Tag: frank miller

Can it really be seven years? Yes indeed, it’s almost seven years to the day that Zack Snyder’s big screen adaptation of Frank Miller’s historical graphic novel 300 exploded at theatres with a roar to rival a platoon twice the size. It utilized modern movie tech wizardry to re-energize the sword and sandal epic. This was not your father’s SPARTACUS. Fighters leaped and fought with tremendous ferocity (and lots of gore) against stylized backdrops which brought Miller’s bigger-than-life heroes and villains to cinematic life. And it made Gerard Butler a big-time movie star (soon to be mired in rom-com Hell). Just this year we’ve gotten some lesser works, no doubt inspired by 300’s box office power, such as THE LEGEND OF HERCULES and POMPEII (along with a new cable TV spin on the aforementioned Spartacus). You might’ve thought it was a shame that there couldn’t be a sequel since (SPOILER ALERT!) the 300 warriors didn’t live to the end credits (SPOILER DONE!). Come now, Hollywood is pretty clever in that department. And it turns out that Mr. Miller did do a follow-up novel of sorts (although Snyder serves as a producer this time out). And so, let’s journey back to the bad ole’ violent days of the 400’s (BC) for 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE.

As the film begins, beautiful Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) is inspiring her fellow Spartans with a the tale of a battle several years ago. That’s when the commander of the naval fleet of Athens, Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) dealt a death-blow (via arrow) to the then leader of Persia, King Darius. Later, at his palace, Darius succombs to his wounds surrounded by his son and his spiritual daughter Artemisia (Eva Green), who is in fact a Greek! As a child she was the only survivor of an attack by the Persians on her Greek village. Years later, after constant abuse and left for dead, she is taken in and trained by one of the king’s main guards. She soon becomes a fierce warrior. While the grief-striken prince travels the land, Artemisia builds up the Persian fleet. Later the prince is transformed into the towering “God on earth” Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and returns to the palace where the two plot to conquer Greece. Xerxes will attack Sparta while Artemisia will take on Athens. Themistokles believes the country’s only hope is for the cities of Greece to unite. Traveling to Sparta he is too late to meet with King Leonidas, but Gorgo tells him that her husband and his band will easily defeat the invading forces. Rebuked, Themistokles has no choice but to return to his meager naval fleet and attempt to prevail against the superior numbers of Artemisa’s vast sea armada.

The new lead warrior here, Stapleton as Themistokles, as some big sandals to fill and unfortunately comes up a bit short of the charismatic, bellowing, blustery Butler from the previous flick. Stapleton looks good in battle and delivers an adequate speech to the troops (all the “freedoms” and “glories” seem to be leftover snippets from BRAVEHEART), but, as he himself states, he has no life aside from battle. Luckily he’s matched against the scene-stealing (and scenery-chewing) Green as the cunning, cruel, and campy Artemisia. She struts across her ship’s deck as if working a fashion-show catwalk in her spike-y, S & M leather best, her sunken dead, dark eyes darting about, hoping that one of those foolish men will challenge her (so that she may cut him down). From her introduction her demeanor almost promises depravity (and often delivers). I can see her as a popular Halloween costume favorite for years to come. Santoro, as her brother-in-arms Xerxes has little to do other than taking giant strides in order to pose overlooking his massive army. Heady gets to flaunt her warrior skills here more than in her initial outing, but we see too little of her. There’s a bickering father/son Athenian duoas the most prominent of the Greek troupe, but most of the sailors are presented as “eye candy” and battle-axe fodder.

The new film basically tries to echo its predecessor with little new to offer. Perhaps the addition of 3D makes the images even murkier than in 2007. It doesn’t help that nearly all the battles seem to take place right before dawn or right after dusk. You almost want to take a cleaning cloth to the projector lens to rub off the dull sienna and ochre tones. But the blood is vibrant vermillion, of course, and there’s plenty of it. It gushes, practically exploding at the lens, as combatants hack away at each other amid spinning limbs and heads, often hovering in mid-blow. But while the first flick was talked about thanks to its innovative battles, a violent sex sequence will probably be the scene that’s best remembered from this outing. Otherwise, it’s a feeling of “been there, slashed that” during much of the run time. Do try to stick around for the end credits which animates Miller’s original comic panels. Let’s hope this is the last of this dark and dour “battle porn” and these warriors can put take their 8 and 12 pack abs in storage and take a good long rest.

2.5 Out of 5