Does the world really need another 300? Zack Snyder’s 2007 adaptation of Frank Miller’s and Lynn Varley’s 1998 comic book mini-series took the world by surprise, and Comic Con completely by storm, when it was originally released. It seemed to announce a new age of hyperkinetic action filmmaking, not beholden to reality or even practical sets. It was a nearly pornographic display of unbridled machismo tied to an impressive historical accomplishment, a paper thin plot and – not for nothing – widespread thematic interpretations that wondered if the film celebrated sexism, facism, homoerotica or some combination of the three.
That 300 has weathered these perilous critical waters and remains, if not an important film (pretenders came, went, and for the most part haven’t been missed), then a pop culture touchstone of sorts. It heralded the coming of Zack Snyder as a major blockbuster director. It affirmed Frank Miller’s place in the pop culture firmament (after his cult hit Sin City, but before he squandered all the good will by writing, directing and ruining Will Eisner’s The Spirit a year later in 2008). It briefly reinvigorated audience interest in sword-and-sandal pictures, paving the way for the Starz television series based on the life of Spartacus.
Yes, 300 was briefly important, but save for Zack Snyder’s involvement in the Man of Steel movies and the lingering blight of speed-ramping (since no one but Snyder seems to know how to do it right), it’s significance has waned. 300 is still a well-liked film, if only for its outlandish celebration of machismo and the cinematic philosophy of style as – and arguably over – substance, but did the world really need another one? The Battle of Thermopylae was over, and unfortunately for the filmmakers, Ancient Greek history is filled with many other battles that were much more complicated than that one.
“Complicated” is perhaps the key word here, for the story 300 was just a parable, revealed at the end to have been a rousing piece of propaganda to rally the Greeks against Xerxes and his army of Persians. The film’s entire content was called into question, for although it echoed throughout history (and the historical accounts refer to a real lunar event, implying that it was at least based on real life events), the big bullet points were all that mattered during the movie. 300 men stood against an army of 300,000 and, thanks to clever strategy and the extreme military discipline of the Spartan soldiers, they miraculously held out for three days. Triumph over the odds, national pride, shiny pecs, blood and guts, that’s all that mattered. The most significant plot points were political machinations that led nowhere and the existence of a side road. Not complicated in the slightest. Effective, perhaps, but not complicated.
But 300: Rise of an Empire seems to be promising a lot more than just heavy action, although the trailers – like the one below – are desperate to highlight the violence. Since its announcement a year after 300‘s release, the film has been shuffled around quite a bit between different directors: Snyder was set to return, then abandoned the chair to focus on Man of Steel. Noam Murro took over even though his only other feature was an indie comedy called Smart People. Frank Miller was supposed to craft a prequel on which to base the film called Xerxes, but it remains unpublished. The film’s supposed initial intent, to focus on Xerxes’ rise to power, has been minimalized to make room for the events that followed The Battle of Thermopylae, presumably the Battles of Salamis and/or Marathon. A plot has threatened to emerge that highlights the involvement of Artemisia, played by Eva Green, as well as the fallout with King Leonidas’s widowed Queen Gorgo, played by Lena Headey.
With more history to cover, more plot to wrangle, jumps in time and still making room for Xerxes’ backstory, we’re forced to wonder if the ultra-stylizations of 300 will even work outside of the original’s highly focused narrative. Will the intensity of the imagery – still present, the trailers promise us – overwhelm a story that actually looks more like a proper “story” this time? Will audiences who fawned over 300 really want to know that much more about Greek history and the bit players in the previous film? And in the seven years since 300‘s unexpectedly lucrative release, have audiences simply tired of this form of super-masculine showmanship? Has the audience for 300 simply grown up?
We’ll find out when 300: Rise of an Empire hits theaters on March 7, 2014. Until then, here’s the trailer.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
