300: Rise of an Empire is the sequel to the 2006 hit 300. The film is based on the Frank Miller's graphic novel Xerxes which has not yet been released as of this post. The film is mostly set during the Battle of Artemisium and then the Battle of Salamis between the Persian Navy led by Artemisia (Eva Green) and Athenian Navy led by Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton).
The film began with Queen Gorgo (Lena Heady) telling the story about the Battle of Marathon where Themistocles shot the arrow that led to the death of Persian King Darius I (Yigal Naor) and the eventual transformation of Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) to the "God-King" and set out to conquer Greece. The story then switches to Thermopylae where Themistocles meets with the council and convinces them to engage the Persian navy. The Greek Navy and Persian Navy battled for two days with the Greeks winning which led to Artemisia inviting Themistocles to her ship and offers him to be on her side. But he refuses which led her to seek revenge by destroying most of the Greek navy the following day and killing Scyllas (Callan Mulvey), Themistocles' friend. Thinking that she has killed Themistocles, Artemisia retreats. But Themistocles survives and learn of Leonidas and the 300 have been killed which led to a united Greece. He then leads a small fleet of Greek forces at Salamis and as he battle Artemisia. Queen Gorgo led Spartan Navy and and other allied armies surrounding the Persian navy forcing a retreat from Xerxes.
Is it a sequel?
300: Rise of an Empire is a sequel, well sort of. The film happen before and during the Battle of Salamis whereas the first movie was more of the exploits of Leonides and the 300 and what happen in Sparta.
Like:
The visual effects and the CGI is stunning with the film keeping its unique look of bringing a "comic-book" into life. This second film is definitely more gory with more bloods splattering and mangled body parts all throughout the film. The battle sequence are well choreographed and that "slow-mo" motion was well-placed on the sequence of the film. The storytelling was superb - giving viewers a quick but no-nonsense history of the main characters. Acting were excellent especially Eva Green and Sullivan Stapleton. Kudos to Lena Heady who transformed Gorgo from just being a queen to a warrior queen.
Dislike:
This film didn't have the "omph" like the first film. There were "huh" moments.
Overall:
The movie is great but not as great as the first film. But I would still highly recommend the film. Don't forget to watch it in 3D to make it more of a life-like experience.
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