300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (Rated R)

If the swords-and-sandals epic saga “300: Rise of an Empire” were to be considered a sequel to the blockbuster “300,” then maybe it should have been titled “300: Revenge of the Spartans.”

Unfortunately, the 300 Spartans, including beloved King Leonidas (Gerard Butler, appearing here only in snippets from the first film), were wiped out during a brave last stand against the invading Persian forces.

In essence, “300: Rise of an Empire” is not a sequel, because Leonidas perished, leaving behind his widow Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), a tough cookie nevertheless skeptical about joining the Greeks against Persian God-King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro).

I don’t know how anyone takes Xerxes seriously. Decked out in gold briefs and pierced with lots of jewelry, Xerxes looks like he belongs in a Las Vegas floorshow surrounded by half-naked women with feather boas.

This could be why Persian naval commander Artemisia (Eva Green), a hardened, vicious warrior extremely motivated for bloodthirsty vengeance, eclipses the vain, strutting Xerxes as the story’s centerpiece villain.

The battle of Thermopylae, where Leonidas and his soldiers made a valiant last stand, was just one fight in a war with the Persians that lasted many years. So this non-sequel is more of a parallel story to the ongoing wars.

Absent the leadership of Leonidas, an Athenian soldier politician named Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) steps in to command a Greek naval force that is badly outnumbered by the Persian vessels under the command of the scheming Artemisia.

Themistocles, much like Leonidas, turns out to be a fierce and clever tactician and adversary. Though exuding a rough-hewn charisma, Sullivan Stapleton is no Gerard Butler, falling short of the brash, wild abandon with which the big guy in the sandals made his overtly physical mark.

Arguably, this hardcore action film, where swordplay is graphically realized with much spilling of blood and severing of body parts, belongs to the strong-willed Artemisia, the biggest, pardon the expression, badass, who would be a serious challenge even for Leonidas.

One of the many problems for Themistocles is the thorny political objective of uniting the various Greek city-states to volunteer their soldiers for a battle that looks pretty much like a suicide mission.

The Athenian general also ventures up to Sparta to try to enlist the naval support of the Spartan fleet, though Queen Gorgo is not easily persuaded to forge an alliance that could effectively engage the overwhelming Persian armada.

Fittingly, considering her towering presence, Artemisia, though Greek-born, has an interesting backstory to explain her hatred of her native land. As a child, she witnessed the brutal murder of her family by Greek soldiers, and she was saved by Xerxes’ father.

Cunning and ruthless, Artemisia is an exceptional military officer, which is why she is entrusted to command the entire Persian naval fleet. She also likes a superior challenge, which is what Themistocles represents.

Though she appears to have no use for diplomacy, one of the fascinating moments during the heat of battle is when Artemisia invites Themistocles to a summit meeting aboard her ship.

The shipboard encounter between two powerful enemies turns into a night of rough sex, with Themistocles eventually rejecting her entreaties for surrender. One cannot imagine this happening today, but to be safe, I’d be careful not to send a high-ranking female diplomat to meet with Vladimir Putin.

Unlike the Spartans, the Greeks are not career soldiers. The toll of war on fathers and sons is personified through two warriors, Scyllias and his son Calisto (Callan Mulvey and Jack O’Connell, respectively), who risk it all behind enemy lines, though both are loyal to a fault to Themistocles.
   
On a larger scale, the soldiers on both sides are merely anonymous fighters ending up in the meat grinder of countless battles on land and sea. On the Greek side, with their buffed torsos exposed, most soldiers look like regulars at Gold’s Gym.
 
One particular stunning naval battle occurs on the storm-tossed waters of the Aegean Sea, where Themistocles devises a clever battle plan to encircle the larger Persian armada so as to sink so many ships they are forced to an ignominious retreat.
   
The bottom line for “300: Rise of an Empire” is that if you enjoyed the original film, then this battleground festival of bloody carnage and destruction will not disappoint fans of the genre.

Even though Zack Snyder did not direct this time, his graphic novel style is clearly present. Even the slow-motion scenes of blood spurting from various body parts, skewered or severed, efficiently serve the Zack Snyder method.
   
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.