New in Theaters
300: Rise of an Empire (In standard format and digital 3-D with surcharge; playing at the Durango Stadium 9)
If you loved the gloriously and gratuitously blood-spattered visual style of Zack Snyder’s epic “300,” you’ll probably enjoy the hell out of “300: Rise of an Empire,” which manages to be something of a prequel, a sequel and a parallel story all at once.
Neat trick.
This time around, there are even more shirtless six-packed warriors who keep on declaring their love for one another and don’t even pretend they’d rather be at home with the women, and even better use of the 3-D technology that sends rivers of crimson blood and various amputated limbs and severed heads careening our way.
That “Rise of an Empire” isn’t quite as stunning as the original isn’t for lack of effort. It’s just that we’ve seen it once before.
Just as Loki has become arguably the most popular character in the two full-length “Thor” adventures, it’s the villain in “300: Rise of an Empire” who emerges as the most complex, the most colorful and the most entertaining figure in the story.
Eva Green’s Artemisia is a killer in more ways than one. She’s the kind of gal who will seduce a rival general in a closed-door summit (the guards exchanging knowing glances, even though they’re wearing awesome metal masks) and then tell him in battle, “You fight a lot harder than you ...”
You know.
With eye shadow to rival any 21st-century goth princess, a sexual appetite to shame anyone on “Game of Thrones” and a back story that would make Bruce Wayne/Batman bow his head and say, “And I thought I had it rough,” Artemisia is a Greek-born warrior who was abused in unspeakable ways by her countrymen and left for dead, only to be rescued by the Persians, who trained her in the ways of combat to the point where she became the most feared warrior in the land if not the entire world.
Remember Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), the giant bald bespangled god-king who led the attack on Gerard Butler’s Leonidas and his men in the original “300”? We get some back story on him, and it turns out he’s basically the creation of Artemisia, who cares about nothing but bringing all of Greece to its knees. Xerxes is the insane monster with a voice nearly as booming as Darth Vader’s, but Artemisia is the one who has vaunted Persian warrior-generals trembling in her presence.
The great King Leonidas (Butler, in what appears to be recycled footage) makes a few brief appearances in “Rise of an Empire,” while Lena Headey’s Queen Gorgo appears in some new scenes and serves as the narrator for a story that starts off sounding beyond complicated but actually becomes pretty clear as the exposition gives way to a number of gruesome battles, many of them waged at sea.
Sullivan Stapleton is the noble Gen. Themistokles, who tries to unite all of Greece’s city-states to defend the land against the Persians, who would still outnumber them 100-to-1 even if the city-states were to band together (and the remaining populace of Sparta doesn’t seem interested). Stapleton’s just fine as the male lead, though he lacks Gerard Butler’s animalistic screen presence, and he seems overmatched in certain scenes -- especially in one of the wildest and almost hilariously aggressive sex scenes we’ve seen in an R-rated movie in some time.
Zack Snyder is the co-writer-producer of “Rise of an Empire,” but he turns over the directing reigns to Noam Murro, who delivers the same distinctive visual palette as the original. We’re seeing live actors on meticulously created sets (and, of course, working within the world of CGI), but the “300” films have such a unique, graphic-novel-in-motion look that it almost seems as if they’re animated.
Sometimes the battles on the Aegean Sea are difficult to follow, what with all the raging waters and the dark blues and grays – but in time-honored warrior-movie fashion, the main characters have little trouble dispensing of one anonymous foe after another until they find themselves isolated from the madness, staring right at another main character. Crazy how that happens in films like this, time and again.
And again.
If you don’t find anything amusing about slow-motion sequences of men (and women) chopping off each other’s arms and legs, decapitating one another and piercing hearts with knives and swords and other weapons, you’ll walk out of “Rise of an Empire” before Queen Gorgo is halfway through the opening narration. Even if you love this stuff, you might scratch your head sometimes at the logic espoused by the great Gen. Themistokles, who, along with many of his fellow Greek warriors, seems bent on figuring out the most glorious way to die. How about winning? There’s some fancy speechifying about living free and how it’s better to die on one’s feet than live on one’s knees, but mostly it seems like these men rather enjoy parading about shirtless while girding for the next horrific battle. “Who will share his wine with me?” bellows Themistokles after one victory, and a hundred of his men raise their hands and roar as if to say, “Pick me, pick me!”
Even with the uniformly good performances -- and the standout work from Ms. Green -- “300: Rise of an Empire” is foremost a triumph of production design, costumes, brilliantly choreographed battle sequences and stunning CGI. Best of all, the actors and the filmmakers seem to know we’re supposed to be having fun with all this. For the characters, the stakes couldn’t be higher. For the audience, this is just hard-R popcorn fare.
Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
Mr. Peabody & Sherman. (In standard format and digital 3-D with surcharge.
(Not reviewed) Mr. Peabody, the most accomplished dog in the world, and his mischievous boy Sherman, use their time machine - The WABAC - to go on the most outrageous adventures known to man or dog. But when Sherman takes The WABAC out for a joyride to impress his friend Penny, they accidently rip a hole in the universe, wreaking havoc on the most important events in world history.
Before they forever alter the past, present and future, Mr. Peabody must come to their rescue, ultimately facing the most daunting challenge of any era: figuring out how to be a parent. Together, the time traveling trio will make their mark on history. Rated PG.
Gimme Shelter (Playing at the Gaslight Cinema)
Sometimes we criticize actors for playing the same type of character in movie after movie, and sometimes we criticize actors for trying to branch out instead of giving fans what they want.
We’re the worst.
Nearly every story I’ve seen about Vanessa Hudgens’ role in “Gimme Shelter” mentions how different it is from her “High School Musical” days.
Well. Yes. Playing a scholastic whiz who falls in love during a karaoke number in a TV-G Disney production, and playing a pregnant teenager who runs away from her drug-addicted mother in a gritty theatrical release are different. But given that Hudgens’ recent credits include “Machete Kills,” “The Frozen Ground,” “Spring Breakers” and “Sucker Punch,” it’s safe to say her “High School Musical” days are a thing of the past. Let’s move on.
In “Gimme Shelter,” writer-director Ron Krauss and a cast that also includes James Earl Jones, Rosario Dawson and Brendan Fraser elevate some sobering but fairly standard after-school-special material to the next level.
We’re told the film is “based on the inspiring true story,” but no matter what percentage is actually faithful to real-life events, the depressing reality is that tens if not hundreds of thousands of teenage girls can relate to this experience.
Hudgens plays Agnes “Apple” Bailey, an angry, troubled teen who chops off her hair and literally runs away from her monstrously abusive, drug-addicted mother, June.
(Even though we’re told June was a teenager when she gave birth to Apple, it’s a stretch for the 34-year-old Rosario Dawson and the 25-year-old Hudgens – they were 32 and 23, respectively, when the film was shot – to play mother and daughter. But they’re convincing enough.)
Looking so grimy and street-tough she’s mistaken a few times for a boy, Apple makes her way from the New Jersey projects to an idyllic gated community. This is where her biological father, Tom Fitzpatrick (Brendan Fraser), now a successful Wall Street broker, lives with his snooty French wife and their two spoiled-rotten children.
Fraser gives one of his better performances as Tom, who’s more than the caricature Apple believes him to be. The more we learn of his backstory, the more we understand why he was never in Apple’s life.
Of course, if Apple got cleaned up, was accepted by Tom’s new family, enrolled in the local high school and fell in love at a karaoke contest, we wouldn’t have much of a movie. (Or at least we’d have a very stupid prequel of sorts to “High School Musical.”) Things go from messy to disastrous for Apple, who realizes she’s pregnant, commits some serious crimes and nearly gets killed.
Enter James Earl Jones as a chaplain who gives Apple some reading material -- the Bible -- and arranges for Apple to live at a shelter for pregnant teens run by Kathy (the invaluable character actress Ann Dowd), who has devoted her life to helping young women in trouble.
Hudgens does strong work playing a girl who has spent the first 16 years of her life suffering abuse at the hands of her mother, resenting her absentee father and loathing herself. Once in a while there’s a bit too much snarl and street accent in the line readings, but over all, this is further indication Hudgens is carving out an interesting, productive career path as a film actress.
In a relatively small role that could have been pure stereotype, an almost unrecognizable Dawson is convincingly menacing and just bat-bleep crazy as Apple’s sicko mother. And in a couple of late scenes, Fraser delivers perhaps the most moving work he’s ever done.
Writer-director Krauss embraces the spiritual elements of this story without turning it into a heavy-handed religious lecture. “Gimme Shelter” is a movie about a pregnant teenager in which men and women of faith leave the judging to the higher power while focusing on the true Christian calling of helping those most in need of it. Amen to that.
Rated: PG-13 (for mature thematic material involving mistreatment, some drug content, violence and language, all concerning teens). HHH
Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
Still Showing
Animas City Theatre
(128 E. College Drive, 799-2281, www.animascitytheatre.com)
The Past. (See review page 1C.)
Gaslight Cinema
(102 Fifth St. Next to the railroad depot, 247-8133, www.allentheatresinc.com)
Winter’s Tale. Will Smith, Jennifer Connelly, Matt Bomer, Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe star in a story of miracles, crossed destinies and the age-old battle between good and evil set in a mythic New York City and spanning more than a century. Rated PG-13.
Durango Stadium 9
(Next to Durango Mall, 247-9799, www.allentheatresinc.com)
The Act of Killing (Wednesday only) A documentary that challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers. Anwar Congo and his friends have been dancing their way through musical numbers, twisting arms in film noir gangster scenes, and galloping across prairies as yodelling cowboys. Their foray into filmmaking is being celebrated in the media and debated on television, even though Anwar Congo and his friends are mass murderers. Not rated.
Non-Stop. Liam Neeson stars in a suspense thriller played out at 40,000 feet in the air. During a transatlantic flight from New York City to London, U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) receives a series of cryptic text messages demanding that he instruct the airline to transfer $150 million into an off-shore account. Until he secures the money, a passenger on his flight will be killed every 20 minutes. Rated PG-13.
Son of God. The New Testament gets a larger-than life treatment. Told with the scope and scale of an action epic, the film features exotic locales, dazzling visual effects and a rich orchestral score from Oscar®-winner Hans Zimmer. Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado portrays Jesus as the film spans from his birth through his teachings, crucifixion and ultimate resurrection. It marks the first motion picture about Jesus’ life since “Passion of the Christ,” released 10 years ago. Rated PG-13.
3 Days to Kill. Kevin Costner plays an elite government hit man who after receiving news that he has a terminal disease, decides to give up his high stakes life to finally build a relationship with his estranged wife and daughter, whom he’s previously kept at arm’s length to keep out of danger. But when his agency offers him an experimental, potentially life-saving drup in exchange for one last mission, it’s an offer he can’t refuse — even if it means juggling his two toughest assignments. Rated PG-13.
Pompeii. Set in 79 A.D., “Pompeii” tells the epic story of Milo (Kit Harington), a slave turned invincible gladiator who finds himself in a race against time to save his true love Cassia (Emily Browning), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant who has been unwillingly betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts in a torrent of blazing lava, Milo must fight his way out of the arena in order to save his beloved as the once magnificent Pompeii crumbles around him. Rated PG-13.
The Lego Movie. (In standard format and digital 3-D with surcharge.) An ordinary LEGO minifigure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary MasterBuilder, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil LEGO tyrant from gluing the universe together. With the voices of Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett and Morgan Freeman. Rated PG.
The Monuments Men. George Clooney and Matt Damon star in what passes for a true story in Hollywood about a special unit on the hunt for Nazi art plunder during World War II. Rated PG-13.
Ted Holteen and Associated Press
