300: Rise of an Empire has no ideology, purpose or ambition beyond being blood-and-guts spectacle on a massive scale. If that’s your idea of a great flick, please enjoy. If not, avoid it. In fact, the blood and guts are so prevalent they grow monotonous. Sure, there are lofty voiceovers uttered by Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) that hint at higher thinking but the voiceovers become monotonous, too.
The story is that Persian god-king Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) desires to rule Greece. Invasions are planned; ships are launched. The Persians are led by disaffected Greek Artemisia (Eva Green). She was sold into slavery at a young age and rescued by a Persian who taught her to fight. She gained the favor of the Persian king, and with his son (that's Xerxes) is going to wreak havoc.
I think; none of that matters. This movie is just an exercise in bloodletting. At least we're living in a time when blood can be recreated with computers because the cleanup on set would have taken longer than shooting the battle scenes had the filmmakers had used practical stage blood.
Fun game: Count how many times the Greeks tell each other they're Greek and wait for the odd remix of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" during the closing credits.
[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]
[endif]
300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE
Directed by Noam Murro
With Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green and Lena Headey
Regal Santa Fe Stadium 14
R
103 min.
