300: Rise of an Empire

300: Rise of an Empire... may focus on the brawny Greek and Persian battles of the 480-479 BC era, but it also presents a kickass group of complex women characters whose sexual prowess is as mighty as their swords.

[The story] gets constantly literally swamped by the blood and gore and so forth, which is well done but almost to the point of parody.

The big box-tick here is that it is the women who ultimately command the impressively surging CGI hordes on both sides.

The mere existence of 300: Rise of an Empire is worthy of note, especially the inventive means by which the story has been advanced.

Considering the level of carnage, it's astonishing how dreary it all manages to be, with computer-game visuals and Carry On dialogue conspiring to render everything dead in the water.

Artemisia may ultimately have lost the war in this clash of civilizations, but she wins our hearts.

…very much more of the same in terms of bare-chested speeches and heavy bouts of narration, but the epic sea battles are freshly presented, and the spectacle is huge throughout…

Aside from Green, “300: Rise of an Empire” doesn’t have a lot to offer.

Green enlivens the screen. The rest consists of profuse bloodshed and slow-motion, copying Snyder’s style to mind-numbing extremes.

Skulls split, crows feast, and golden calves jiggle in the sun-kissed air - spectacle begets spectacle. In the end the movie doesn't hold together as well as the first one, but good hell it's some fun while you're up in it.