“300: Rise of an Empire” is not a sequel to “300,” but rather a parallel. Directed by Noam Murro, the movie tells the stories that happened before, during and after “300.”

Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) narrates the whole story. She tells her men about the Battle of Marathon, during which King Darius (Yigal Naor) of Persia was killed by General Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) of Athens.

The king’s son, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), witnesses his father’s death. Darius’ naval commander Artemisia (Eva Green) then sends him on a training journey in the desert. He returns to Persia as the “God-King” and declares war on Greece.

Themistokles leads his men to the Aegean Sea. They use tactics to win the battle with fewer troops on the first two days. Artemisia is impressed with Themistokles’ skills, so she has him brought back to her ship and they have (intense) sex. She offers him a place in her army, but he refuses.

Artemisia soon exacts her revenge. The Persians set the Greek ships on fire and retreat. Themistokles survives from an explosion.

At that time, Xerxes has killed Leonidas and his 300 men, and plans to attack Athens.
In Athens, Artemisia leaves to ready her troops for battle when she learns Themistocles is still alive, against Xerxes’ wishes. The famous Battle of Salamis then begins.
As the two movies are related, the plot and style of them are inevitably compared.

Unlike in the male-driven “300,” the story in “300: Rise of an Empire” is told by Queen Gorgo, and one of the key characters Artemisia is a female commander. However, other than the long-winded narration and the hot night on ship (oh, and Green kissing a bodiless head), not much comes of the emphasis on the two strong female characters.

Modern action movies have many opportunities for new and unique fight sequences, but the director of “300: Rise of an Empire” takes an old-school route. Almost every take of killing (and there are tons of them) involves the stereotypical, slow motion, weapon-inserted-into-the-head/body scene and syrupy blood being spilled everywhere (including on the corners of the screen).

However, “300: Rise of an Empire” may be a good movie for you if you do not mind spending 102 minutes of your life seeing slow-motion blood spilling, the chopping off and cleaving up of heads, and, of course, sex.

_MOVE gives “300: Rise of an Empire” 2.5 out of 5 stars._