300: Rise Of An Empire

300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

41% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 165 reviews)

Runtime: 102 minutes

Directed by: Noam Murro

Starring: Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headley, Hans Matheson, Callan Mulvey

From: Warner Brothers/Legendary Pictures

Yep, as typical most of this review is from my Letterboxd review. It explains how I saw this movie on the big screen last night and how even to my surprise I gave it 4 out of 5 stars, a full star more than the first 300.

The plot courtesy of the IMDb: “Greek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.” It takes place at the same time as the first movie.

So, I saw this movie last night on the big screen. If you're wondering how, AMC Theatres has a promotion all summer where Monday through Wednesday nights they show one slightly old film for only 3 bucks and all the proceeds go to charity; it's a cool concept and most of the films are genre efforts like this. As I heard some surprisingly strong praise for this movie from reliable people, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to see it on the big screen.

I am sure people are wondering why I would rate this a full star higher than the first 300, or why I'd rate it so high in general. I realize it's not a popular opinion and I am OK with that. While this movie has some of the same issues as 300 (historical inaccuracy, general stupidity, goofy dialogue) I thought this definitely had less of the “douche-y bro-ness” of the original film, the story was generally more interesting to me (getting to know the antagonists better does help) and it has some memorable visuals, a cool musical score from Junkie XL and a lot of bloody violence.

To me I got a sleazy exploitation vibe from it. There are some gross elements and it only takes approximately one minute to see a topless lady. Speaking of women showing their breasts... Sullivan Stapleton (from the TV show Strike Back) does a fine job as the hero but honestly, who steals the show is Eva Green as the villain. What a gonzo role it is; she has to do some pretty crazy things and yet she went all in and she was great as an obsessed woman looking for revenge and everything revolving around her is oh so memorable, including an unforgettable scene with Stapleton.

Before the movie came out (and I did think it was very stupid how it suffered from the awful trend of studios pushing back a film's release date many months and at the last moment) I never would have thought I'd enjoy it as much as I did, but I am thankful I gave it a chance as I really did enjoy it.

I'll return tomorrow night.