300: Rise of an Empire

**Spoiler Alert**Dir. Noam Murro. Starring: Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey and Rodrigo Santoro

The 300 saga continues as the Persian empire tries to even the score with the Greeks after 300 Spartan warriors, lead by King Leonidas, slaughtered gobs of Persians at Thermopylae.

Leading the Persian invasion is Artemisia (Eva Green), a Greek-born Persian who is hell-bent on destroying Athens and subjugating all Greeks. Fueling her rage is her bitter memory of the rape of her mother and murder of her family at the hands of Greek hoplites.

Commanding the out-numbered and over-whelmed Athenians and their scarce allies is Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton), who pleads with the mourning Spartans for their support but is initially rebuffed by their queen: Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey).
Thermopylae figures prominently in the first film, while the imminent and famous naval battle of Salamis is the focus in Rise. The Greek's feeble navy stands little chance against 1000 Persian ships but Themistokles remains determined to defend the homeland at all costs.
Like the first film, blood and battle are depicted graphically and with zeal by director Murro, who takes the helm from Zach Snyder, director of 300. And as in the first film, democracy and freedom are the watch-words, which are threatened by the belligerent Persians.
The naval battle, which the film builds to, is represented mostly as the battle of wills between Artemisia and Themistokles. Artemisia's aggression finds expression in a steamy sex interlude; a violent exchange that foreshadows the pair's duel later in the film.
How the story unfolds isn't a mystery; we know how events played out but Murro keeps it all lively and bloody and sexy. As with the first movie, a certain subtle silliness pervades though I imagine most viewers are well aware of it. I am able to overlook it, as I did with the first one; settling into the action and story knowing historical accuracy is far from the point.

With all of Eva Green's glaring in the film, one wonders why the Persians didn't just send the Greeks her angry facial expressions, which seemed more potent than their navy. She has little time to bear any other emotion in the film. Males and females will appreciate her topless scenes, which seem generously provided as are her sexy costumes. Her counterpart, the Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton, is hardly given more opportunites to emote but acquits himself well, given the limits of the character's depth. The movie's conclusion is open-ended; leaving room for a conclusive final installment or at least one more film in a franchise. I liked the movie or maybe I liked looking at Eva Green for two hours. Who can blame me; the movie could easily have been called 300: Rise of Artemisia's breasts.