Movie Name : 300: Rise of an Empire
In 2014 movie 300: Rise of an Empire. Actress Eva Green plays as villainess Artemisia. TBH, I think this movie shouldn't have been made as a sequel to 300, and I think it would be great as its own movie, just using the name give you certain expectations, and with such expectations you either deliver it or exceed such expectations, not saying I didn't enjoy it, I just remember when I watched I was underwhelmed by it, that's all, anyway, let's watch it again. Damn, I just watched Meet the Spartans and the first scene of 300: Rise of an Empire is King Leonidas lying dead surrounded by his soldiers and I can't stop laughing. Ok, I will mention the things I didn't as like in this sequel and really liked in the original, first of all, the writing, I remember liking what the narrator was saying so much that I memorized it and repeated it with him whenever I watched the movie, it was that good, with the background music, it was awesome. Second thing I disliked about this one, is the fight, yeah, we have slow motion, fight since first minute, but whet the hell is going on?! It's like the movie fasted forward to skip everything happened after the death of the king to push us directly towards the battle, it seems that this movie lacked the source materials that inspired the first and focused only on the slow-mo battle scenes. Have to admit, Xerxes and his origin story is just great, I absolutely would prefer the whole movie about Artemisia and Xerxes, like all the intersting parts was narrated in the first 15 minutes, and if the movie focused on the point view of the villains, it would be way much better, I have so little interest in Sparta after the death of the king. The writing in this movie feels like someone trying to mimic the original movie, that's how I feel about this movie and I think I'm not the only one, It's the same writing team except Michael B. Gordon, I assume it's what is missing in this movie, or maybe the movie was a cash grab and didn't make so much effort, or it's just hard to replicate what the original was, I don't know, but it's obvious that something is missing. None of the Greeks can have the charisma that Gerard Butler had, so that's also made the movie underwhelming for me. Anyway, let's go back to the movie, a Spartan insulted our beloved Artemisia, I really hope she kills him, she decapitated him, I totally forgot about this scene, I love Artemisia, as I said, I wish she was the focus of the movie, and the Spartans are portrayed the same way the Persians were portrayed in the first movie, that would give this movie its unique identity. Every time the movie switch to the Greeks I'm being bored, I was never bored in the first movie, as I said, I memorized it from watching it over and over again. Ok, I kind of don't care about any character in this movie, except Artemisia, even I like villains more but at the very least in the original I was kind of familiar with the character so their death had impact, now there's no tension, I don't care about anyone or what could happen to them except our villainess, the rest I feel apathy towards them as the characters are poorly built and very unrelatable and forgettable. If I didn't already watch the first movie I wouldn't mind it, but, damn, Artemisia is so poorly written in comparison with Xerxes, Xerxes kept you so curious about him, there was always element of mystery around him, his words was carefully chosen, Artemisia just talk as if they are trying to reach the time limit of the movie. They are showing us rowing in slow motion, fuck off, dude, it doesn't even have a dramatic impact, you only showing us you can make slow motion even if it feels bland and unnecessary. The only parts I enjoy in the movie is the parts with the villainess, there are dozens of deaths, but because I don't care about single one of them, it has absolutely zero emotional or dramatic impact, it feels like a video game and kill count, the original movie didn't have that, both the villains and the heroes deaths had emotional and dramatic impact or push the story forward and there were characters that you can care about, like, who can like the Spartans or choose them over Artemisia, especially in this movie!! One of the hero's friends died and we have like sad music, I don't know he is, I didn't care, I feel apathy, I guess I'm happy if his death made Artemisia happy, this movie feel like nothing, if it wasn't a sequel to 300, I would say it's great and great villainess, but it's a sequel to 300, and doesn't feel anything like the original, like the visuals looks cool, yet the story, the performance of the hero, the characters, are bad, except Artemisia, and I should care about at least couple of characters other than her, or the death scenes of other characters should at least have impact on the story, but they feel like nothing, they are like NPCs in video games. Ok, I liked watching Xerxes around one hour and eight minutes time mark, still, the writing feels off. Just finished, now I get why I forgot everything about this movie, first of all the movie is so underwhelming in comparison with the first, the heroes don't feel the same, the villains don't feel the same, the writing is horrible in comparison with the first, there aren't so many inspirational speeches, and even when there is, they feel lazy and tuned down, the only thing that kind of stayed the same are the visuals, it looks really good, the same feeling of the first when it comes to the aesthetics, of course seeing the gorgeous villainess is also great. Now what made Xerxes better villainwise in the first movie, first of all Xerxes was a king god, no one could've ever disrespect him and stay alive, Artemisia was slapped by Xerxes, when it comes to villains, if he killed her would be better than slapping her as if she's unworthy character, he doesn't fear if she even flip on him, in 300: Rise of an Empire Xerxes developed from being under his father to be complete evil, a god, false or not, even if him being the devil, that's the peak of individuality, let's say Xerxes slapped her, then she rose in power and achieved evil individualism, that would be ok, but no, she was just like any soldier. Another thing, with Xerxes and Leonidas, there was a teacher and student relation, after Leonidas treated Ephialtes like shit and pushing him into the arms of our merciful beloved evil god Xerxes, and the lesson to Leonidas is "Don't be an asshole", as for Artemisia, unless Themistokles was a virgin before meeting her, she taught him nothing, the last thing that made the perfect ending in original is applying "All heroes must die" concept which not only paved the way for the sequel but also helped Gerard Butler career as It's mentioned in the article. Just forget about 300 and watch it for the villainess and you can enjoy it, but if you are watching it for the same energy of 300 you won't get that.
Actress Name : Eva Green
Character Name : Artemisia
Year : 2014
This sequel should've been about the Persians and ends with Xerxes turned into a god, then they make another movie after that, the problem is they would probably fuck it up too, as they won't be able to write entire movie about villains, so they would turn them good, wouldn't be able to have the basic story and expand on it, as villain movies should be. 
