It’s been seven years since Zack
Snyder’s stylish adaptation of Frank Miller’s blood-splashed swords-and-sandals
graphic novel ‘300,’ played to Abs-olute perfection by Gerard Butler, among
others. Loosely based on the epic Battle
of Thermopylae in 480 BC, when 300 Spartan hoplites (and allies which increased
their numbers to around 7,000), sold their lives dearly at a narrow pass
against a Persian army numbering over 100,000.
With a worldwide gross of $456 million on a ‘mere’ budget of $65
million, the only surprise is that it took Hollywood this long to make a
sequel.
‘300: Rise of an Empire’ is neither
a sequel nor a prequel, but a ‘in the meantime’-quel which steps back and takes
a look at the bigger picture. You see,
before the 300 Spartans marched off to immortality in the name of democracy and
freedom, an Athenian general named Themistocles tried to forge an alliance with
Sparta to fight the Persians but was rebuffed, as Sparta was fiercely
independent and looked upon the hoplites of other Greek city‑states,
particularly those of cultured Athens, with an attitude bordering on contempt. Even though Themistocles was the hero of the
Battle of Marathon ten years prior and a respected strategist, he could not
persuade Queen Gorgo (King Leonida’s wife played by Lena Headley) to pool the
Spartan ships with Athens’ into a stronger navy. ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ recounts the Battle of
Salamis, the naval battle which took place while the Spartans made the
sacrifices necessary for Greece to win the war on land later in the Battle of
Plataea.
Like its predecessor, ‘300: Rise
of an Empire’ is as beautiful and stylish as it is brutal and bloody, filled
with breathtaking poetry and savagery.
The battle scenes, rendered in the muted tone that is a common feature of
movies adapted from Frank Miller graphic novels, are mesmerizing to watch, perfectly
choreographed dances-of-death with computer-generated
blood splashes, disembowelments and decapitations.
The movie features two charismatic
and compelling commanders, the aforementioned Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) and Persian
admiral Artemisia (Eva Green), as they try to outwit and outmaneuver each other
in a battle that was arguably as crucial as the Battle of Thermopylae in saving
Greece. Eva Green delivered a
marvelously malevolent (and sexy) performance as the tragic Artemisia, and I have
not seen a more tenacious or badass villainess since Olga Kurylenko in Neil
Marshall’s historical Roman chase thriller ‘Centurion.’
Grade: A-
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