300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

Greek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.

Director:

Noam Murro

Writers:

Zack Snyder (screenplay), Kurt Johnstad (screenplay)

Stars:

Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey

2 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sullivan Stapleton	...	Themistokles
Eva Green	...	Artemisia
Lena Headey	...	Queen Gorgo
Hans Matheson	...	Aeskylos
Callan Mulvey	...	Scyllias
David Wenham	...	Dilios
Rodrigo Santoro	...	Xerxes
Jack O'Connell	...	Calisto
Andrew Tiernan	...	Ephialtes
Igal Naor	...	King Darius
Andrew Pleavin	...	Daxos
Peter Mensah	...	Persian Emissary
Ben Turner	...	General Artaphernes
Ashraf Barhom	...	General Bandari
Christopher Sciueref	...	General Kashani

Storyline

After its victory over Leonidas' 300, the Persian Army under the command of Xerxes marches towards the major Greek city-states. The Democratic city of Athens, first on the path of Xerxes' army, bases its strength on its fleet, led by admiral Themistocles. Themistocles is forced to an unwilling alliance with the traditional rival of Athens, oligarchic Sparta whose might lies with its superior infantry troops. But Xerxes still reigns supreme in numbers over sea and land.

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Plot Keywords:

greek | army | navy | antiquity | 5th century b.c. | 

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Taglines:

The battle of glory continues

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sustained sequences of stylized bloody violence throughout, a sex scene, nudity and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 March 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled 300 Sequel

Filming Locations:

New Boyana Film Studios, Sofia, Bulgaria

Box Office

Budget:

$110,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$45,038,460, 9 March 2014

Gross USA:

$106,580,051

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$337,580,051

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Cruel & Unusual Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital Dolby Atmos Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rodrigo Santoro spent 6 hours in the make-up chair every single day to morph into his character. Even after the make-up was done, he couldn't move much because all of the jewelry and piercing that he was wearing was very delicate and would break if he moved a lot.

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Goofs

When the young Artemisia is training, the last two close-ups of her face reveal plenty of freckles. In an earlier close-up, there were none.

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Quotes

Themistocles: My brothers. Steady your heart. Look deep into your souls. For your mettle is to be tested this day. If in the heat of battle you need a reason to fight on, you need only to look at the man who fights at your side. This is the why of battle. This is the brotherhood of men in arms. An unbreakable bond made stronger by the crucible of combat. You will never be closer than with those who you shed your blood with. For there is no nobler cause than to fight for those who will lay down their life for...

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Crazy Credits

The Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures logos are seen on doors that open up to reveal the mural of Leonides and the 300 Spartans.

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Connections

Referenced in Film 2017: Episode dated 5 March 2014 (2014)

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Soundtracks

War Pigs
Written by Ozzy Osbourne (as John Osbourne), Bill Ward (as William Ward), Geezer Butler (as Terence Butler) and Tony Iommi
Performed by Black Sabbath
Courtesy of Downlane Limited

User Reviews

Over the top, but not bad

This is not a bad movie, but it is an over-the-top movie. It's unabashedly epic in scope and melodramatic in feel. I don't play video games, but the movie felt like that.

There is a lot of speechifying about freedom, democracy, patriotism, brotherhood, war, unity, revenge and death. Yes, it's all in there.

In a strange way, the primary theme of this movie was masculinity. It's the kind of film you'd show in military movie theatres. The men are all cartoonishly hypermasculine steroidal bodybuilders, like some gay porn fantasy. (CGI, I suppose. Not a single one of them had tattoos.)

This is a martial arts film. Men -- many men -- are slashed, stabbed or hacked in this film, always with a slow-motion splash of bright red blood. The Persians were dressed in dark colours, and after a while it seemed obvious the point of this video game was to kill as many of them as possible.

The historical aspects are cranked up to the level of fantasy. I don't know how accurate any of it is. Not very, I suspect; but I also think it doesn't really matter.

The language is strangely elevated in tone ("You shall speak of it no more") and everyone speaks in non-American accents

This movie glorified the Greek side. At times, I saw disturbing parallels to America. At times it seemed sort of racist.

Given all that, I still sort of enjoyed the movie. One scene even moved me. It is indeed epic in scope. "Rich with detail" would be another accurate description. The grand naval battles were, well, spectacular.

The 3D is effective. Some of the scenes are beautiful. Much of the movie is bathed in a hazy, dark golden luminosity, an effect I've not seen before.

Eva Green is evilly fantastic. Sullivan Stapleton is nobly hot.

In the end, I'm not sure what this movie really was. At times I thought it merited a 3; at other times a 9. It wasn't schlock or cheesy or campy, although you'd think it would fall easily into those categories.

There was a time in my life when I may have been blown away by a film like this, but that time has passed.