It’s been over ten years since the world first saw the rise of an empire 300 movie—a film that had the impossible task of following up one of the most stylistically influential blockbusters in modern history. Honestly, let’s be real for a second. Most sequels to lightning-in-a-bottle hits usually fall flat. They try too hard to recreate the vibe and end up looking like a cheap imitation. But 2014’s 300: Rise of an Empire did something kinda weird. It didn't just go forward in time; it went sideways.
The movie isn't exactly a sequel. It's more of a "side-quel." It takes place before, during, and after the events of King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. While the first film was all about the dust and the heat of a mountain pass, this one took the fight to the Aegean Sea. Waves. Blood. Splintering wood. It’s a lot to take in.
If you’re expecting a history lesson, you're in the wrong place. Zack Snyder, who moved to a producer role while Noam Murro took the director's chair, stayed true to the Frank Miller aesthetic. That means everything is hyper-stylized. The blood looks like ink. The sky is always a bruised shade of purple or gold. It’s essentially a moving graphic novel, and that’s why people still talk about it. It’s a visual feast that doesn't care about your "historical accuracy" complaints.
The Naval Warfare of Rise of an Empire 300 Movie
Most people remember the first movie for the phalanx—those overlapping shields and spears. In the rise of an empire 300 movie, the strategy shifts to the water. We follow Themistocles, played by Sullivan Stapleton. He’s not Leonidas. He doesn’t have that "tonight we dine in hell" level of unhinged charisma. He’s more of a politician, a strategist. He's trying to unite a fractured Greece against the massive Persian navy.
The naval battles are where the movie really finds its footing. You see these massive triremes smashing into each other. It’s brutal. The film uses a lot of slow-motion—maybe too much for some—to show the sheer physics of a bronze-tipped ship ramming through solid oak.
Themistocles’ big challenge isn't just the sheer number of Persian ships. It’s the commander leading them. Enter Artemisia.
Eva Green Absolutely Carried This Film
We have to talk about Eva Green. Seriously.
In any discussion about the rise of an empire 300 movie, her performance as Artemisia is usually the first thing fans bring up. While Stapleton does a fine job as the lead, Green is operating on an entirely different level. She plays the commander of the Persian navy with a terrifying, wide-eyed intensity that makes Xerxes look like a secondary character.
She's vengeful. She's brilliant. She’s also a Greek who turned against her own people after some truly horrific childhood trauma. This gives the movie a layer of stakes that the first one didn't really have. In the original 300, the Persians were mostly faceless monsters or "others." Here, the antagonist has a name, a face, and a very clear, albeit bloody, motivation.
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Her chemistry with Themistocles is... complicated. There's that one scene—you know the one—where they basically turn a parley into a full-blown wrestling match/intimacy session. It’s over-the-top. It’s ridiculous. It fits the movie’s tone perfectly.
Breaking Down the Visual Style
The "300" look is iconic. It’s high contrast. Deep blacks. Desaturated colors.
- The "Crush" Effect: This is a digital color grading technique that makes the dark areas of the frame completely black, hiding detail to create a more dramatic, graphic feel.
- Speed Ramping: That signature move where the action slows down to a crawl during a sword swing and then snaps into fast-forward.
- The Aegean Palette: Unlike the browns and reds of the first film, this movie uses deep blues and greys. It feels colder. More fluid.
What Most People Get Wrong About the History
Okay, so let's address the elephant in the room. The rise of an empire 300 movie is about as historically accurate as a superhero comic.
Themistocles was a real guy. He was a brilliant Athenian general. But he didn't lead charges on a horse across the decks of sinking ships. And the Battle of Salamis? It was a massive, chaotic mess, not a series of one-on-one duels.
Artemisia I of Caria was also a real person. Herodotus actually wrote about her. He said she was the only commander to give Xerxes sound advice, telling him not to engage the Greeks at sea. When she realized the battle was lost, she actually rammed one of her own allied ships to escape, tricking the Greeks into thinking she was on their side so they'd stop chasing her. Xerxes supposedly watched this and said, "My men have become women, and my women, men."
The movie turns her into a sword-swinging goth queen. Is it accurate? No. Is it entertaining? Absolutely.
The Xerxes Backstory
One of the more interesting parts of the rise of an empire 300 movie is how it handles the origin of the "God-King." We see Xerxes before he becomes the ten-foot-tall, gold-covered giant.
After the death of his father, King Darius (who, in the movie, is killed by a long-distance arrow shot by Themistocles at the Battle of Marathon), Xerxes is mourning and lost. Artemisia manipulates him. She sends him into a cave filled with dark liquid—basically a mystical spa treatment from hell—and he emerges as the Xerxes we know.
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It’s a weird, supernatural pivot that the first movie only hinted at. It cements the series as a dark fantasy rather than a historical epic.
Why the Sequel Didn't Match the Original's Box Office
The first 300 was a cultural phenomenon. It made over $450 million on a relatively small budget. It changed how action movies were shot. Rise of an Empire did well, pulling in about $337 million, but it didn't have the same "must-see" energy.
Why?
Maybe it was the lack of Gerard Butler. Leonidas was the soul of the first movie. Maybe it was the eight-year gap between films. In Hollywood time, eight years is an eternity. By 2014, the "300 style" had been parodied a thousand times. We’d seen it in Spartacus on TV and in dozens of video games like God of War. The novelty had worn off.
But viewed today, without the weight of 2014 expectations, it holds up as a solid, high-octane action flick. It's shorter, faster, and more aggressive than the first one.
Is There Ever Going to Be a Third Movie?
This is the question fans have been asking for years. For a long time, Zack Snyder talked about a third film that would focus on Alexander the Great. He later revealed he had written a script called Blood and Ashes, which was a gay love story between Alexander and Hephaestion.
Warner Bros. ultimately passed on it.
However, in late 2023 and early 2024, rumors began swirling about a 300 TV series. It seems the "300 Universe" isn't dead; it’s just migrating to streaming. Whether it will follow the style of the rise of an empire 300 movie remains to be seen.
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How to Watch It Today
If you’re looking to revisit the film, it’s usually available on platforms like Max (formerly HBO Max) or for rent on Amazon and Apple.
If you have a 4K setup, this is one of those movies that actually benefits from the tech. The HDR makes those "ink-drop" blood spatters and gold-leaf Persian armors pop in a way that the standard HD version just can't match.
Final Verdict on the Rise of an Empire 300 Movie
Look, this movie knows exactly what it is. It’s a loud, violent, visually stunning piece of popcorn cinema. It doesn't try to be deep. It tries to be cool.
If you want to enjoy it, you have to lean into the absurdity. Accept that a man can jump a horse off a boat into the ocean and land perfectly on another boat. Accept that Eva Green can out-act everyone while wearing several pounds of leather and metal.
It’s a companion piece. It fills in the gaps of the first movie while giving us a different flavor of ancient warfare.
Next Steps for Fans and Viewers
If you've just rewatched the movie or are planning to, here are a few ways to dive deeper into the real history versus the cinematic fantasy:
- Read Herodotus: Specifically The Histories. It’s where almost all our info on the Persian Wars comes from. You’ll be surprised how much "weird" stuff the movie actually kept, like the bridge of boats across the Hellespont.
- Check out the Graphic Novel: Pick up Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander by Frank Miller. It’s the source material for the sequel and offers a much more psychedelic take on the story.
- Compare the Tactics: Look up the real Battle of Salamis. The Greeks used the narrow straits to negate the Persian numbers, a move that actually changed the course of Western civilization.
- Explore the "Snyder-Style" Evolution: Watch the first 300, then Rise of an Empire, then Snyder's Justice League. You can see the DNA of the rise of an empire 300 movie in the way he handles large-scale, mythical combat in the DC universe.