A Clash of Epics: 300: Rise of an Empire & Noah
After an intensely long hiatus from Petrozza’s Ladder, I have decided to
test the waters once more after much coaxing from fellow film friends and aficionados.
After about a year and a half of putting reviews of films on my facebook
profile I figure it is time to resurrect this old thing and put it to fun use.
So enjoy.
What better way to kick off this blog again than to start with a pairing
of films that fall under my favorite genre, ye olde Sword and Sandal Epics!!
Today we have what can be known as nothing else but a Parallequel to Frank
Miller’s 300 and a creative and bold
retelling of a Biblical Legend. Both films in their own right have surpassed
and created new definitions to the genre of sword and sandal epics through
their overall style and creative liberties with history and legend. So lower
your sails and raise your shields, for when both epics take place on torrid
waters, there is bound to be adventure!
As many a reviewer will tell you, Hollywood’s history of releasing a
good sequel or prequel to a franchise film is quite a fickle beast, often
smashing profits on to the rocks; that being said, 300:ROE takes a different
and compelling narrative route, so as to not alienate the first time watcher
and to still excite the eager 300 fan. 300 and 300:ROE run on
PARALLEL STORYLINES!
In making this genius move 300:ROE was able to introduce a slew of new ideas
and styles to the battle epic, while still maintaining the ‘artfully violent’
medium that everyone devoured in the original picture. 300:ROE takes us away
from the battle-hardened city-state of Sparta and over to the capitol of
archaic democracy, Athens, now under threat by the tidal wave of Xerxes's
onslaught.
Unlike the original 300 Spartans, the motivations and philosophies of
the Athenian soldier vary from our expected testosterone-driven hoplites who
kick people into holes. The lead character is a warrior and naval commander
hell-bent on the protection of all Greeks from this foreign invasion. Knowing
he has an army made up of farmers, militia, and tradesmen, he must take his
battles to the sea and use guile to overcome the armada of the film’s, and in
my opinion, one of Hollywood’s most awesome female villains in a terribly long
time, Artemisia.
Now let’s move away from any more info on that (because the movie will
tell you the rest) and on to some of the artistic and narrative choices. In 300
we saw some intense saturation and sepia tones of reds, maroons, and blacks, as
well as a great use of artistically texturing blood in an almost matte style. This
lent itself beautifully to the original Graphic Novel style of hard shadows,
gory fights, and intense close-ups. 300:ROE has kept much of the style but
changed the palette to justify the Athenian and naval theme with cold blue’s
and turquoise tones. As an added dynamic, we notice the blood is given
a glossy shine. Much of the film takes place on torrid, stormy seas so I suppose
they thought it was appropriate; However, I was not a fan of the glossy blood
effect, it made those slow motion death strokes a little distracting, almost as
if the blood had a shiny bald spot, but that is a small detail.
As for narrative, 300:ROE builds the tension of its story alongside the
battle of Thermopylae, yet still gaining intensity on its own front as the
Athenians face sword and fire on land and sea. The film lends a creative and dynamic
contrast to the first film by taking the battle to the water, which I believe
was a much needed move. Too many sword and sandal battles happen on land, the
only exception being pirate films, so it is very refreshing to see the use of
naval tactics mixed with romantically artistic face to face combat.
As for casting, I thought all the choices were great, it is good to see
some familiar, yet not too familiar faces grace lead roles in the film such as
Sullivan Stapleton and Hans Matheson. This really helped in acquiring a mystery
and organic approach to developing a character through audience discovery. That
being said, the woman who stole the entire show was the deadly and beautiful
Eva Green as Artemisia. For a long time I have been disappointed at the ill or
clumsy use of female characters, especially the villains, but for some reason,
every time Eva Green graces the screen with her intense gaze and seductive yet
foreboding voice I cannot help but wonder why she isn’t in more films. Green really
captures the pent up vengeance of a tortured soul with the ambition, mythos, and
military mind of a Hellenistic commander. Her presence on screen is powerful,
and not because of her muscles! She is shown to be very short and slender in
the film, so much of the fear she instills is in her Napoleonic ambition and
wrath. It is hard to explain perfectly, but to be quite honest, we’d all be in
serious trouble if her and Darth Vader ever got married.
Before I finish this, there’s a sex scene that really takes Oscar Wilde’s
quote on Sex and Power very literally, and it is a great scene.
Overall, this film was
brilliant entertainment, I would argue just as good as 300. As for history
people bitching and complaining about inaccuracies, I’m just going to sit here
and stare at you for a bit and enjoy how much pain you are in over a film mainly
based on a comic.
I can honestly say that a new type of alternative genre has been born
through the making of this film. Darren Aronofsky has taken some great
liberties on an age old legend and brought new light to approaching religious
tales. The secret? Don’t look at them as religion! Look at them as creation
stories, myths, fables and legends, passed down over centuries to the point
that they have entered the realm of fantasy, and that is exactly what he did.
Noah has melded the gap between religious epics and the fantasy genre in a
creative and moving dialogue through the dark controversial realms of fire and
brimstone and good God, bad God (well in the bible’s chronology, the other way
around :p).
The overall design, lore, and narrative had a wonderful hybrid of
fantastical themes that I would like to coin as…..
Wait for it….
BIBLE PUNK!!!!
Now hear me out, I know there’s bible punk music, but that’s not what I
mean. In the fantastical styles of cyber, and steam punk there now needs to be
room for another alternative style. A style which uses angelic light as a
volatile yet useable source of energy, and where the elemental beings cast out
by ‘the creator’ still roam the earth as a tribe of rock ents (pretty much). The
film also shows a pangea-like world that is caught in a pre-apocalyptic limbo
of Iron Age industrialism (check out those iron welding helmets!) and
creationist (in a hippie kind of way) guardians. It is actually a tonne cooler
than it sounds and the special effects are astounding, it is certainly the kind
of film you want to see in AVX.
As for casting, I was quite surprised at the choice of Russell Crowe;
although I love his work I did not expect him to be cast in this role, but once
the story takes off you can really see that gentle giant-meets-raging bull
surface in all the right parts. Emma Watson is also in it, and of course she is
great in it but the film does not revolve around her, as I was worried it
might, but she plays an integral role in testing Noah’s moral grounds. An
honourable mention also goes to the very quirky role of Methuselah who is
played by Anthony Hopkins, and Ray Winstone who plays the animalistic ‘son of
cain’ Tubal. Everyone played their part well and although the film does stretch
a whole 2 hours and 20 minutes the change in stakes and plot intensity give it
a very seamless flow.
So
if you want to see what Waterworld could have been like if it was written in
biblical times and then plunged into a new alternative fantasy genre, you
should check it out. It was quite an intense and heavy film, minus the happy
and preachy attitude that old bible films took (which doesn’t mean I don’t like
Ben Hur or The 10 Commandments, they are still spectacular and unbeatable in
their genre).
Well, that was a mouthful for an
intro back to Petrozza’s ladder! Be sure to comment, like, subscribe, and all
that good stuff.
Christian A.V. Petrozza
