300: Rise of an Empire
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: March 7, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
13
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 6, 2014
Even with the uniformly good performances — and the standout work from Ms. Green — 300: Rise of an Empire is foremost a triumph of production design, costumes, brilliantly choreographed battle sequences and stunning CGI. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMar 5, 2014
While very much a “hard R” movie, Rise of an Empire is, nevertheless, the perfect sort of film for rainy weekend afternoons. It’s a spectacle right down to its shattered ships and duplicitous warcraft, and this time out the story’s been leavened and enlivened with plenty of old-school girl power. Read full review
75
HitfixDrew McWeenyApr 18, 2014
300: Rise Of An Empire is a worthy sequel to "300," stylistically consistent and equally loony, featuring what may well be the first truly can't-miss performance in a film this year. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 5, 2014
The film belongs to Green — maybe the only actress ever to "graduate" from being a Bertolucci muse to a bloodthirsty action-flick dominatrix. Read full review
70
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekMar 4, 2014
Rise of an Empire might have been essentially more of the same, but for one distinction that makes it 300 times better than its predecessor: Mere mortals of Athens, Sparta, and every city from Mumbai to Minneapolis, behold the magnificent Eva Green, and tremble! Read full review
70
VarietyScott FoundasMar 3, 2014
Anchored by Eva Green’s fearsome performance as a Persian naval commander whose vengeful bloodlust makes glowering King Xerxes seem a mere poseur, this highly entertaining time-filler lacks the mythic resonances that made “300” feel like an instant classic, but works surprisingly well on its own terms. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandMar 7, 2014
Israeli director Noam Murro does an excellent job of managing and expanding the franchise established so vividly by Zach Snyder. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMar 7, 2014
Entirely more engaging by dint of being absolutely impossible to take even a little bit seriously. The ruthlessness of Green's character is taken to extremes that meld Medea to the cheesiest serial you can name, and is hence delicious. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 6, 2014
The lack of a creative driver behind the film leads to a level of fundamental dissatisfaction. The movie delivers all the necessary elements but their impact is dull. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 6, 2014
This is digital fake-ism all the way. Audiences bought it the first time; they're likely to buy it a second time. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithMar 5, 2014
Green rules the picture with her nutty stare and her willingness to get nasty in a hot sex scene, but the movie’s main weak point is the Greek general Themistokles. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMar 4, 2014
The design... is stunning, an improvement over 2006′s “300.” And the action never disappoints. It’s a pity this colorless cast doesn’t hold a candle to the Butler/Headey/Michael Fassbender/David Wenham crew of the original, that the writers couldn’t conjure up thrilling speeches to match the original. Read full review
60
TimeRichard CorlissMar 10, 2014
For all the energetic milling, Rise of an Empire proves superior to its predecessor by making war a game both sexes can play, on nearly equal terms. In comparison, the R-rated "300" seems as innocent as Adam in the Garden before the delicious complication of Eve — or Eva. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMar 6, 2014
The spectacularly brutal fighting is the film's main calling card, and in that "Rise of an Empire" doesn't disappoint. Still, in the battle for best guilty pleasure, I'd give it to the Spartans of "300," by a head. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMar 6, 2014
If 300’s human touch largely came down to Butler’s roaring and screaming, it’s left entirely to Green to goose the sequel into life. Happily she obliges. Read full review
60
Total FilmNeil SmithMar 5, 2014
Just as bloody yet much more conventional, 300 #2 offers splashy thrills aplenty but fails to make a watertight case for its own existence. Green, however, ensures it stays afloat. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonGuy LodgeMar 4, 2014
It’s all extravagantly daft, moves at a fair clip and is over before you expect it to be. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMar 10, 2014
The best thing about the new 300: Rise of an Empire is that Zack Snyder didn’t direct it. And the worst thing about it is that Zack Snyder didn’t direct it. Read full review
50
USA TodayScott BowlesMar 7, 2014
Stunningly shot and stupidly written. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldMar 6, 2014
The naval collisions and melees play out in panel-like renderings that are bold and satisfying for the first half-hour but lack the momentum and bombastic je ne sais quoi of “300.” Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 6, 2014
Basically, if the first “300” was a pep-talk from Coach on how to lose with dignity, Rise of an Empire is an inspirational speech on the value of teamwork. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMar 3, 2014
Other than for the pleasure of watching Green try to conquer ancient Greece dressed as a distant forebearer of Catwoman, more is less and a little late in this long-aborning sequel. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 10, 2014
It really is pretty dull, though, with the same moments of campy silliness: the same frowning gym bunnies with the same digitally enhanced abs. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 6, 2014
The best thing about the movie, by far, is Green. Her Artemisia is a real nut case with a taste for blood, and Green is the only one in the cast who seems to be having any fun at all. Read full review
40
The DissolveNathan RabinMar 5, 2014
The film feels epic in scope, visually at least, but the depth of its deep-focus composition is bitterly at odds with the flimsiness of its characterization and plotting. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Adam NaymanMar 6, 2014
By throwing herself headfirst into scenes that a more cautious actress might beg off, Green earns herself a citation for valour – a Purple Heart in a movie that’s otherwise way too grim and grey for its own good. Read full review
33
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezMar 6, 2014
Forgettable and only mildly entertaining, 300: Rise of An Empire seals its own fate at the initial story level by being so deeply invested in its own mythmaking and playing super safe. Read full review
25
Portland OregonianStephen WhittyMar 7, 2014
Both a prequel and a sequel to the original tale, only with more bloodspilling and slow-motion, and even less wit or truth. Read full review
25
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 6, 2014
When the film isn’t sloppily directed, it’s a series of lazy filmmaking tics, including fetishistic slow-motion shots of blood, water and sweat, as well as sundry dismemberments, impalings and decapitations. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 6, 2014
"300" was an innovative and imaginative action film, but the follow-up, 300: Rise of an Empire, is nothing but a disappointment. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneMar 6, 2014
Noam Murro gives the film nothing so much as a hit-refresh on the same glistening, impossibly golden and gray flecks of pixel-barf that have invaded the frames of every tent-pole studio release since the Bush administration. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMar 5, 2014
Murro doesn’t so much direct as frame and stage, placing the characters against digital desktop-wallpaper skies and constructing each battle scene as a showcase for the characters’ prowess and toughness. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 6, 2014
The only saving grace is Green, the reigning witch-queen of cinema. The smoky-eyed French actress, best known for “Casino Royale,” “The Golden Compass” and “Dark Shadows,” throws her all into the performance, going bare-chested at times, bared-teeth at others. She’s like Elizabeth Taylor’s "Cleopatra" possessed by a succubus — which is a good thing. Without her, 300: Rise of an Empire would be bloodless and brainless. Read full review
0
Film.comJames RocchiMar 7, 2014
The empty violence and pointless style are only the biggest problems. Read full review
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