300: Rise Of An Empire (15)

Directed by Noam Murro

2 Stars

This sequel to the bloodthirsty 300 is another bombardment to the senses as a band of strapping, half-naked men leave blood and carnage in their wake.

The timeline is a little confusing - events seem to occur at the same time as the film's predecessor and half-way through you learn of the death of King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) who makes a brief appearance in flashback.

The story focuses on the Greek general Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) who leads the charge against the massive invading Persian forces led by the mortal-turned-god Xerxes and his vengeful commander of the Persian navy Artemisia (Eva Green).

Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel Xerxes it is relentlessly and brutally violent with characters having their limbs hacked off at almost every turn in full-on 3D.

But Green rises triumphantly as the deliciously manipulative and evil power mad Artemisia and steals every scene.

The cat-and-mouse game she leads Themistokles on, culminates in a no-holds-barred ravaging on board her ship which makes uneasy viewing, despite Green giving as good as she gets.

Maria Duarte