"300: Rise of an Empire" Review

"300: Rise of an Empire" has just as much violent, testosterone-filled eye-candy as the first film, and it adds a certain level of depth to the war between the Persians and the Greeks.

The first film, "300," is about the Spartan resistance against the Persian empire. Because of some greed and politics, Leonidas, the king of the Spartans, cannot send his army, so he takes 300 soldiers to fight against thousands of men who threaten their way of life. The resistance is very successful at first. The Spartans kill a ton of Persians while losing very few lives. However, an act of betrayal puts them in a tight situation, and all of them die except for the man who narrates the story.

"300: Rise of an Empire" is about the Athenian resistance in the same war. It goes into detail about how it began and how the Athenians were able to stand their ground.

One of the first scenes takes place at the bottom of a hill near the city Marathon. The Persians depart there as they are about to invade, but the Greeks will not let them. An army led by the Athenian king, Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton), comes down and slaughters the Persians while they are trying to set up camp.

Out of both films, this scene is among the most fun to watch. Themistocles fights a bunch of Persians with a large array of slashes and dodges. This is depicted with a liberal use of slow-motion reminiscent of the first movie. While watching this opening, my friend and I freaked out from the sheer awesomeness of it.

During this battle, the Persian king is killed, and he is succeeded by Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro). Anyone who has seen the first film knows he is the one who sent the Persians into Greece. However, in this film, it is not his idea to do so. It is actually the Persian general, Artemisia (Eva Green), who manipulates him into deciding to invade.

Eva Green does a great job as Artemisia, the Darth Vader of "300." She is ruthless and will not stop until she gets what she wants. If a commander does not succeed, she kills him to send a message that she will not take failure. The scene in which this happens reminded me of when the dark lord of the Sith says "Apology accepted, Captain Needa" in "The Empire Strikes Back."

While Xerxes is sending men against the 300 soldiers, Artemisia leads an army against Athens in a series of battles on the sea. Themistocles leads the resistance against them. Since the Greeks are very outnumbered, they rely on sheer tactic. Part of what makes this movie so entertaining is to see how well   Themistocles's strategy works.

Both films in the "300" series emphasize the need to defend freedom when the time comes. Many people know this as a very American ideal, but a lot of it came from ancient Greece.

There are some interesting visuals to show the differences between the motivations of the Greeks and the Persians. As Artemisia leads her army to fight the Athenians, Themistocles gives a speech preparing them for battle. This is intercut with a depiction of the Persian ships being rowed by people with a lot of lashes on their backs. While the Greeks are fighting to protect their land, the Persians are depicted as doing it out of fear. The movie does not have to constantly remind the audience about this. Instead, it decides to show it.

Another great thing about both films is just how different the cultures of the Spartans and the Athenians are. In "300," Spartan culture is depicted as being based on defense. It emphasizes being physically fit for war so much that babies with deformities of any kind are discarded before they can grow.

The Athenians are not so much like this. They are artists and craftsmen. The only reason they fight is to defend themselves and their liberties.

While there is a lot of good to say about this movie, there were a couple of things that did not quite work. One of them is the chronology of events. This flaw comes partly because there is a narrator who tries to rhetorically introduce everything. This causes the movie to jump around to different events at different times, and it is slightly confusing. However, the story is simple enough to where it is easy to get back on track.

Another thing that is not very good about this film is there is a very weird sex scene. I will not reveal what happens in it, but it seemed to only be in the movie because some producers said "Hey, let's add a sex scene."

This film is actually gorier than the first one. There is so much blood that it is not realistic. Furthermore, it is obviously added by computer graphics. While some people might find this annoying, I actually did not mind it. In fact, in my opinion, it adds to the overall aesthetics of the film.

I give this movie four and a half out of five stars. If you are a fan of "300," then definitely see this film. In many ways it is just as good. If you do not like the first one, this film will not convert you.

Content: Rated R. There is a lot of bloody violence throughout the film. There are about four to six instances of the F-word, and that might even be overstating it. The movie also contains at least three instances of topless female nudity, which is present in the sex scene.

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