Lena Headey, Eva Green star in '300: Rise of an Empire' – is it worth seeing?
Lena Headey and Sullivan Stapleton star in '300: Rise of an Empire,' the sequel to the 2007 hit. Lena Headey currently stars on the HBO drama 'Game of Thrones.'
Lena Headey (l.) stars in '300: Rise of an Empire.'
Warner Bros. Pictures/AP
Like its forerunner, the 2007 hit "300," ''Rise of an Empire" again plunges us into bloody, hyper-stylized Greek history: mythology with muscles.
Made clearly to capitalize on the popularity of "300," ''Rise of an Empire" is something like collected behind-the-scenes from the Persian invasion featured in "300." Whereas the first film chronicled the Spartans' heroic stand in the Battle of Thermopylae against Xerxes's Persian invasion, "Rise of an Empire" is about the concurrent naval fight, the Battle of Artemisium.
This may be war by sea, but the ingredients of "300" are largely unaltered. An outnumbered band of Greeks staves off a tyrannical Persian army below roiling skies of red and gray.
These two films, very much intertwined, provoke a number of questions: Did everyone forget their shirts? Is this a workout video? Or is this just the most absurdly ridiculous thing ever?
Yes and no. In "Rise of an Empire," Zack Snyder moves from the director's chair to producer (and co-screenwriter with Kurt Johnstad), leaving Noam Murro to helm the film. But Snyder's imprint is unmistakable, with his visual style carried over, mimicking the extremes of Frank Miller's comic book illustrations (the inspiration of both movies).
The two movies are precisely the movies they seek to be: Some kind of grandly warped, excessively heightened dream of mythical battle. It's as if Douglas Sirk made a combat video game.
At least it's the women who reign in "Rise of an Empire." The male actors here – Sullivan Stapleton as the Greek hero Themistokles, Santoro, back as Xerxes – are easily outdone by the females.
There is Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey of "Game of Thrones") lordly presiding over Sparta. But as Persian commander Artemisia, Eva Green rules ferociously over the film. She drives the Persians with a warrior's desperate thirst for revenge and a stare that makes the men of her army cower.