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KP says: 300: Rise of an Empire (3D) [2014]   Rating: Rating: 4/6   
Updated: 2014-03-07 17:26:36    Type:  movie review     English  View Comment Details   
And so our favourite macho homos are back with their hairless chests and ridiculous sandals and their deadly swords and shields fighting on for their freedom, whatever the cost. This time the color tone is blue instead of red since we now follow Athens and the rest of Greece instead of the red colored Spartans.

Sparta only plays a minor role in this movie that takes place before, at the same time and after the battle of the 300 described in the first movie. This is a pity because Lena Headey gets way too little screen time as Queen Gorgo this way and Lena should really be on the screen all of the time, if you ask me.

We get some background story for Xerxes [Rodrigo Santoro] and how he became a God after his father was killed by the Greeks and we are introduced to Artemisia [Eva Green] who is the leading general of Xerxes and commander of his fleet. At sea she battles fiercely against the Greek navy commanded by Themistokles [Sullivan Stapleton]. At one point he even fights her riding on a seahorse or whatever you call a war horse galloping across several wrecked and sinking ships. Realism has never been a very important thing in the "300" movies.

Stylistically the movie looks like the first Zack Snyder "300" [2006] movie making a real movie out of a graphic novel while it still somehow looks a bit like drawings. I really like the look and feel of it all and the battle scenes are once again very spectacular and violent and perfectly matched by the thundering battle roar from the amazing Dolby Atmos sound system in Copenhagen's Imperial cinema. And to be honest, even the 3D effects were fine, I can't say I hated them in this movie.

While this prequel+sequel works quite fine as an action movie it lacks all that lovely black humor from the first movie and that is a shame. The first movie really benefited from all those hilarious one-liners from King Leonidas and his brave men. Also I am not really happy with Eva Green as the Persian warrior general. She is neither really pretty nor dangerously looking enough to fit the character she is playing. It is not really a problem but it could have been a lot better.

Still I can't really say I was disappointed with the movie and I'll surely give it a replay when it comes out on blu-ray whenever that happens.

Director: Noam Murro
Runtime: 1h42
 
300: Rise of an Empire (3D) [2014] (movie review)
300: Rise of an Empire (3D) [2014] (movie review)
 
Movie reviews:
Dark Shadows [2012]  ♦  Dredd 3D [2012]   ♦  300 [2006]  ♦  The Purge [2013]  ♦  Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (3D) [2014]  ♦  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2D) [2016]