![]() ![]() As the Spartans are dying at Thermopylae, he leads a vastly inferior fleet of Greek ships out to meet the Persians. There can be no dialogue with tyranny, cries Themistokles (Stapleton), the Athenian general. The Athenian "experiment called Democracy" has irritated the Persians, says the narrator, Queen Gorgo of Sparta (Lena Headey). 300 rise of an empire movie full movie series#The series answers like with like, assuming a higher moral ground. "These people saw people's heads off they enslave women … They do not behave by any cultural norms that are sensible to us," he said after the attacks on NYC. The original graphic novel by Frank Miller predates that attack, but he supported the argument: he has described the new enemies of America as "6th century barbarians". The first film, directed by Zack Snyder, was really about the American war against Islamist aggression in the wake of September 11, 2001. Nor did she command the Persian navy, just her own five ships.) (In fact, she was Queen of Caria in what as now Anatolia, and a fine general, according to Herodotus, rather than a sexpot. He emerges from a sacred bath a good metre taller, clinking under several talents of gold, and with an inflated idea of his importance.Īrtemisia, commanding his navy, has a ravening hatred of all Greeks, having spent years as a sex slave on a Greek ship. The 3D is, admittedly, its sole ambition in terms of depth, but treat it as a gargantuan B movie and you’ll have a blast.Sullivan Stapleton in 300: Rise of an Empire.Īfter the death of Darius, she urges Xerxes to go into the desert, where he's transformed into a god-man with a power both "evil and perverse". But visually, there’s a genuine 3D experience on offer here, one that’s both immersive and interactive. Artemisia is the full package: mad, motivated, flamboyant, sociopathic and fond of collecting heads like she’s bringing in the groceries.Īs with its predecessor, Miller’s words, so effective on page, are clunkily adapted into rousing monologues - cut Themistokles and he’d bleed hot air. Elevating the art of scenery-chewing to devouring entire cities, Green’s dominatrix Cleopatra is a gloriously unchained creation. Yet, in the manliest man-world imaginable, it’s Eva Green’s film. This is an exaggeration of 300, in body count, style, size and violence.ģ00’s hyper-style universe, where the moon looks like the Death Star and the Persian base like Mordor-On-Sea, is just asking for hyper-style performances. He is, for the sake of franchise continuity, a proxy Snyder, connected to an intravenous drip of Snyder juice, Snyderfying scenes with billowing slo-mo and gory overkill. ![]() Noam Murro, a commercials director, sets the action at ramming-speed with great visual confidence but little personality. The increase in scale results in a shift in genre: this is a superhero movie in a different cloak. ![]() Set before, during and after Sparta’s last stand, this is the same war on another front - a maritime duel between Sullivan Stapleton’s heroic Themistokles and Eva Green’s psychotic Artemisia who, in a scene of breathtaking gratuitousness, seduces her rival with a pre-battle revenge shag.įrom the first naval campaign, it becomes clear that Zack Snyder’s 300 is, in comparison, a model of restraint. ![]() This is epic cheese, feta from the gods, and clearly proud of it.īased on Frank Miller’s still-in-the-works graphic novel Xerxes, Rise Of An Empire is not a follow-up but a ‘side-sequel’. Fearlessly reviving prehistoric zingers like, “Seize him!”, the heat of battle eventually turns the cast to fondue. What Headey fails to notice is the tsunami of camp poised to thunder through this hack-and-slash spectacular. In a portentous opening voice-over, Lena Headey’s Gorgo warns of death and war and “a tidal wave of blood” - a rare moment of understatement, as it turns out. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |