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If you’re wondering how the movie stacks up against its predecessor, it doesn’t it is merely serviceable, forgettable, big screen entertainment. I am aware this review doesn’t speak much to the content of the film. The more I think about Rise of an Empire, the clearer its arguably racist but certainly nationalistic intentions become. Where in 300 the Persians were more mysterious boogeyman than outright caricature, here the light skinned American versus dark skinned Middle Eastern iconography floats obviously to the surface like the mangled detritus of the plentiful shipwrecks at Salamis.
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To complete the insult, nearly every Persian in Rise of an Empire is distinguished from their strangely white “Greek” counterparts by darker skin and stereotypically Middle Eastern garb. Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), who we knew to be prideful after his pathetic attempt at besting Leonidas in 300, comes off like a spoiled, shortsighted moron. Artemisia (Eva Green), a formerly Greek woman who grew up to command the Persian navy, suffers the dimwittedness of her Persian subordinates through much of her conflict with the cunning Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton). 300 bathed safely in the waters of the former, but Rise of an Empire wades triumphantly into the deep end and nearly drowns in the process.Ĭonsider that not a single Persian character in this movie has any shred of intelligence. The 300 franchise was never one for historical accuracy, but there is a difference between fantastical allegory and outright propagandizing. And considering the United States’ current relationship with Iran and the rest of the Middle East, the “Rise of an Empire” epithet suddenly takes on a far more sinister meaning.Įvery time the movie leapt from one momentous but horribly misrepresented battle to another, I could see my Greek history professor suffering a small heart attack in my mind’s eye. In one particularly incriminating speech, Gorgo even refers to “our lady liberty.” With this change in tone, the movie becomes less popcorn entertainment and more an exercise in unabashed jingoism. The movie conflates several important and separate ideas, using longwinded monologues to associate a unified Greece with the modern American watchwords of Freedom and Democracy. With Rise of an Empire, however, writers Miller, Zack Snyder, and Kurt Johnstad push this allegory well beyond its reasonable historical limit. It is an ideological fight that persisted long after the Persian empire crumbled, arguably continuing through to modern day. Historically speaking, however, this subtext was first and foremost in the minds of the Persian empire and the Greeks who resisted them. Some may recall that 300 was divisive for its decidedly East versus West conflict-driven plot.
Instead, they come off like two-bit knockoffs of their Spartan counterparts.īut this skirts the main issue I had with Rise of an Empire. Where’s their poetry? Their sculpting? Their art? That contrast might have given the Athenians a much-needed dose of humanity. Simultaneously, almost no time is given to distinguish the Athenians from the Spartans outside of exposition. As a result, fascinating characters like Queen Gorgo of Sparta (Lena Headey) are sidelined in favor of hamfisted speeches and brawny chest beating.
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It did nothing more than it set out to do, taking a rather straightforward – spartan, if you will – approach to the Battle of Thermopylae. With 300: Rise of an Empire, graphic novelist Frank Miller and director Noam Murro take this focused scope and blow it up. Unfortunately, this creates far more problems than it solves.Įverything from the Battle of Marathon to the Battle of Salamis is haphazardly squeezed into less than two hours of film. It remains one of my favorite pictures for that reason.ģ00 received a fair amount of criticism when it was released because of its simplistic narrative arc and grossly romanticized storytelling. And it was unique, too never before or since have I reacted so emotionally to any film’s aesthetic. Like both The Matrix and Gravity, 300 was a masterpiece of visual splendor. Movies like that demand to be seen on the big screen. The film has fallen prey to biting parody in recent years, but I knew then that 300 was one of the era’s great cinematic experiences.