'300: Rise of an Empire' trailer shows a new Greek-Persian battle
Zack Snyder鈥檚 stylishly violent swords and sandals epic, , was a surprise box office smash (taking in $456 million worldwide in the spring of 2007), but no one kids themselves into believing that his cinematic vision was聽not responsible for that chest-beating comic book adaptation being so enjoyable to watch. This is why the upcoming sequel/prequel, 300: Rise of an Empire, has prompted more wariness than excitement, as Snyder passed on directing to make instead.
Rise of an Empire is based on Frank Miller鈥檚 300 companion graphic novel 鈥淴erxes,鈥� which Snyder and his 300 co-writer Kurt Johnstad adapted into a script. The film centers around the Battle of Artemisium, a naval conflict that pitted the Greek general Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) against the vengeful commander of the Persian navy, Artemesia (Eva Green), and the Persian leader Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), who had by that point.
As expected, the newly-released Rise of an Empire trailer appeals heavily to everyone鈥檚 nostalgia for the first movie, between shots of Xerxes leering over King Leonidas鈥� (Gerard Butler鈥檚) corpse and the VO narration by Lena Headey 鈥� who鈥檚 now a bigger star thanks to 鈥� reprising as Queen Gorgo. That鈥檚 in spite of the fact that neither聽300 lead is expected to make anything more than a glorified cameo in the new installment (a misleading, but smart, marketing angle to take).
The Battle of Artemisium occurred at the same time as the Battle of Thermopylae depicted in聽300; hence,聽Rise of an Empire聽is described as being a聽300聽鈥漨id-quel鈥� rather than either聽. The聽Rise of an Empire聽director Noam Murro has said the film will offer a聽鈥渨hole different choreography of fighting and war,鈥�聽which could be an聽聽from Snyder鈥檚 brazen storytelling and action coordination in its predecessor. (Or, it could just be an excuse for why Murro鈥檚 adaptation feels like a hollow knockoff.)
So far, based on the trailer, the digitally-enhanced visuals and cinematography in Rise of an Empire seem decent, but they lack that extra 鈥渙omph鈥� factor and flair that Snyder brought to the proceedings. And bless Stapleton for effort, but he doesn鈥檛 seem to possess either the macho presence or yelling capacity that made Butler so memorable as a Greek warrior. Maybe Green playing a treacherous warrior lady will make up for that鈥�?
Sandy Schaefer blogs at .
