300: Birth of an Empire

Synopsis

In 490 BC AD , during the Battle of Marathon , the king Persian Darius I ^er is mortally wounded by the Athenian general Themistocles under the eyes of his son Xerxes . Back in Persia, the commander of the fleet Queen Artemisia I ^re convinces him to take revenge on the Greeks and in fact a god-king. Ten years later, he invades Greece . While Leonidas and his 300 Spartans stop Xerxes at Thermopylae , the Athenians, Themistocles at their head, fight on sea at Cape Artémision. A few days later the fleets clash at the great battle of Salamis which takes place shortly before that of Plataea . The Greeks win the battle.

Technical sheet

• Original title: 300: Rise of an Empire
• French title: 300: The birth of an empire
• Quebec title:
• Director: Noam Murro
• Script: Kurt Johnstad and Zack Snyder based on the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller
• Artistic direction: Sonya Savova , Sue Chan
• Sets: Patrick Tatopoulos
• Costumes: Desislava Andonova
• Photography : Simon Duggan
• His :
• Editing: David Brenner , Wyatt Smith
• Music: Junkie XL
• Production: Mark Canton , Bernie Goldmann, Gianni Nunnari, Deborah Snyder , Zack Snyder and Thomas Tull
• Production Company (s): Atmosphere Entertainment MM, Cruel & Unusual Films, Hollywood Gang Productions, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures
• Distribution Company (s): Warner Bros. Pictures
• Budget: USD 110,000,000
• Country of origin: United States
• Original language: English
• Format: color – 35 mm – 2.35: 1 – its Dolby Digital
• Genre: peplum
• Duration: 102 minutes
• Release dates:
  •  United States : March 7 , 2014
  •  France : March 5 , 2014

• Classification: ban to 12 years old with warning when it is released in cinemas in France

Distribution

• Sullivan Stapleton (VF: Rémi Bichet and VQ: Louis-Philippe Dandenault ) : Themistocles
• Eva Green (VF: Marie-Eugénie Maréchal and VQ Marika Lhoumeau) : Artemisia I ^re
• Jade Chynoweth: Artémise (13 years old)
• Lena Headey (VF: Rafaèle Moutier and VQ: Anne Bédard ) : Queen Gorgô
• Rodrigo Santoro (VF: Bernard Gabay and VQ: Daniel Picard ) : Xerxes
• Jack O’Connell (VF: Donald Reignoux ) : Calisto
• Hans Matheson (VF: Damien Boisseau and VQ: Alexandre Fortin ) : Aesyklos
• Callan Mulvey (VF: Serge Biavan and VQ: Martin Desgagné ) : Scyllias
• Yigal Naor : Darius I ^er
• Peter Mensah : Artémise’s coach and the Persian messenger
• Andrew Pleavin (VF: Pascal Monsegur and VQ: Patrick Chouinard) : Daxos
• David Wenham (VF: Michel Papineschi and VQ: Sébastien Dhavernas ) : Dilios
• Ben Turner (VF: Axel Kiener ) : General Artapherne
• Andrew Tiernan (VF: Philippe Bozo and VQ: François Sasseville ) : Ephialtès
• Ashraf Barhom : General Bandari
• Vincent Walsh (VF: Yann Guillemot) : the commander of the navy
• Gerard Butler : King Leonidas (archive footage)

Sources and legends : French version (VF) according to the dubbing board and on RS Dubbing ¹ Quebec version (VQ) on Doublage Québec ²

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Critical reception

• The Inrockuptibles : “we can certainly criticize the relative lack of scale of this popular cinema […]. But the scarcity of these subversive blockbusters is not attributable to Zack Snyder alone, who remains an entertainer unparalleled. » ³
• 20 minutes : “The replicas that kill and the clashes seeming straight out of a graphic novel Miller fun, although the element of surprise of the first part is gone. Those who love gladiator films or similar will, however, raise their sword as a sign of jubilation in front of this series B assumed. ” ⁴
• 7-day TV : “Scenario very simple, deluge of hemoglobin and Athenian hero a little bland […]. Remains the beauty of the naval battles in 3D, the chocolate tablets of the Hellenic warriors and the troubling Eva Green […]. » ⁵
• Le Monde : “That the second part of the successful franchise is even more stupid than its predecessor, still happening. But the mediocrity of the work on the image takes away all interest. ” ⁶
• The Parisian : “If the first episode of 300 , directed by Zack Snyder, had been a visual shock, dusting the old peplums, this new chapter is unfortunately missed. ” ⁷
• TéléCinéObs : “It’s a film where there are three hundred gugusses (that’s the title), three heroes (including a nasty heroine), three dimensions (matching glasses) and three qualifying adjectives: mediocrile, mediocrile, mediocre. » ⁵
• Culturebox – France Télévisions : “It is well known, the more successful the villain, the more the film is too . Alfred Hitchcock’s adage applies to 300: the birth of an empire . » ⁸
• Mad Movies : “Punctuated with scenes of pure fantasy and generous in the gore to the point of evoking the Italian bis, 300: the birth of an empire is not only a successful sequel: it is an unexpected success and a poem a warrior of unheard-of epic fury, where a moment suspended in the midst of carnage becomes a sublime momentum of tragic romanticism and gives the impression of seeing a rose bloom in the middle of a charnel house. » ⁵
• Metro : “Once again enjoying a neat artistic direction, still doped with testosterone and still kitsch, 300: the birth of an empire has everything to please fans of the first film. If you are not one of those, you do not need to insist, though. ” ⁹
• First : “This Birth of an Empire , which we will have the right to prefer to the original, is shorter than fifteen minutes. But, in this case, who can least … can do the most. » ¹⁰

Box office

Country or region	Box Office	Box office shutdown date	Number of weeks
United States	$ 106,580,051 11 , 12	May 29 , 2014	12
la France	1,563,297 entries 12	April 29 , 2014	8
World	$ 331,114,051 11	June 15 , 2014	–

Historical difference

The film takes great liberties with regard to history, especially in the face of the texts of Herodotus , the main historical source. Among the many differences:

• During the Battle of Marathon, Miltiade the Younger suggested a frontal charge from the heights to Beach ¹³ , and not Themistocles, who led the central phalanx. Moreover, it took place five days after the Persian landing, and not in full during this one.
• King Darius I ^er is not dead but in Marathon a few years later in Egypt. In the main historical source, that of Herodotus, he does not mention that he was wounded or even present at the Battle of Marathon.
• Artémise I ^re was born princess then queen of the city of Halicarnasse , before pledging allegiance to the king of Persia. She was never a slave in her youth.
• If indeed Herodotus reports that Artemis was fighting alongside his men, she nevertheless survived the battle of Salamis.
• Eurybiade commanded the Spartan fleet, and the writings of Herodotus do not mention the presence of Queen Gorgo at Salamis.

Next

In 2015, no follow-up was announced, but actor Sullivan Stapleton said he wanted to play in the rest of this second installment. According to Sullivan Stapleton, given the box office figures that are rather high, a sequel should see the day.

Notes and references