300: Rise of An Empire embraces pop mythology

Greco-Roman mythology has always been a fertile ground for movie adaptations. Ancient storytellers created gods and monsters as a means of explaining everything from thunderstorms and tidal waves to the changing of the seasons, but in doing so they also produced hundreds of readily adaptable — not to mention conveniently public domain — epics, including many that served as direct precursors to the current superhero phenomenon.

This year has already seen its share of sword-and-sandal films, a sub-genre that takes its name from the cut-rate costume dramas cranked out by Italian studios in the 1950s and ’60s. Renny Harlin’s The Legend of Hercules, starring Kellan Lutz as the obligatorily shirtless demigod, charged into theaters in January and quickly became the year’s first commercial and critical flop, grossing less than $19 million domestic and garnering a dismal three percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. To put that in perspective, this year’s Razzie champion Movie 43 ended up with four percent.

Last month, Resident Evil schlockmeister Paul W.S. Anderson -— not to be confused with Paul Thomas Anderson, the brilliant auteur behind There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights — embraced his inner Roland Emmerich with Pompeii, a cheap slice of disaster porn featuring Kit Harington from Game of Thrones as Milo, a studly slave-turned-gladiator who falls in love with a doe-eyed aristocrat (Emily Browning from Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events) in the days leading up to the city’s date with volcanic destiny. Anderson’s movie also failed to connect with U.S. audiences, grossing only $18 million after two weeks in wide release, a figure that must have been especially dispiriting given the film’s $100 million price tag.

That leads us to this Friday, which will see the arrival of 300: Rise of an Empire, the somewhat belated sequel to Zack Snyder’s 2006 box office hit. Unlike Harlin and Anderson’s costly misfires, Rise of an Empire is expected to do well in theaters, especially in large format (IMAX, XD Extreme Digital Cinema) and 3D venues. Much of this has to do with the enduring popularity of its predecessor, one of the most influential action spectacles of the past decade.

The original 300, adapted from Frank Miller and Lynn Varley’s graphic novel depicting a hyper-stylized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, where a small group of Spartan, Thespian and Theban warriors made a heroic last stand against a Persian force that numbered in the hundreds of thousands, has became something of a cultural phenomenon since its initial release, expanding its fanbase from comic book readers to action junkies, frat boys and even female viewers. The film was a ballet of blood and carnage that succeeded despite the inherent goofiness of watching a bunch of angry, sweaty men in leather diapers slice, gouge and impale their way through the armies of the pansexual bling-king Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), pausing only to flex their CGI-enhanced muscles and deliver rousing speeches about democratic freedom — never mind that Sparta itself was a hodgepodge of monarchy, democracy and military oligarchy. It also featured a star-making performance from Gerard Butler, who imbued King Leonidas with enough noble savagery and spittle-coated bombast to make up for his rather conspicuous Scottish accent.

Rise of an Empire, based on Miller’s forthcoming series Xerxes, runs parallel to the events of the first film. While Leonidas and his men lay down their lives defending the Hot Gates, the Athenian tactician Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) finds himself in a naval battle with a massive Persian armada commanded by Artemisia (Eva Green from Casino Royale), a ferocious warrior woman who might have had a hand in transforming Xerxes from a mere mortal to a would-be god. If the early reviews are any indication, Green’s scenery-devouring performance might be the unabashed highlight of the film. Though honestly, one look at her scenes from the trailer — “Today we will dance across the backs of dead Greeks!” — should have been a dead giveaway.

The rest of the film will apparently involve Leonidas’ widow Queen Gorgo, once again played by Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey, and her quest to avenge her husband’s death. It’s definitely encouraging to think that a film this testosterone-driven would dare to put two strong female characters front and center in its advertising. To be fair, Gorgo was given a pretty juicy subplot in the first film, one involving forum intrigue, a lascivious politician (Dominic West) and a killer role-reversal at the end — but it would be nice to see her in full-blown Kill Bill mode this time around.

Though Snyder produced Rise of an Empire and co-wrote the screenplay with Kurt Johnstad, his Batman Vs. Superman duties prevented him from returning to the director’s chair. In a move few could have predicted, Noam Murro, whose sole feature-length credit is the Dennis Quaid and Ellen Page comedy Smart People from back in 2008, was asked to step in. Only time will tell if this unconventional choice pays off. Has Murro, who has no little to no experience with big-budget filmmaking, simply cribbed from Snyder’s very distinctive stylistic playbook, or could we be seeing the emergence of an unlikely new career path for the Israeli-born filmmaker?

Another interesting addition to the lineup is Tom Holkenborg, better known as Junkie XL, the Dutch electronica composer who’s taking over composing duties from regular Snyder collaborator Tyler Bates. Though Junkie XL has an impeccable track record with film scores — including four collaborations with the legendary Hans Zimmer — Bates’ presence will be sorely missed. His choir-heavy track, “Returns A King,” was the unofficial theme of the first film and still shows up regularly at sporting events all over the world.

It’s always slightly bewildering to hear people dismiss 300 as nothing but disposable action fodder. Yes, it’s simple-minded and turns violence into operatic splatter art, but it has a fierce visual artistry that can’t be denied. The original film authentically captured the giddy thrill of mythmaking, the same feeling ancient audiences might have felt when they sat in front of a certain blind poet, reliving the final confrontation between Hector and Achilles outside the gates of Troy.

Hopefully Rise of an Empire can tap into that same creative energy, until the style develops a substance all its own.

 

Landon McDonald is a graduate student studying public relations. His column, “The Reel Deal,” runs  Thursdays.