Watch 300: Rise of an Empire full movieSnyder’s 300, and as we noted, it came jam-packed with big burly guys armed with capes, codpieces and swords who do a bunch of slow-motion punching, yelling and kicking in front of green screens.  And if that sounds like your thing, you should love 300: Rise of an Empire.  But, just in case that two minute and 30 second trailer featured simply too much plot, narrative and logic and not nearly enough hulking musclemen and Eva Green crazy-eyes for you, now comes the international trailer, which has been whittled down to exactly 60 seconds of money-shots.

JWatch 300: Rise of an Empire full movieettisoning almost any mention of plot whatsoever (the trailer boils it down to this: Lena Heady wants revenge for what happened in the first movie, and the first movie’s Big Bad, Xerxes, joins forces with Eva Green’s navy in order to wage massive, CGI’d war), the international trailer is all action.  If you find yourself shouting in excitement over the next 60 seconds, well, the flick’s forand we have the second film gearing up for release in Summer, hoping to catch the blockbuster season while it is in full swing. This adventure sees Percy’s school, Camp Half-Blood, come under attack from a mysterious evil entity, spurring Percy and his friends on to find the Sea of Monsters and locate the Golden Fleece in order to save the camp. Yes, this does all sound very much like Harry Potter but now that our wizarding hero is no longer on screen, Percy Jackson makes the perfect fantasy epic substitute for all.Director Neill Blomkamp returns to cinema with his second feature length since the epic South Africa based Sci-Fi drama ‘District 9’, that followed the tale of office Watch 300: Rise of an Empire full movie

worker Wikus, who has to go on the run after a series of events sees him transforming into one of the aliens that have set up camp in Johannesburg. Now, Blomkamp returns with a bang with Elysium, which stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster in a future not so far away, where the privileged live on a spacecraft away from the desolate and destroyed others that remain on earth.

Elysium is a concept of the afterlife from Greek Mythology that is separate from all other realms of the afterlife and welcomed those who were chosen by the gods or those that were heroic or righteous. Those who were not chosen were left to drift in the other realms without direction or hope… or even worse, to wind up in Hades. This concept is evident in Blomkamp’s film that sees the rich and notable have the opportunity to abandon the ruined planet and opt of a life of luxury in a space station that is ‘inaccessible’ to those from Earth. Obviously, things come to a head and our hero, Matt Damon, takes on those that keep these two worlds separate… cue action.

Returning to our screens is the overtly masculine and heroic portrayal of the characters that lace the comic series by Frank Miller’s 300. The original plot followed King Leonidas who leads 300 Spartans into a fierce and fated battle against the Persian armies that descend upon their land with the intention to take whatever they feel is theirs. The film quickly made cult status and inspired a ridiculous amount of spin-off exercise programs for the guys who wanted to attempt to reach the physical form that the film’s lead characters strutted proudly with.

Watch 300: Rise of an Empire full movie300: Rise of an Empire serves as a prequel to the 2007 film, and tells the tale of Greek general Themistocles who takes on an invading army of Persian soldiers that are under the control of Xerxes. It is set to star Eva Green, Sullivan Stapleton and Rodrigo Santoro, who played the mortal-god Xerxes in the first film. You can expect as much blood, sweat and tears as the first film featured… and, of course, a huge helping of muscular guys playing the hero. Set to come out in late August.

Riding the chop that accompanied the wave of success following the release of Dawn of the Dead (2004), action/sci-fi director Zack Snyder’s name rose to recognition with his exclusive, stylistic adaptation of Frank Miller’s 1998 graphic novel 300 and, Watch 300: Rise of an Empire full movie

almost instantly, his film of the same name became a distinguishable, mindless but effective gimmick—it was fervent in both style and self-awareness, perpetually bombastic and full of the guilty pleasures that accommodate senseless excess, and it never took itself more seriously than its audience did of their own viewing experience. Even Trey Parker and Matt Stone had their biting satirical arsenal readily available, quick to strike. All in good fun, of course.

Now, seven years after 300’s testosterone-ridden foray into our collective superficial sensibilities, its cohort of the same name has arrived—without Snyder’s name attached to its directorial credits—and, well, perhaps that’s a damn shame. Nevermind. It probably isn’t. But it’s here, and so are we—with yet another stale, useless addition to be begrudgingly filed, ever-so neatly, into the annals of cinema-we-never-wanted. Having endured—albeit not against my will—all 143 Watch 300: Rise of an Empire full movie

Watch 300: Rise of an Empire full movie

mind-numbing minutes of 300: Rise of an Empire, I’m

In a desperate (but failed) attempt to channel the seedy, gratuitous “charms” of Snyder’s original film, directorial persona non grata Noam Murro (who the hell is Noam Murro?) seems to be doing his very best to illicit minimal interest in his endeavor straight out of the gate. 300: Rise of an Empire is not a sequel, nor is it a prequel. As one of my good-humored co-writers painstakingly articulated, it is a “sidequel,” and a pointless one at that. The film opens with Themosticles (Sullivan Stapleton)–the sonorous Athenian warrior and his role in Greece’s ongoing war of attrition with Persian forces–away but not Watch 300: Rise of an Empire full movie

entirely disconnected from King Leonidas and his band of 300 Spartans.

Themosticles’ plight is directly linked to Artemisia (Eva Green) of Persia because, well, there needs to be at least one foundational plot point in any story readily available to assume anchor. I will spare you the details of the story which, in a way, would be impossible to do, mostly because there really aren’t any. There are, however, slow motion sequences aplenty. People fight, too. A lot. There is remorseless, savage killing. There is little dialogue. When it surfaces, it is of no importance. Its characters are limp and uninspiring. No attention is paid to specifics or historical accuracies, but who cares. This is not that kind of film. Its implementation of 3D is sloppy, cumbersome and ineffective. There is no mechanism driving the proceedings bWatch 300: Rise of an Empire full movie

ecause the proceedings are the mechanism: a bloody, gratuitous, senseless and, at time

300: Rise of an Empire is a film that no one asked for, but I assume its purpose will be well served. This is the kind of film that attracts those who harbor cinematic indifference, and there isn’t a damn thing wrong with that. One of cinemas greatest achievements, throughout its existence, has been its revolving door to escapism. To turn off our minds and leave our worries at the door has always been the great appeal of movies. Hell, I’d be somewhat of a liar if I didn’t admit that I—at times—willingly gave into the gratification of the “it’s so bad it’s good” effect that 300: Rise of an Empire attempts to inhabit.

That being said, though: lest we forget the fine line between art, effective escapism and half-assed garbage. 300: Rise of an Empire is wholly and unmistakably of the latter.

In a desperate (but failed) attempt to channel the seedy, gratuitous “charms” of Snyder’s original film, directorial persona non grata Noam Murro (who the hell is Noam Murro?) seems to be doing his very best to illicit minimal interest in his endeavor straight out of the gate. 300: Rise of an Empire is not a sequel, nor is it a prequel. As one of my good-humored co-writers painstakingly articulated, it is a “sidequel,” and a pointless one at that. The film opens with Themosticles (Sullivan Stapleton)–the sonorous Athenian warrior and his role in Greece’s ongoing war of attrition with Persian forces–away but not Watch 300: Rise of an Empire full movie

entirely disconnected from King Leonidas and his band of 300 Spartans.

Themosticles’ plight is directly linked to Artemisia (Eva Green) of Persia because, well, there needs to be at least one foundational plot point in any story readily available to assume anchor. I will spare you the details of the story which, in a way, would be impossible to do, mostly because there really aren’t any. There are, however, slow motion sequences aplenty. People fight, too. A lot. There is remorseless, savage killing. There is little dialogue. When it surfaces, it is of no importance. Watch 300: Rise of an Empire full movie

Its characters are limp and uninspiring. No attention is paid to specifics or historical accuracies, but who cares. This is not that kind of film. Its implementation of 3D is sloppy, cumbersome and ineffective. There is no mechanism driving the proceedings because the proceedings are the mechanism: a bloody, gratuitous, senseless and, at times,