A more than worthy successor
In case you were deaf, dumb and blind in 2006 this movie is a sequel to the box office smash "300;" however, I don't really know if I can call it an actual "sequel" since most of the sequences take place during the events of the original movie. This movie follows the war hero Themistokles, and his small band of soldiers that chose to meet the Persians at sea as opposed to land. He is met by thousands of Persian war ships to his dozen of smaller Grecian ships, with the Persian Navy led by mastermind Artemisia. She employs all of her cunning and wit to be met by Themisokles foiling her attempts at a swift victory. Who will win? The land of the free, or the invading force?
The story line in this was surprisingly a real winner. I don't think it was a surprise to anyone making this movie that no one out there really cared to have a "300" sequel, but somehow they made the movie just interesting enough to earn praise. I wouldn't say I liked it more than the original, but it is definitely on par. In this movie we didn't seem to have a bunch superhero's running around, instead we got "salt-of-the earth" types that barely knew their way around a sword. It gave the characters a more humanizing and down-to-earth feel. Unfortunately the people in charge of this movie didn't make it so you could feel too sympathetic for anyone that wasn't the main protagonist or antagonist. There are some deaths in the movie that seemed to take on the life of the last movie, but I just didn't feel as bound to them as I did in the original. Not saying that this was a bad story line of course, just not a perfect delivery. I liked that they gave the Persians more of a reason to hate the Greeks besides, "we want to rule them" this go around. This movie gives a second layer on top of the need for power, and that is vengeance (I love a good revenge story line among all of these old war movies). It actually does a good job at revealing that not every side is completely evil or good. That there are always two sides to a war and no one is perfect. A fact that the original movie didn't seem too inclined to build upon (in the original Sparta = good, Persia = bad. Period.). Artemisia was one of the best examples of this, showing us a strong, cut throat, tragic woman, and her rise to power. I also like the slight implication that this movie was more about tactics, than brute force. Since this movie was about Athens it makes more sense.
The acting in this was just as it was the last go around, great. All of the actors performed tremendously, and did well with their calls to battle, or heart felt speeches. I have to give a special mention to the real star of this show, Eva Green. She absolutely stole every scene she was in. Giving us a dark, vengeful, powerful warrior woman and never missing a beat. She was cold and unforgiving, as well as poised and ruthless, bringing her character to life in a way I fail to see how anyone else could.
The pacing is the only negative criticism I can throw at this movie, in a sense it all just felt too sped up. Like they were racing to cover everything, and get to the climax ending (which was great). When they did this, the side characters fell to the way side. I didn't feel the sense of loss when men feel in battle (as stated before), I didn't feel the significance of a father's blessing, and I didn't feel a real connection between the main characters with their lesser counterparts. Yes, Artemisia and Themisokles were deep, thought provoking characters, but everyone else just felt copy and pasted from the original. I feel like if we had an extra twenty minutes of getting to know them, it would have proved different.
The graphics in this were a star in the show by themselves (as in the original). If you came to the movie expecting a lot of slow motion, gory sequences than you won't be surprised (whether that is good or bad for you). The treacherous hunchback was more finely detailed, the fire on the ships felt alive, and the Immortals gained a new feeling of menace. It made the Immortals actually seem unstoppable, which fits since they were up against a (seemingly) inferior group of warriors. The place where this is best shown is in the climax scene, where the CGI just went nuts and made everything seem beautiful.
I was asked (before I saw this) if I think this movie can stand alone. If I think you could see this movie without first seeing the original. What I am about to say in no way reflects my judgement on the movie, it is just a helpful hint to those of you who are planning to see it. Yes, but I would not recommend it. You can see anything without seeing the original first (I think the amount of people that saw "The Dark Knight" before "Batman Begins" proved that, unfortunately). They recap a lot of the original movie for you, but without actually seeing the first movie you will not understand the significance of such phrases as "Leonidas and his 300 are at the hot gates." Do what you want of course (as this movie dictates, you have the freedom to) but just realize you are depriving yourself of everything this movie has to offer.
Final Verdict: See it in Theaters This movie does well against its predecessor, and earns a seldom seen title "good sequel." Noam Murrow did a real credit to Zack Snyder when she directed this, and you will not be disappointed.
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