Not bloody enough

I had no interest in watching the sequel to 2006’s 300, but about a week ago, I had read an article about a young man, Michael Emerson, who was hit by a truck and killed after arguing about the ending to this movie.

Although this is probably the saddest thing to have happened, I was still intrigued to see what type of madness would be so deadly.

Let me begin by telling you what I enjoyed about this film’s predecessor. It was violent, bloody, stylized and involved men bathed in baby oil. Even if you didn’t seem to care for the characters or the plot, the audience was still immersed into the fantastical visual aspect of the film.

Not much has changed about what I like in movies since I was 18 – I clearly still enjoy all the action on the battlefield, and Rise of an Empire had all of this in it – but director Noam Murro decided less time on the frontline was something that was needed.

Needless to say, having to watch this film for its boring story, and characters whose only ambition is to die, was a complete waste of time. It was certainly not worthy of being a sequel to 300.

But whenever there is a bit of action, it’s a visual treat and pays homage to Zack Snyder’s previous work. It’s just a shame that you have to wait for it the whole way through.

Murro does a great job of not confusing the audience either. This sequel doesn’t just give you details of events that happened after 300, but it goes into details about events before and during. This does make it easier to understand certain things that are happening during the film and paints a bigger picture of the world that these characters are living in.

The film follows Athenian general Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) as he assembles his troops to fight in the Battle of Artemusium.

It turns out, as King Darius (Yigal Naor), father of immortal Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), is dying, the malicious navy commander, Artemisia (Eva Green), formulates a plan and assembles a massive fleet of ships to seek revenge on the Greeks by turning Xerxes into a God-like figure for the Persian Empire.

Now, Themistokles must gather his troops to fend off the invading army from Persia, led by Xerxes and Artemisia, and make sure his countrymen fight for freedom.

Although Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) is reluctant to sacrifice any more Spartans, it appears that Themistokles’ tactics are more effective than she had thought, as they fight at sea, giving him and his men the upper hand in battle.

However, when Artemisia tries to seduce Themistokles to join her side and fails, she takes out her Greek opponents and Themistokles is presumed dead.

Just when the Persian Empire seems to be on the verge of victory, Xerxes and Artemisia find out he is in fact alive and fighting to save Athens and his people.

Stapleton as Themistokles was a good leading man but lacked the manly testosterone-fuelled role that this character needed. He definitely does not live up to his Spartan predecessor, Gerard Butler … but it’s not necessarily his fault, the script was weaker and didn’t prove to have the same depth or quotablility from the previous film.

Although he may have been the leading man, Green as Artemisia definitely stole the show. She’s an example of a great villain in a terrible movie. Her performance will probably be the only thing remembered in this film, or even worth talking about.

Overall, fans will be disappointed … and everyone else will be bored! It fails to make it on its own … it’s just not bloody enough.

I’m assuming the argument that broke out between Michael Emerson and those driving the truck was whether or not this film deserves yet another sequel. It’s apparent that future instalments will be released judging by the ending of this film… whether it’s another eight years from now, who knows? But if Green is still playing the villain, I wouldn’t mind giving it a go.

* Showing in Cineco, Seef I, Saar Cineplex