At one point, she slowly sneers, вЂњThis is Sparta,вЂќ and is the perfect embodiment of Cerseri Lannister in a 300 film. ItвЂ™s pleasant seeing Headley shine in her loyal and strikingly ferocious role such as that of Cersei from Game of Thrones, which will no doubt be a feast for fans of the series. Themistocles, playing with ferocious intensityВ byВ Sullivan Stapleton, who gets his own backstory with the Spartans featuring Lena Headley as Queen Gorgo, who is now widowed and begs him to wage war against Xerxes and Artemisia. As mentioned, retelling a Greek film such as this relies on fantasy and shock over historical accuracy, no matter how stylish the film manages to be. She is the heart of the brutally villainous tale, even if the film exaggerates her vitality as a historical figure.

This is a film that takes itself much too seriously when it delves into XerxesвЂ™ past but it remains important as it relies on the filmвЂ™s strongest and most vibrant feature, Eva Green as Artemisia. His backstory, or to be exact, what occurred 10 years before ROAE takes place, is presented before we see him head to Thermopylae. The 300 lie dead in Thermopylae, and Xerxes beheads King Leonidas as he declares victory over the Spartans, looking more than ever as a вЂњGod-KingвЂќ as he shines vibrantly in gold. Rise of an Empire tells the tale of the wars and battles that took place between the Greek cities of Sparta and Athens. As expected, it is not a film without its faults, such as its repetitive nature, predictability, and outlandishly overdone CGI effects for violent shock value. The film holds your attention with its grippingly lucid cinematography and strongly feminist conceptualization of power. The graphic novel this film is to be based on has not yet been published, but aims to be of the same caliber in terms of the graphic, animated nature of ROAE.

Seven years later, we are presented with Rise of an Empire, functioning as both a companion and sequel to 300. To be fair to 300, however, it is a fictional adaptation of a graphic novel and was stylized as such. Rise of an EmpireвЂ™s preceding film, 300, dealt with loads of historical inaccuracies-ranging from lobster hands to Neanderthals to super-humans-yet it was a brilliant cinematic experience. For some moviegoers, thatвЂ™s perfectly okay. Approaching a historical Greek film is always very subjective when the film is mostly embedded in fantasy and sensationalism rather than the portrayal of historical accuracy.

300 rise of an empire movie cover