It’s in this segment that we meet our new lead character, Themistokles (played by some no-name that you haven’t seen or heard of before), the Greek leader who killed Xerxes’ father and fueled the vengeful rage that pushed Xerxes to invade Greece. It opens with a large recap of historical events that happened 10 years prior to the Persians invading Greece. Rise of an Empire isn’t exactly a sequel or a prequel it’s more of a spin-off. Just as I feared, 300: Rise of an Empire completely undermines and bastardizes 300. The great thing about 300 was how refreshingly unique it was, so making a sequel would undo the originality and greatness of the first. When the sequel/spin-off was announced, I immediately got worried. It wasn’t until I watched the film a second time that I realized how bloated it is, but it was still entertaining.
And there was very little fault to find in it. When 300 opened, like everyone in the world, I praised it.
Everything great from the original is completely absent here, leaving nothing more than a generic, direction-less spin-off replica with some of the worst special effects I’ve seen in years. You know how every time a big movie comes out, a knock-off is immediately released to Redbox or Netflix? Rise of an Empire feels like the knock-off to 2007’s 300, only its seven years too late.
