300: Rise of an Empire is a bloodbath and not much else. <\/p>\n
Heads are bisected and decapitated. Swords and spears plunge through bodies, setting off slow-motion gushes of deep red, time and time and time again. Ships collide, hundreds of bodies sink to the bottom of the sea. <\/p>\n
Youve heard the expression Heads will roll. In this movie heads roll all over the place. <\/p>\n
Why exactly theyre rolling is never quite clear. Most likely to make audience members glad their own heads are intact. Beyond that, its hard to find a point to Rise. Its pretty much blood for bloods sake. <\/p>\n
Rise is, of course, a sequel to the hugely successful 300; and it, too, is filled with rippling muscles, brave-if-misguided warrior-speak and massive battle scenes. But while 300 had at least a modicum of political intrigue, this film is just full-on mayhem. <\/p>\n
Part of it actually takes place at the same time as 300. A massive Persian army under the command of the self-anointed man-god Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) is attacking Greece at two points. At one, the 300 brave-if-not-particularly-bright Spartans make a stand and are wiped out. End of that movie. <\/p>\n
At the other point, the fleet of Athens, led by the legendary Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton), sails against the much bigger fleet of the Persians, which is led by the thoroughly evil and smoking hot Artemisia (Eva Green). <\/p>\n
For a while, Themistokles and the Athenians hold their own, leading to a meeting between the Athenian leader and Artemisia, which devolves into a ludicrous sex scene. But then its back to battle, where it soon becomes clear enough the Athenians are plain outnumbered no matter how hard they fight. <\/p>\n
So Themistokles puts out a call to all the other cities of Greece, including his traditional enemies the Spartans, to join in the battle. <\/p>\n
The result? Blood, blood, blood and more blood. Director Noam Murro likes nothing better than a slow-mo impaling that near-freezes for a second, then speeds back up to normal just in time to slow down again as a sword crosses through someones neck, spraying the screen. Then more, more, more. <\/p>\n
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Review: '300: Rise of an Empire' celebrates excessive, pointless violence<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 300: Rise of an Empire is a bloodbath and not much else. Heads are bisected and decapitated. Swords and spears plunge through bodies, setting off slow-motion gushes of deep red, time and time and time again. Continue reading