So I had the opportunity in seeing 300: Rise of an Empire over the weekend. After seeing the original in theaters and going into it with knowing what to expect, I came away amazed by what I saw. 300 opened the doors for a ton of movies that we have watched over the last 8 years. Zack Snyder knocked it out of the park. This time due to some timing issues Snyder gave Noam Murro the director chair but wrote and co-produced the film.

While we had to wait 8 long years for a sequel this weekend it hit the theaters and here is my review of the movie.

The Good

Snyder did not let us down visual at all. The film had amazing scenes, he brought back all the visuals from the original and then some. The biggest reason the 1st one was so succesful was due to the groundbreaking visual CGI that Snyder brought to the big screen. He did it again and the movie that is great on the eyes.

The epic fight scenes were back and as good as the first one. The art and motion that goes into the fight scenes in this movie is so fun to watch. Between the sword fighting, arrow shooting and just down right killing, you can just sit back and enjoy the ride and that’s what I really liked about the film. Just vicious blood, guts and gore all over the screen and was really fun to watch.

I loved the story it told and the background they gave us on Xerxes and how he became a god-king, we got flashbacks on how the overcome the 300 and destroyed them in battle.
Xerxes character is so cool on-screen and you felt how important he was every time he is on.

Artemisia (Eva Green) is Xerxes Navy Commander and plays a huge role in the film as the movie progresses. I really enjoyed the development of her character throughout the film and the story behind how she went from a Greek prisoner and rose to Queen of the Persian’s. Green played a fantastic villain in the film and was definitely a driving force behind what made this film good.

The Mediocre

Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) was the lead protagonist and while he wasn’t as good as Butler or Fassbender from the first film but he held his own. His performance lacked in powerful meaningful and believability the others brought to the table. Some of his better scenes is when he was on-screen with Artemisia.

The Bad

Predictability of the film was annoying as you could see the ending coming a mile away. It lacked any suspense in the film and that took away from it being a great film.

Overall

*** (3) out of ***** (5) Stars

300: Rise of an Empire is a fun movie that includes all the blood and gore that I liked in 300. Artemisia really stole the show and is a performance you’ll remember when leaving the theater. Snyder/Murro brought a very enjoyable movie to the big screen and did not disappoint one bit. If you enjoyed the first one, you should have no problem enjoying the sequel.

300: Rise of an Empire is in theaters now