This new chapter of the epic saga takes the action to a fresh battlefield-on the sea-as Greek general Themistokles attempts to unite all of Greece
300: Rise Of An Empire
Thisvisceral thriller should sport the kind of warning sign normally to be found in old buildings: ‘Mind Your Head!’
Especially when you see Casino Royale’s Bond girl Eva Green on the warpath as the sword-wielding naval commander, Artemisia.
Driven by vengeance, she swiftly removes one chap’s body – and then gives him a mid-air smacker on the lips for his trouble.
As memorable scenes go it’s outlandish, freakish and jaw-dropping, just one of many fetishistic touches which make this a curious must see despite many failings.
Now that the first ‘300’ is already seven years old – and with no sign of original beefcake star Gerard Butler – Rise of an Empire inevitably has an ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ feel.
But by offering a new perspective in the same time period this is what might be called a parallel sequel.
Lena Heady returns as Spartan Queen Gorgo and, together with Eva Green, they give film some much needed femininity even though they are as much a part of the uncompromising violence as the men.
Based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel Xerxes, the pulsating battles here are now mostly set amid crashing waves.
The action takes place during the same three-day period as Zack Snyder's first movie, when King Leonidas and a force of 300 men fought the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 BC.
Here the Greek general Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) has to be a politician and soldier combined if ordinary Greeks are to unite with the new idea of democracy and be ready to repel the Persians.
Led by the vengeful Artemisia, the invaders are ruled by the mortal-turned-god Xerxes (played by the returning Rodrigo Santo).
With Snyder now producing, new director Noam Murro’s commercials background doesn’t lessen his stamina for providing heavy duty violence for as long as it takes.
And so, despite its infuriating degree of exposition, distracting 3D screen flare and diluted mythicism, 300-2 is outlandishly entertaining in a superficial way with rarely a dull moment on screen.
If you want to see blood splattering the lens like beetroot-powered water cannon, heads chopped off, naked torsos stabbed clean through and nudity too, then 300 will hit you square on the chin and right between the eyes.
Black Sabbath’s War Pigs coats the end credits in the aural equivalent of liquid metal, the final guilty pleasure of a senses-battering 106 minutes of military mayhem.
