|
|
Friday, March 28, 2025
|
|
HOLLYWOOD 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE
EDITOR'S PICK
'300:
Rise of an Empire' - mediocre vengeance drama (IANS Movie Review)
Rating: **1/2
Wonder how many viewers would be interested in another version of the oft
repeated history of ancient Greece? It's the story of how the Persian King
Xerxes, with over 1,000 ships in his fleet, could have easily conquered the
divided Greeks in Circa 480 BC.
Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel Xerxes, the film takes off on
a very verbose expository note by the Spartan Queen Gorgo. Her explanations
weave in the loose ends as well as the backstory of the characters, giving an
insight into the history of the period.
Driven by vengeance, the drama in the 300: Rise of an Empire runs
concurrently to the original 300 but from a different perspective,
the naval warfare. While the earlier film concentrated on the land fight at
Thermopylae, this one concentrates on the battle in the Aegean sea, with the
storyline running in parallel most often.
The inciting moment of the film is when a Greek General Themistokles shoots an
arrow killing the Persian King Darius. Darius's son, Xerxes transforms himself
from a mere human being to the 'Golden God King' and swears revenge by
conquering Greece. In this mission, he is assisted by his fiercest naval
commander Artemisia who is a Greek by birth but was brought up by a Persian.
So while the Spartan King Leonidas engages Xerxes in a land battle at the hot gates, the film concentrates on the showdown between Artemisia
and Themistokles with a far smaller force, in the sea.
The trouble is, even with excellently and cleverly maneuvered tactics on water,
the recurring battle scenes eventually leads to visual fatigue. Though some of
the fight scenes are very well choreographed, it's the blood and gore scenes,
that look very synthetic, especially, when Artemisia chops off a head and the
torso bounces off spurting blood all over. This could be repulsive for some
viewers.
On the performance front, the film belongs to Eva Green. Clad in fitting black
leather, she plays Artemisia from the bottom of her heart. Her actions
throughout the film are notable as hers is the only character that has a
complete arc and any kind of real context.
Cast opposite her is Sullivan Stapleton as Themistokles. Though he is good, he
is not too impressive. He lacks the charisma and aura of a go-getter. But then,
in the scene; after a rough sex brawl with Artemisia, he returns to his camp
with a confused expression on his face - he pulls off this scene with the grace
of an expert. Though he looked silly and muddled, it works appropriately for the
situation.
Lena Heady, who once again plays the Spartan Queen Gorgo, delivers some of the
film's best lines, as well as a few of its most absurd ones.
The screenplay, by Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad, lacks the zing of a thrilling
historical, and overall, the film lacks the wow factor. Though every scene is a
loud spectacle which enhances with the 3D effects, the film slips into a
videogame mode.
Director Noam Murro, who had earlier delivered the romantic comedy Smart
People, has probably found it hard to ape the original narrative structure
of 300, and it shows. The dialogues are too feeble and laboured.
What's more? The characters have inconsistent accents which make the entire
involvement far-fetched.
After half an hour of watching the film, you feel the film rambles and gradually
it becomes monotonous and wearisome.
