300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

Eva Green is the only person in Rise of an Empire who seems to know she’s in a comic book, and she’s playing the villain. Everyone else delivers speeches about freedom and the sea at full volume, in slow motion, under a sky stuck on permanent overcast. Sullivan Stapleton has to lead the Greeks as Themistocles, and he has the screen presence of a very sturdy mast. The sea battles should be the hook, and a few moments land, like a horse charging across sinking ships. Mostly, the ships bump, everyone shouts, and the camera slows down to admire it. Artemisia, on the other hand, is a sharp, wounded, scene-chewing commander, and Green makes her a real person for whole minutes at a time. Lena Headey’s Gorgo finally gets something to do. Even at 102 minutes, it drags. It made $337.6 million worldwide on a reported $110M. A 4.0 because one great villain can’t steer a whole fleet. $949 says you’re on Artemisia’s side by the halfway mark and won’t admit it to anyone who loved the first one.

What works: Eva Green chews every scene as Artemisia and is the one jolt of electricity in the whole thing, and the horse ride across the ships is a great image.

What doesn’t: The hero is bland, the sea battles blur into slow-motion shouting, and the look that felt fresh in the first film is stale here.

Who it’s for: Fans of the first 300 who want more stylized battles, and anyone who’d watch Eva Green read a grocery list.