Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

9/25/2017

300: Rise of an Empire (2014) - Murro's off-putting 3D bore sequel

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A bloody wave and the potent image of a sword-carrying warrior adorn this poster for Noam Murro's 300: Rise of an Empire

Greece is threatened by the evil Persians led by their God-like king Xerxes, partnered with a Greek-born Fury, so that Spartan leader Themistocles will have to venture out and strike them back.

The sequel to Zack Snyder's (Watchmen (2009)) great, visionary 300 (2006) is a colossal step down. It is written by Snyder and Kurt Johnstad (Atomic Blonde (2017)), based on Frank Miller's (What If? (1982)) unpublished graphic novel Xerxes, and directed by Noam Murro (Smart People (2008)).
The propulsive style of the original here degenerates into a bastardization of video games and porn, exceptionally vulgar and detached from reality, with a dedication to blood splatter that just exhausts the senses. 300: Rise of an Empire looks like a sequence in an action computer game, which just keeps going, and it results in a tremendously boring experience. - I, for one, would much rather play that game than watch this 3D turkey.
Hero Themistocles is played with a permanent look of constipation by Sullivan Stapleton (Kill Me Three Times (2014)), while Eva Green (The Salvation (2014)) brings passion to the role of the female empress, the Fury, who is the single bright spot in this mess. 300: Rise of an Empire is a strange creation, technically speaking, which has very little to do with film.

Related posts:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 110 mil. $
Box office: 337.5 mil. $
= Box office success
[300: Rise of an Empire premiered 4 March (Hollywood) and runs 102 minutes. Filming took place in Los Angeles and in Sofia, Bulgaria from July - October 2012. The film was converted to 3D in post production. It opened #1 to a 45 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another two weeks (#2-#5) and grossed 106.5 mil. $ (31.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 17.4 mil. $ (5.2 %) and Brazil with 17.3 mil. $ (5.1 %). Though successful commercially, the success was much smaller than that of the first film, which was a huge hit. Snyder has indicated that more sequels may be made. 300: Rise of an Empire is rotten at 43 % with a 5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

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Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (17-24)

9/25/2017

300: Rise of an Empire (2014) - Murro's off-putting 3D bore sequel

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (16-24)

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