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 | Fantasy | War

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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, Wide Release

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

The film was shot in its entirety at the indoor green-screen sound stages of Nu Boyana studios in Bulgaria.

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Goofs

(at around 19 mins) Extra wearing what appears to be white tennis shoes as she prepares food(?) when Queen Gorgo and Themistocles first meet. She's an older lady with her skirt gathered in one hand at the back wall.

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Quotes

Queen Gorgo: It begins as a whisper. A promise. The lightest of breezes dances through the rigging as it creaks above the death cries of 10,000 men. It moves through her hair as gently as a lover's hand. That breeze, that promise, became a wind, a wind that is blown across Greece carrying a message told again and again of our Lady Freedom and how wise she was to charge Leonidas to lay all at her feet. A wind, my brothers, of sacrifice. A wind of freedom. A wind of justice. A wind of vengeance.

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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 Coming Soon (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.