300: Rise of an Empire turned out to be pretty good. Same stylized violence as the original 300 but just more of it. The slow-motion-then-fast-motion-then-slow-motion-again fight scenes return.
It is 300 but with ships! And a female villain! And more rousing speeches about fighting for freedom! And rousing speeches about fighting for your brother! And rousing speeches about fighting for your country! Did I mention the rousing speeches?
By the way, where did they find so many buff dudes? It was a sausage fest of a movie, man.
Eva Green was a fearsome villainess as Artemisia. I think she stole the show from all the good guys, including Sullivan Stapleton's rather bland Greek leader Themistocles (does he have an atomic brother, Thermonucles?). I found myself rooting for her to wipe out the Greeks.
If 300 meant to show you the one key underdog battle, Rise of Empire tries to show you the larger war.
Ok. That's giving the movie too much credit in the intelligence department. Just watch it for the crazy fight set pieces. And ships crashing into each other like muscular bodies colliding in sweaty battle.
