Hello hello~
Currently blogging in uni's computer lab! It's also 8am. So when I look out the window, I can still see the rising sun. It feels like my eyeballs are going to get burned from the bright rays. Perhaps it's because I slept late yesterday after watching 300: Rise of an Empire (Henceforth referred to as 300: Rise). It's a super EPIC movie! I was up blabbering about it on Twitter instead of sleeping. In hindsight, it was a horrible idea to sleep so late when I needed to wake up early. BUT I CANNOT NOT TALK ABOUT THE MOVIE. So here I am now blogging.. as a zombie.
Anyways, on to movie review! I was so elated when I received the invitation email to Churp Churp's Churpremiere of 300: Rise of an Empire, because I usually get them from Nuffnang.
The climax printed on the tickets!
Now, I have actually not watched the first movie; 300. I only knew of 300 from the memes on 9gag. I leant of the popular tag line "THIS IS SPARTAAAAAA!". So my only expectation of 300: Rise is of men going to war. Actually, scratch that. I was expecting PERFECTLY BUILT, HOT, HALF-NAKED MEN going to war. And to my surprise, 300: Rise was really really epic. Epic is the only word that I can think of that will somewhat justify the movie. I had to rate the movie a ★★★★★★★★★☆ (9/10)!
See.. half naked men!
Basically, due to some reasons (watch the movie to find out), the Persians are seeking revenge from the Greeks. So this movie is about how the Greeks, lead by their General Themistokles, fight for their land and freedom.
80% of the war is set on sea but lucky for me, there wasn't any strong camera shaking moments. I almost got seasick from watching Life of Pi please.
While the Greek army is lead by Themistokles, the Persian army is lead by the beautiful but deadly, Artemisia. I absolutely loved her in 300: Rise! She definitely played a pivotal role. However, I shall save the details under the spoiler alerts!
I also can't forget about Artemisia's king, the God King, Xerxes. He only played a minor role in this movie but he still left a big impression on me. The impression he left me was that he's completely.. hairless. Even his eyebrows are drawn on. But with what? Ancient Persia has eyebrow pencil?! Maybe he used charcoal..
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Waterpoof eyebrow pencil at that.
I could tell that the another major selling point of movie is the special effects. Churp Churp is awesome enough to get us 3D preview passes so I got to experience the 3D special effects and get awed by it. The actors and cameras' movement are angled such to enhance the 3D effect. For instance, when Xerxes swings his axe, he swings it towards the camera so that the axe would sort of pop out form the screen. The special effects are so good that I feel that the 2D version will not be able to draw out the full potential of the movie. So if you're watching the movie, PLEASE WATCH in 3D!
One of the scenes with the amazing 3D effect.
And now for..
Since this is a war movie and it is rated 18+, it is expected that blood is everywhere and limbs will be flying across the screen. But the blood is a little fake. Like get a little cut and the blood is squirting out like water! But I still covered my eyes during the action scenes because there's extremely gruesome stuff like beheading, hands got chopped off, eyeballs flying out and BLOOD EVERYWHERE. This is especially true during Artemisia's action scenes because she is a cold blooded general and will not hesitate to chop her subordinate's head off on a whim. This doesn't stop me from liking her though! She made the other male Persian generals look like little kindergarten children. Plus she had a really sad back story. I feel sympathetic towards her. She is the bad guy you love to hate. She's really good with wars on sea AND she has a great sense of style! And for the guys, she's extremely sexy!
Wore more covered up clothing than anyone else in the movie. Sexiest still!
Okay continuing from my previous point, yes the movie got some special effects but miraculously the actor and actresses have some additional special effect up on their sleeves. To summarize it, I drew a simple picture with paint to explain my point.
That blue colour diamond shaped thing is a blood-proof force field that shielded the main characters from any blood splatter. It was so magical and intriguing to watch the Aegean sea dyed red with blood but yet Themistokles and Artmemisia were only stained with mud. It's like for a rather accurate and realistic movie, they decided to keep their actors and actresses clean. Perhaps to save on laundry..
Also, I'm quite sad that Gerard Butler only had one scene where he was beheaded. This time, Sparta is more like the supporting role to Themistokles and his Athenian farmer army. But apparently 300: Rise was supposed to be the side story to the first 300 movie, so because Gerard Butler's character died in that movie, it is logical that he didn't get much appearance.
Other than that, 300: Rise sends out a strong patriotic message. The Greek fought for democratic freedom and now the Persians are trying to take it away. To make farmers and poets that make up the majority of the population is extremely difficult. However, due to Themistokles' encouragement and strong fighting spirit, he managed to turn these farmers and poets into warriors rivalling that of Sparta.
"Let it be shown that we choose to die on our feet rather than live on our knees"
And do look out for the intimidating Persian navy. They made the Greeks' ragtag group of ships look like children's toys. Imagine Themistokles managed to give the Persians a tough fight with such a weak weapon. The tricks and strategies he used is definitely genius level. And I shall warn the ladies.. His looks, abs and leadership will make you go ooh la la at the end of the movie. Like how I did (hehe).
Delusional blogger
Anyways, although I didn't watch the first 300 movie, I did hear about the nude scenes from it. There is also a short scene involving Artemisia but unfortunately it was cut. So if that's what you're going for then don't bother. But I doubt anyone is that shallow to watch 300: Rise just for one sexy time scene right?
Overall, 300: Rise is a great movie and I think this will become a must watch movie for 2014!
And here's a BIGGER SPOILER from his clip I found from YouTube. Disregard the obscene pause screen k?
And here's an interesting photo of us mimicking the poster!
Alright, that's all for my review!
Bye bye for now~
