Centering on mostly aquatic battles that historically took place simultaneously to the Battle of Thermopylae so fancifully depicted in the earlier film, this follow-up slavishly adheres to the graphic comics-meet-video games look of the original. Other than for the pleasure of watching Green try to conquer ancient Greece dressed as a distant forebearer of Catwoman, more is less and a little late in this long-aborning sequel to the 2007 bloodbath that was stylistically extreme and just different enough from anything else in its field to become an international action sensation. Given his condition, the man does not respond but, given the bestower, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had … just a bit. VERDICT: Good: Excellent style, Improved visuals, Highly entertaining fight sequences, Brilliant soundtrack, Amazing characters Bad: Lack of drama & humour, Less compelling plot SCORE: 7.0 ( the most vicious, and certainly sexiest, naval commander ever to ride the waves of the Aegean, Eva Green has a one-for-the-ages scene in 300: Rise of an Empire, in which she decapitates an adversary with two deft sword strokes, then, holding his head by the hair, kisses him on the mouth with pointedly derisive hunger. They did extremely well in these aspects, and make it such a wonderful film for a great time in the movies.
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Overall, this is a very very entertaining movie, if what you're looking for is fun, action, and visuals. As further praise, if the producers do intend to make another sequel, they will need one hell of villain to top off Artemisia. And while I had a great feeling about the villain, Eva Green's Artemisia really stole the show on every scene she was in. I was initially skeptical of the main character, and though he may not have outdone Gerard Butler's Leonidas, Themistokles is still quite the likable action hero. Despite the lack of drama & humour, and the limited emotional range of the characters, some of the characters were great. Actions aside, the plot was overall a straightforward one, except for those which relates to the original 300, which I was quite impressed of. Words are not enough to explain it.you have to listen to it first hand. Even before the action begins, my heart pumps up, and during the fight itself, the soundtrack did good to enhance the suspense of the action. One last thing, the soundtrack is genuinely amazing, and is unbelievably fitting for the scenes. And though the quality of visuals were not perfect (such as the blood effects), the style is just so gratifying to watch. Fortunately, Rise of an Empire, even in the hands of new director Noam Murro, didn't mess it up and brilliantly improves upon it. If Snyder had this the last time, it would be as good as this.
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Still on the matter of action sequences, they are better in visual quality & dynamics of the setting, although I suspect the reason may be the budget and resource constraint on the first film. They are just marvellous and glorious to watch and from minute one, I was attached and just smiling on every fight sequence. But before moving on, I want to further claim that I seriously enjoyed these style of shots and frankly, all.ALL of the action sequences. This is the main reason I came to watch this, yet it is not the only thing that impressed me.
![300 rise of an empire movie horses 300 rise of an empire movie horses](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eS6BEnCPjFE/maxresdefault.jpg)
This is a wonderful style to marvel on, for those who like these kind of things (I do!). A pretty obvious notion is that no other film does better with the long continuous shots of action with the occasional slow motions. It has pretty much the same weaknesses and strengths of its predecessor, but improves on what made the first film a success. Gloriously employing Zack Snyder's style of slow-fast continuous shots, as well as taking the scale and dynamics to the next level, this is a worthy sequel to the awesome 300.