300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
Directed by Noam Murro
Starring Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Hans Matheson, Callan Mulvey, David Wenham, Rodrigo Santoro
SYNOPSIS:
Greek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.
Eight years after the Spartans raised hell across Greece in Zack Snyder’s hit film, the long-awaited next chapter of the series based on Frank Miller’s yet-to-be-released comic-book has arrived. Taking place before, during and after the events of the first film, 300: Rise of an Empire follows the rise of the Persian Army, led by Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), who has just been made into a God, and commander Artemisia (Eva Green) who is out for blood after the death of her husband. Standing in the way is a Greek army, led by Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) who refuses to let the Persians have their way.
Obviously designed to “cash-in” from the quite frankly over achievement by its predecessor, everything about 300: Rise of an Empire feels tacky, whilst being one the most boring “blockbusters” of recent memory. The likes of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 or even Transformers: Age of Extinction had a least a flash or two of decent stuff in them, whether it was in the formers lead pairing or the latters obvious visual treats, but nothing here works, except for the fact that it’s only a mere 99 minutes long. But that is stretching it a little.
Across the board, the film fails pretty miserably. It’s lazy and inept direction from Noam Murro (Strange People) oddly isn’t the worst thing about the film, but the director gives no real indication as to why he was hired in the first place; the pace is slow, the action uneventful and his over reliance of the now tired slo-mo gimmicks just reeks of desperation.
The screenplay too, co-written by original director Zach Snyder, is poorly conceived and executed, with little effort to create any real tension or indeed create any compelling characters. Acting as a strange prequel, sequel and spin-off from the original, the script is so convoluted and boring, that it’s a real wonder why Snyder and his producers from film one let this one get made.
That said, the design as you would expect is pretty decent, with the look and feel of Greece and its surroundings territories at least looking the part, but these are small nuggets of gold in an otherwise muddy mess of film.
Even the ever-brilliant Eva Green cannot save this one. She is of course the best element of the film, showing her usual combination of grace and beauty, elevating the film above the bargain-bin awfulness that it so perilously drops into. That said, Green is so much better and indeed classier than this, but you have to admire her courage in still taking on a role that quenched a personal desire despite its obvious flaws.
Outside of Green there really isn’t much to shout about acting wise: Sullivan Stapleton certainly looks the part, but he looks out of his depth for the entire film, and doesn’t have the power to pull this off; Rodrigo Santoro is a decent enough actor, but he too is left struggling with a woefully written character. Lena Headey does her best in similar fashion to Green, but is used more as a voiceover than an on-screen presence, flashing in and out of the deviating narrative.
While 300: Rise of an Empire certainly looks the part, and Eva Green gives it her all, the film fails on every other level. Poorly directed, woefully scripted and lacking in any sort of excitement, 300: Rise of an Empire is one of the dreariest films of the year. Awful.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film ★ / Movie ★
Scott Davis
Originally published October 6, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
