Indeed, it’s only because of the fire in the few survivors’ bellies at the end of the first “300” that the film feels remotely like a triumph: sure, 299 of their best men got slaughtered, but now their lesser-trained backups are super pissed-off, readying themselves to fight and, if necessary, to die in defense of their country.
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The great thing about the first film is that it never lets you forget you’re hearing a story – a kind of übermensch myth-making that excites soldiers and inspires nationalism regardless of the odds that are being faced.
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Refused help from Sparta by Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), Themistocles assembles a small army of free men and employs naval strategy to impede the Persians from striking land.īut after finding his ranks decimated by the sheer volume of forces being controlled by Queen Artemisia (Eva Green), Persia’s most formidable general, Themistocles begins to reconsider the actual cost to his men – and to his country - of pursuing a so-called noble death. Taking place concurrently with the first film, “Rise of an Empire” stars Sullivan Stapleton (TV’s “Strike Back”) as Themistocles, an Athenian general who resorts to battling Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his conquering Persian armies only after exhausting all efforts to unite Greece as a democratic nation. Watch video: Eva Green, Sullivan Stapleton Mix Business With Pleasure in New ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ Trailer (Video) But “Rise of an Empire” lacks director Snyder’s shrewd deconstruction of cartoonish hagiography, undermining the glorious, robust escapism of testosterone-fueled historical reenactment with an underdog story that feels almost too reflective to be rousing. Working from a script by the original “300” team of Frank Miller, Kurt Johnstad and Zack Snyder, director Noam Murro (“Smart People”) inherits the first film’s gold-dipped, speed-ramped camerawork and its penchant for heroic largesse.
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Although it probably works just as well as its 2006 predecessor, “300: Rise of An Empire” seems a lot siller than “300,” perhaps because it takes itself a lot more seriously.