Reviews

The first thing you should ask about 300: Rise of an Empire is: did you like 300? If you did then you should see its sequel. OK, the Greek-Persian war doesn't have any other stories as good as the Hot Gates, but they do as much as can be expected with the story of Artemisia vs. Themistocles at Salamis. No, there's not more than an ounce of real history in it. The real antagonists were not much like their on screen counterparts. Big deal. It doesn't take long until you realise that this is a fantasy (of sorts, the really magical elements are all told in flashback and so could just be 'story'). It may also be an allegory about modern warfare and politics but frankly the main evidence for that is some innovative use of Persian fire, which I think is meant in a 'plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose' way, so I'd probably not think too long on it. The film is brash, explosive, occasionally crazy (let me just say: the horse). It's also frequently very exciting. OK, Sullivan Stapleton is no Gerard Butler but on the strength of this film he deserves to escape TV and see more movie roles. Lena Headey is decent but underused. Far and away the best actor in the film is Eva Green who's scenery chewing turn as Artemisia gives us a villain half the audience are probably rooting for. I'd be happy to see a third (and final) film in this sequence dealing with Leotychides at Mycale - and to see films like this one every week

"No one can be that cruel," says Uma Thurman in the standout scene that bisects Nymphomaniac Vol I and it's the question of right and wrong that hovers over the film like a spectre. Charlotte Gainsbourg's Jo introduces herself with the line "I'm just a bad human being" but it's the existential that drives the narrative more than the moral. "Why does everything have to be so trivial?" Jo asks Stellan Skarsgård's Seligman, the Watson to her consulting detective of lust, immediately before he delivers a monologue about the death of Poe. But there's much of weight in the film. Yes there is a LOT of sex in this film, but apart from a few shots of genitals it's the intent that makes the film transgressive; much of what is actually shown you could probably see on HBO. When people aren't having sex they're talking and this is where the film stands out. From fly fishing to mortality and the Satanic Interval the range of topics is as wide as real conversation and the actors are uniformly superb (it is perhaps those of whom we expect least: Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater and Uma Thurman who stand out most). LaBeouf is cast to be loathed and he tackles that bravely, if his accent wobbles a bit; Slater and Thurman are each excoriating and heartbreaking. Stacy Martin as the young Joe is the empty heart of the film, occasionally blank, endlessly requiring. It's a challenging physical performance and impressively real. No way is this a film for everyone but it's not as difficult as Antichrist - indeed it's often rather funny. I've not seen a film as bold on the subject of sex since Cronenberg's Crash.