back he hardly stole the
show in the first. Maybe it was just a hope that he would get his
hands dirty this time. He had a flashback which did give some great
insight into his path to becoming “a god” but the Persian side of
the show was very much run be Eva Green’s Artemisia, commander of
the Persian fleet.
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| Image © Warner Bros. Pictures |
I’m also not a great
lover of naval warfare. Too much sea and choppy waves just bores me
as a rule but I did find the ship to ship combat as riveting as the
land based face-offs in the first film. That is the crux of the
matter really. Both films are built around stand-off, clash, victory,
clash, slight defeat, escalation, bigger clash, until they culminate
in some grand-standing finale that would need some kind of
mathematical savant to calculate the number of dead and the pints of
blood spilt. That is what I watch them for! To get those goosebumps
when brutal shit happens and to enjoy the chaos of battle in the
safest way possible through a cinema screen.
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| Image © Warner Bros. Pictures |
Talking of screens, I
was lucky enough to watch the film in IMAX 3D and it was excellent.
There were some scenes blatantly designed for the 3D, like the swing
of Xerxe's massive axe but for the most part the 3D was functional
without being distracting. I think I value IMAX for the extra size
and the sound quality. I always feel like my trouser cuffs are
flapping around when the bass hits in our local screen. If a film
won’t move you in an IMAX, it never will.
I give 300: Rise of
an Empire 5/5, purely because it gave me what I myself wanted. A
shitstorm wrapped in the dressings of comic style brutality and with
a tremendous soundtrack that accompanies the action like the trumpets
of hell.
