Review of 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) by Totd2008 — 07 Mar 2014

Pretty simple; if you liked 300 you will enjoy this companion piece, if you didn't, well don't waste your time. I actually thought it was slightly better than 300 based on Eva Green's character and performance which surpassed Domnic West's turn as bad guy in the first flick.

What made her part so interesting was that it almost seems that the writers themselves did not know what to make of her character. In many ways she is more sympathetic than the lead male figures, and in the movie's sex scene (amazing that a man choking a struggling woman while he attempts to take her from behind earns an R, but a man performing oral sex on a woman equals a NC-17) I felt that she in fact took over as lead character as the male hero is left befuddled by her. I'm clearly out of my league in applying a feminist perspective to a movie designed to make men want to hit the the local crossfit, but in dispatching her character at the end (finally getting her to knees before the male hero) I felt there is a comment to made regarding the inability of men to accept challenging women (including male screenwriter's inability to deal with them in movies).

I should note that I saw this movie in IMAX 3D which I find to be so impressive that I also recommended John Carter after seeing it in IMAX 3D, something which my friends remind me of all the time.