300: Rise of an Empire (AKA the sequel to the most
homo-erotically violent film of all time)
I entered this movie with low expectations and that turned
out to be a good idea. Honestly, if you liked the original, this one is more of
the same. It's not bad, easily as over the top as the first film. I don't think
it was better than its predecessor, but Rise of an Empire was better than I had
anticipated. Again, I had really low expectations and a long, grueling winter
had driven my desire to see graphic, outrageous violence.
History is definitely on the side of this franchise. The
Persians did stage a massive invasion all over Greece, so there was ample area to
tell a totally different story... kind of necessary considering how the first
one ended.
That said, the story wasn't bad. The plot centered on the
naval battles between the Athenians, led by Themistocles and the Persians,
guided by Artemisia, Xerxes' second in command. Themistocles was given the back
story that years before when the Persians had attacked, he had personally
killed King Darius, Xerxes' father. (This was not at all historically accurate
by the way. Darius had died 4 years prior to that battle in Egypt.)
Themistocles was a decent heroic bad ass, though it was painfully obvious that
he was really a carbon copy of Gerard Butler's King Leonidas. Artemisia made
for an interesting villain. I always enjoy a bad ass woman character and hers
felt believable. I think her back-story may have been a little too sympathetic,
though. It clearly highlighted why she hated the Greeks, but kind of made us
pity her in a sense and, at least to me, made me think that the Greeks had it
coming a little bit.
Anyone who goes to one of the 300 films for a history lesson
deserves the F they are destined to receive. These movies are as accurate at
Tarantino's Inglorius Basterds (or did you actually think Hitler and the entire
Third Reich elite were gunned down in a theater in Paris a year before the war ended?). But
sometimes, the fantasy is much more fun than the facts. Artemisia is based on a
real person, but she was nowhere near the evil, manipulative, power-craving
bitch that we saw in Rise of an Empire. She also had far less involvement in
the naval strategies of the Persian fleet, only advising Xerxes and only
commanding 5 Persian ships herself.
I find it interesting that the original 300 had an
interesting cast who were all pretty unknown at the time, but in the years
since 2007, many have gone on to big things. Gerard Butler's career was
catapulted by the film. Lena Headey has appeared in many shows, most notably
her present role in Game of Thrones. Michael Fassbender is fast becoming a huge
name, having been nominated for an Academy Award last year. Dominic West has
been getting lots of work, one of his biggest on the critically acclaimed show
The Wire. Of course, the only one to return for Rise of an Empire was Lena Headey... you know, since the others all died in the
first one. Still, I have to wonder if lightning will strike twice and any the
new cast will rocket to fame. Eva Green has already had some success with films
like Casino Royale, Dark Shadows and the upcoming Sin City
sequel. Only time will tell is Sullivan Stapleton will reach Butler's level of success.
If I had to guess, there will be at least a third in the 300
series. Rise of an Empire certainly set up a sequel and the film was number one
at the box office in America.
(Hell, I've seen a lot less successful films get sequels!) That said, I would
be willing to bet that the filmmakers will once again thwart historical
accuracy and have the heroes kill Xerxes, something that the Greeks had nothing
to do with. If the "good guys" killed his father in the films, what's
stopping them?
Jonny's
Contribution - The answer is Yes! Yes, I do like gladiator movies!
Wow...
I wonder how many people will get that reference.
Veronica
Mars
The movie spawned by the Kickstarter campaign
heard across the world! Okay, that sentence doesn't make much sense, but the
start-up for the Veronica Mars movie just might have changed Hollywood. Now salivating die-hard Firefly
fans can speculate anew and I can keep wonder "Where the hell is the movie
based on Jericho?"
Getting more to the point, TivoGirl and I
were big fans of the show and helped contribute to the Kickstarter campaign. So
of course we would venture to the nearest AMC theater to us (many miles away)
to see the finished product. It did not disappoint.
The Veronica Mars movie felt like a feature
length episode... which is the best possible outcome for such a project. The
humor was all there, the feel, the angst, the cleverness and intrigue. It was
all there. Plus there were tons of throwbacks to the television series
including cameos from favorites and a few references. Creator, co-writer and
director Rob Thomas got virtually everyone back... you know, of the still
surviving characters. (When people refer to an alum class as 'the survivors of
the class of such and such, in Neptune High's case, they aren't screwing
around!) There were even a few hilarious celebrity cameos including James
Franco playing himself and Kristin Bell's real life husband Dax Shepard as a
sleazy bar patron trying to hook up with Veronica using some interesting dance
moves.
That said, I believe somebody who had never seen
the show would probably enjoy the movie. I don't think such a viewer would be
lost having never seen the source material, but it certainly helps. In the same
way that the movie centered on Veronica's ten-year reunion, it felt like a
reunion for us fans to see some old friends again. I definitely recommend this
movie. Hell, I recommend the brilliant and underrated series. Watch all three
seasons, then check out the movie. Lets put it this way, the Kickstarter
campaign took less than 24 hours to reach the minimum of 2 million dollars
necessary to make the film. The rabid fan-base that accomplished such a feat
must be onto something, right?
Note: Jonny Prophet did not see Veronica Mars as he had never seen the series. It seems he spent 2004-2007 in a nuclear submarine somewhere deep in the Pacific Ocean as he was doing his civic duty of "eliminating the kaiju menace at its source."
I for one sleep better at night knowing an unstable man has his own nuclear submarine.
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