SPLICED MOVIES \r\n\r\nREVIEW\r\n\r\n300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE\r\n\r\n300: Rise of an Empire takes place a little before, during and after the events of 300 and provides some interesting insights into the events of the original film. It follows a Greek general, Themistocles, and his charge against the invading Persian forces headed-up by the ruthless Artemisia. It is a re-telling of the Battle of Salamis which occurred in 480BC, but is -- of course -- an entirely fictional account. \r\nSullivan Stapleton takes on the role of Themistocles and goes up against (the surprisingly busty) Eva Green, who portrays Artemisia, in a battle that takes place on the Aegean Sea. The screenplay and directing make the most of the liquid battle field with fantastic battles featuring fleets of ships and the interesting means through which each side boards the other side’s ship. All the blood and water made for some stunning 3D sequences and battles. There are spectacular “moments of quiet” throughout the whole movie as everything slows down to reveal a seemingly arbitrary action taking place in that exact moment. Director Noam Murro certainly took a leaf out of Zack Snyder’s book, aiming for high-impact scenes that were all absolutely beautiful even when they were macabre. The movie is, unsurprisingly, quite violent, although if you’ve seen movies such as Dredd 3D or Immortals it’s unlikely that you will be fazed. I didn’t really think of the film as “too violent” until others who had seen the movie brought it to my attention, however, if you’re easily offended by violence I assume you wouldn’t find yourself watching 300: Rise of an Empire in the first place.\r\nThe acting is exactly what you’d expect it to be from everyone barring Eva Green (and Lena Heady), who absolutely stole the movie. Say what you will about Artemisia, no one was worth as much talk as she was. Perhaps she may come across as dramatic or even over-the-top at times, but Eva Green pretty much nailed the “Scornful Woman” character and really towers over all the other actors when it comes to her on-screen presence. Despite being treated to an awesome back story, we don’t see much of Xerxes, which cuts Rodrigo Santoro out of the picture when it comes to comparing acting, and most of the Athenians were all brawn-and-no-brains. Sullivan Stapleton carried himself well, but it’s hard to take him seriously as an actual Greek. Speaking of “nailing her performance”, Eva Green nails something else in the film: Sullivan Stapleton. This really is a sex-scene that cannot go without mentioning: it is a power-play of note! Maybe something to keep in mind if you get awkward about these things. Lena Heady was, as you could expect, wonderful in her role as Queen Gorgo (Gorgo? It’ll never grow on me), but unfortunately we are not treated to a great amount of screen-time with her. It’s still an absolute joy seeing her fulfil the role of someone good rather than a villain, although I suspect that had she not been Queen Gorgo in the first film she would have been the only other option next to Eva Green when it came to casting Artemisia. Yes, this was a film about guys mostly geared toward guys, but it would have been nice to see more of Lena Heady. I mean, it’s Lena Heady: no one is complaining.\r\nThe storyline is easy to follow but doesn’t offer much in terms of plot-twists or originality. It is definitely high-up on my list of visually appealing films but definitely not a movie to watch for its performances or plot. Something else that has drawn criticism would have to be the accents, which waver between South African to Australian, to American, to British and right back around. The only consistent accents are produced by Lena Heady, Eva Green and Rodrigo Santoro (who hardly even speaks in a human decibel and doesn’t really count as a viable example).\r\n300: Rise of an Empire is worth seeing if you’re a fan of 300, but you definitely cannot walk into the cinema expecting the same level of awe to envelop you as you experienced with the first film. Unfortunately -- or fortunately, depending on how you look at it -- 300 left pretty big Spartan sandals to fill and it would be near impossible to re-create 2007’s epic production. However, its stunning visuals and directing, coupled with some fun performances and an epic back-drop, make for a pretty entertaining experience and will in all likelihood satisfy your cravings for a movie with an epic premise and tonnes of motivational monologues.\r\n