300: Rise of an Empire review

300: Rise of an Empire (15/R, 102 mins)
Director: Noam Murro
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

The reams of backstory and exposition that make up much of this somewhat uncalled-for action sequel fill us in on how Greek general Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) made an enemy of Xerxes, who became the god-king that Gerard Butler and his Spartans fought in the original 300 seven years ago. None of this is particularly relevant to what’s being told here, a battle being waged by Xerxes’ second-in-command, Artemisia (Eva Green), and her massed Persian forces, with Themistocles wanting Sparta to join the fight. What follows is essentially the same sea battle played out over and over, doused in torrents of computer generated blood that passed muster back when this sort of thing was a novelty, but which is now just kinda boring. Grand-scale carnage and destruction it may be, but there’s very little to engage with thanks to woeful dialogue and scarcely more believable performances. A couple of stunning shots offer little respite, and it’s rather cheapened by the fact it’s all taking place at more or less the same time as the events of 300, meaning we’re watching this third division stuff while the Champions League is on. It seemed these words would never be written, but Gerard Butler is badly missed.

Dogtooth review

Dogtooth (18, 97 mins)
Director: Giorgos Lanthimos
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This deeply strange but curiously compelling Greek drama looks at three grown children who have never left the confines of the family home and garden, having been told by their father that if they stray outside they’ll be killed by a monster known as a cat. They have no knowledge of the outside world and are subject to experiments from their dispassionate father, leading them to frequently behave like children and believe that Frank Sinatra is their grandfather. As social commentary it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what the makers of Dogtooth are trying to say, but it certainly has some interesting ideas about the effects upbringing can have on behaviour and even sanity. A complete lack of explanation or motivation for the parents’ behaviour keeps things sinister and it’s filmed with a clinical technicality that only adds to the sense of oddness and unease.