300: Rise of an Empire

THE PITCH

WORTH

$$$

THE VIEWING


"It begins as a whisper... a promise... the lightest of breezes dances above the death cries of 300 men. That breeze became a wind. A wind that my brothers have sacrificed. A wind of freedom... a wind of justice... a wind of vengeance."

The main problem that I had with this film is going into the theater thinking I was going to get a “resolution”.  What I received instead was confirmation that I was viewing the second installment of a trilogy.  Had I known that going in I would of probably enjoyed it more.  It’s even more baffling that their marketing team didn’t think to inform rather than bait.  

    Another problem I had was the Athenians having dang near the same fury, prowess and fighting superiority as the Spartans did in the original 300.  In the original, the narrator took time to explain why the Spartans were better than everyone else. The story itself defined what a Spartan was beautifully.  Rise of an Empire just goes into battle scenes looking like the Spartans for no reason, even down to King Leonidas's iconic kick to the chest. For now, the only thing that separates the two is the use of the Spartans prominent Phalanx system!

   Okay, one more than I’m done bashing this movie…  I love the “attitude” of the 300 movies but this one seemed a little bit too over-the-top.  I can’t give examples of what I mean lest I spoil moments of the movie and I will never do that here on my blog.  You’ll see what I mean if you ever view this movie.  Even the one liners was weak to corny.  Mostly all the strengths of 300 became the weakness of Rise of an Empire.

    Now, having said ALL of that above, I liked it.  It was true to form being the second picture in a dark, gory 300 series.  I was just expecting more and less.  More explanations and a conclusion and less of the overly dramatic and outlandish.  

 Worth Watching!

letter grade: B-