As much as I enjoyed the first 300 film, there was something about 300 Rise of an Empire that just wasn’t getting me excited for it. Maybe it was the fact that it wasn’t being directed by it’s original director, and based on the trailers the characters didn’t seem anywhere as striking as the original films leading character Leonidas, making it feel like a direct to DVD sequel.
Unfortunately as i thought, the film didn’t live up to the original 300 at all. One of my biggest complaints is the fact that I thought it’d be for the most part a sequel which after the events of the first film where the 300 Spartans die and cause Greece to unite, the film would mainly be about that epic battle. Turns out the film is just a side story that takes place during the events of 300 with an unrelated army & a different villain (that’s part of the Persian army). This ultimately made the film feel completely pointless as it didn’t add much to the original films story, and therefore gave me one less reason to care about what I was watching.
While watching the film, it started becoming obvious they just took the original 300 story and played opposites with it. For example, where the original film takes its time to develop a great leading character, this film instead takes that time to develop the strong leading villain Artemisia, played by Eva Green, the films only savior of my attention. This leads to the story following a lead character i’m in no way attached to, and just feels like a watered down Leonidas. The film again introduces a father/son character duo. Figuring the character wouldn’t end up like the first films father son duo, what becomes of them was predictable, much like the ending of the film which i figured would try not to duplicate the ending of the original. That’ about as much as i can say without spoiling.
The action is great but unfortunately it’s empty action as I end up not caring about what’s happening. It’s just mindless hacking n’ slashing at that point, except for the scenes with the villainess that wake me up.
I really hope this film doesn’t have a 3rd installment, since i know regardless i’ll watch it.

I give 300 Rise of an Empire a 6.8 out of 10

(Score based on school grading in which 10-5 mean A-F, and 5-0 lets you know how badly it failed, just to rub it in)