300: Rise Of an Empire Review

Image from collider.com

People seemed confused whether this was going to be a pre sequel, or sequel from the last Zack Snyder’s last film ‘300’, the cast in interviews seemed to be being a bit hush hush about it. 

After seeing the film I can say it’s a bit of both. The first part of the film is filling in the gaps before 300. Explaining how the Greeks and the Persians ended up having a war and the birth of the “God King” Xerxes. A majority of the film is set at the same time as the first 300 movies. Basically this film is showing us what was happening on the navy side of the war whilst the first film was showing us what the Spartan army was doing. Then the last bit of the film is technically a sequel. So it’s a sequel in a sense but not really. 

"300, up to 11. The foot-in-mouth direlogue is an Achilles’ heel, but this campy gore-opera is bursting with guilty pleasures. See it large: the 3D is killer.” Simon Crook, Empire Online Reviews. 

"Lacking the visual wit of its predecessor, Noam Murro's stereoscopic (non)sequel simply presents a moshpit of men in leather skirts going "Graaaaaarrrgjhhhhh!" while splattering post-Zatoichi digital blood with their sloshing swords and glistening chests. In a half-hearted bid to bridge the gender divide, co-writers Snyder and Kurt Johnstad offer up not one but two warrior queens, although the leering gaze remains resolutely male...” Mark Kermode, Observer Film Review.

It was also nice to see Jack O’Connell in a film made and produced over seas. As sad as that sounds, but I get the feeling that a British actress / actor has done well for themselves when they appear in a high budget American film. Jack O’Connell was famously “Cook” in ’Skins’, and more recently played a role in ‘Harry Brown’. 

I think the film is pretty good. I also think the first film was a revolution when it came out, not so much in the story, but more in the visuals and the feel good factory of boyish violence and cool fight scenes, some films should just be about that. 

Obviously the film is probably not going to change your life. You can probably tell this watching the advert. However the film is fun. If you’re a fan of gore, pop art violence and sets, as well as sex scenes then why not? People don’t always go to the cinema to see beautiful films, with beautiful actresses and actors, with beautiful or realistic plots. Sometimes you just wanna watch a guy ride a horse across a Greek battle ship, jump on to a Persian battle ship and cut people up. There’s nothing wrong with that. 

Empire Online - March 2014, Simon Crook

The Observer - March 2014, Mark Kermode