300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE out March 7th 2014

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I've read a couple reactions to a recent screening of this. They all say it's pretty good and that Eva Green is great in it.

Are these fan reactions or critic ones? Just curious.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The only thing I have found are those who attended early screenings, so I haven't seen a "professional" critic review yet.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

^Ah right, thanks Darth, I actually hope this is decent, it seems a pointless sequel but I hope I enjoy it nontheless.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I like the original film quite a bit (I watched it again last night and it holds up rather well), and love Eva Green. If nothing else, I will see it for her and out of curiosity.

 

[Liam_H]

Well I just the saw movie and I liked it. I also like the previous movie and for any fans of the first you should enjoy this as well.

I'm a fan of Eva Green but when I saw the trailer she looked like she didn't belong. However, I was wrong, she had a lot of fun with the character. Her eyes make her so sexy but at the same time gives off a bit of crazy when need be. Stapleton was fine as Themistocles, convincing in his action but kind of weak when doing his speeches. Leonidas he is not.

The problems for me mainly deal with the narrative considering it takes place before, during, and after the first one. Bit awkward fitting that in around including backstory for Artemisia and Xerxes. Personally I wasn't a fan of how fake the blood looked at times. Since I saw it in IMAX 3D, every slice sent it at you but it was just so CGI. Luckily it was mainly near the beginning and didn't stand out as much later on.

 

[slumcat]

Awesome man.

1. How are some of the new supporting characters namely...
Hans Matheson as Aesyklos (Themistocles second in command)
Callan Mulvey as Scyllias (the spy)
Jack O'Connell as Caliston (Scyllias's son and the young guy on the poster with the face paint)

Do they have good scenes or stand out moments?

2. How is the action? This is the reason all of us are going to be watching the film.

3. Does Eva Green [BLACKOUT]go topless[/BLACKOUT] ?

 

[Octoberist]

I heard that Eva Green steals the movie.

 

[Liam_H]

Awesome man.

1. How are some of the new supporting characters namely...
Hans Matheson as Aesyklos (Themistocles second in command)
Callan Mulvey as Scyllias (the spy)
Jack O'Connell as Caliston (Scyllias's son and the young guy on the poster with the face paint)

Do they have good scenes or stand out moments?

2. How is the action? This is the reason all of us are going to be watching the film.

3. Does Eva Green [BLACKOUT]go topless[/BLACKOUT] ?

1. Aesyklos I barely remember him having anything to do, he was there but mostly just that. Scyllias and his son were suppose to add some heart to the movie and its pretty easy to guess what their dynamic is. But in general all three were fine and did what they needed to do.

2. IMO the action overall was not as good as the first. It might have to do with the fact that the action in this movie is not as fresh as the first one. But there a couple that stand out.

3. [BLACKOUT]Yes and they are glorious. The scene where it happens was fairly funny how it went about. [/BLACKOUT]

I heard that Eva Green steals the movie.

She is the most fun to watch on screen with all her posturing etc. Its quite obvious she was enjoying her character.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Of course it is glorious. The Dreamers, Camelot and Perfect Sense already confirmed this.

 

[Liam_H]

Well of course. But seeing them in a different context is always welcomed.

 

[slumcat]

Camelot that scene! Oh my.

 

[Octoberist]

Im curious to hear how this movie is tracking

 

[dark_b]

Of course it is glorious. The Dreamers, Camelot and Perfect Sense already confirmed this.

i need to google this

 

[Verbal21]

Anybody know if there'll be a new 300 blu-ray before this one comes out? I feel like buying/watching it before the new one.

 

[slumcat]

There's this new feature out for the villains of this film.

Man, just watch Green's performance in that, she is chewing scenery in the best possible way. I think we haven't seen such a badass female character in cinema since Ripley.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

There's this new feature out for the villains of this film.

Man, just watch Green's performance in that, she is chewing scenery in the best possible way. I think we haven't seen such a badass female character in cinema since Ripley.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Had no idea Hans Matheson was in this. I remember watching Clash of the Titans and wishing he would just push Perseus off a ledge and take over the mission. Such an underrated and underused actor.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Had no idea Hans Matheson was in this. I remember watching Clash of the Titans and wishing he would just push Perseus off a ledge and take over the mission. Such an underrated and underused actor.

Yeah I noticed him in a video the other day. Had no idea. Liked him since his turn as Dr. Zhivago for a television adaptation. Always nice to see him pop up.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Yeah. He still, to this day, played my favorite version of Mordred in Mists of Avalon. I wish he would get more work. It was annoying seeing him play second fiddle to a *****e like Sam Worthington.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Holy crap, he was Mordred in Mist of Avalon? It has been so long since I watched that, I totally didn't realize. I didn't know who he was at the time. Then I looked up the cast, and Freddie Highmore was little Arthur, and Tamsin Egerton was little Morgaine. You just blew my mind Rowsdower.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Haha wow, I didn't realize that Freddie Highmore was in that.

 

[Loki882]

As I said before, Eva Green has been in some crappy movies. However, she's almost always good in them, Dark Shadows for example. I'm not saying that this movie will be crappy, just that I expect her to be good in it regardless of it's overall quality. Oh and I can always go for more Eva Green sexiness. She should play Amora the Enchantress in Thor 3, or Circe in a WW movie.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Good to hear that the movie is at least enjoyable, I hope this turns into a Kick-Ass 2 situation for me, were the sequel wasnt as good as the original but was still a good sequel and an enjoyable movie in its own right.

 

[dark_b]

i will watch it in the theater because of the effects. but there is no way i will like it. the trailer is showing way to much slow motion. not enough speed ramping. and i think someone wrotte that its only slow slow slowmotion.

the colors are disgusting. no harmony between them

 

[slumcat]

Interview with Rodrigo Santaro a.k.a. Xerxes

The reign of Rodrigo Santoro
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/152744/the-reign-of-rodrigo-santoro

Spoiler

It was one of the more striking transformations in any personal filmography. In the 2003 ensemble film “Love Actually,” Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro played Karl, a handsome, sweetly shy tech guy in the early stages of an office romance with Laura Linney’s Sarah. Then, in a truly astonishing change, Santoro was unrecognizable but utterly unforgettable as the grotesquely pierced, inhumanly tall, power-mad god king Xerxes in the kinetic historical action epic “300.”

Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, “300” recalled the heroic last stand of 300 Spartans against Xerxes’ countless Persian forces. Director Zack Snyder and cutting-edge graphic effects turned “300” into a box-office behemoth—a slow-motion, spears-and-abs extravaganza—and changed the look of action films forever. But Santoro gave the film’s most memorable turn as the human ruler who considered himself immortal.

To hear Santoro tell it, none of the people behind the film expected it to be a big hit. On the phone from his hometown of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the 38-year-old actor explains in his fluid, slightly accented English how “300” changed his career. “It really had an effect, a big one. It was a turning point for me outside of Brazil,” he said, the excitement clear in the speed and spirit of his words. “I had already been doing things but the movie was just a big surprise hit. In Hollywood, a big hit can change things for you, so ‘300’ was important for me because it opened up a lot of opportunities for me.”

Now, Santoro returns to the role that made him world-famous in “300: Rise of an Empire.” Directed by Noam Murro and based on Miller’s “Xerxes” graphic novel, “300: Rise of an Empire” features the Greek general Themistokles (“Strike Back’s” Sullivan Stapleton) as he directs the united Greek forces against Xerxes and Artemisia (Eva Green from “Casino Royale&#8221 who commands the seaborne swarm of the Persian navy.

Santoro had a good reason to be recruited back into action—it was all about Xerxes. “I had never revisited a character before and I thought it was a very interesting idea,” he told Inquirer Super. “It’s six years later and I’m now a different person. The most important thing was the chance to humanize the character. When the first movie came out, the character got a lot of extreme reactions. But I didn’t get to explore the character as much as I wanted. He was powerful and exotic, but you didn’t know what was going on underneath. It’s a way of exploring the character, why he became what he came. It gives you a way of looking into the character in a different, deeper way. What you couldn’t understand in the god king character in the first movie, you can see here.”

He says that this is bolstered by Green’s character, Artemisia. “They have connections and she knows him. Artemisia is a mirror that reflects the humanity of Xerxes. You can see his vulnerability through her.”

Returning to Xerxes was not easy, requiring three months of nonstop working out, a very strict diet and five hours of makeup every day to get into character. For Santoro, it was also a mental change. “He’s such a different character from me. It’s amazing to go into another zone far away from myself. We are in a movie that is hyper-fantasized. I’m mean, I’m a man whose 9 feet tall with the voice of thunder, according to Frank Miller.” Truth is, he’s still doing it. “I’m still doing scenes by myself against a screen. I don’t work with the other actors because I’m supposed to be 9 feet tall. It’s all very technical but I’m happy to be able to do it.”

Santoro has been able to do both Hollywood feature films and movies in Brazil. “It’s a constant exercise. I still want to keep working in Brazil. There’s a lot going on here. Portuguese is what I speak; it’s my mother tongue. Still, I’m happy with all the opportunities I get outside of Brazil. I don’t have a formula or an exact plan. I don’t start the year saying I’m going to shoot here and here. You really can’t predict these things. For me, you have to keep up the balance.”

One of the projects he’s excited about is the currently filming “Pele,” the story of the world-famous Brazilian football player who is considered the best ever to play the game. “It is the year of the World Cup in Brazil and Pele has done so much for Brazil,” says Santoro, who has a small part as an actor but is actually an associate producer in “Pele.”


This new film offers something for those who have seen the original “300” and those who haven’t. “This movie can be watched independently from the first one,” he says. “But if you saw the first one, then it’s a very rich movie experience. We call it a companion film that explores the conflict in Greece at the time. There are new characters and a fresh story. You still have the stylized graphics that made ‘300’ a hit. But the textures and the colors are different. There is a dialogue between this film and the first film. The film starts after the scene in ‘300’ where Leonidas is killed. It’s also bigger because you get to see the size of the Persian navy, the size of the battle and it’s out there on the water. Everything is just bigger.” That’s just royally right for Rodrigo Santoro, who continues to build on a career crowned by uncanny cinematic choices.

Warner Bros.’ “300: Rise of an Empire” opens in cinemas on March 6.

Video Interview with Rodrigo Santaro

300: Rise of an Empire movie’s Brazilian star talks waxing Down Under ...
http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...axing-down-under/story-e6frfmvr-1226835691636