300: Earth and Water

Turning the 2 films into a single chronological narrative works wonders, particularly in increasing the quality of the sequel’s narrative. For me, this turned the sequel into an almost as interesting story as 300 was, and that’s an achievement in itself.

The editing is top-notch here. The transitions from one film to the other were perfect, couldn’t find a difference between the original cuts and the (many) new ones.

At 17m12, there’s something weird happening with the framerate, just for a few seconds, the video seems jittery. I’ve checked, this is not present in the original.

Overview - Stroke of genius, this edit. Chronologically sequencing events from 300 and 300 Rise into one edit was a well conceived, though doubtless very tricky concept to pull off. Each film has their own, altogether distinct, look, and there is the concern that shifting from one film to another would distract from enjoyment. In addition, elsewhere I had rated the individual 300's 7/10 and 5/10, mostly for narrative issues, and I wondered if this edit would rely on excessive action at the expense of story.

Video - Sure enough, from Sparta to Athens, the hue swings from reddish to bluish. Yet there were a lot of blacks in both that acted to visual cohere the elements. Along with those ever present floating cinders and motes. I don’t know whether this was sheer luck, or if Aztek463 had this planned all along. In any event, visually the films merged.

The editing I thought smooth, and the choices smart.

Audio - Cracking 5.1 sound. Dialogue was never a problem and the bass solid. The only quibble I had came at the very end. The credits. The music jumped abruptly from heroic score to pop song. The aural presence was utterly different. It was jarring and catapulted me straight out of the film. Ninety seconds on, I was done. The Pumpkins should have wailed later, or been cross-faded. That’s just me.

Narrative - This is where Aztek excelled, elevating 300 Rise almost to the level of 300. The narrative sleight of hand had me enjoying the sequel much more than I had originally. I still found the heroes of the second film weaker, the villains stronger. Xerxes not as dominant as remembered, perhaps by design.

Enjoyment - Oh yeah. Thank you for doing such tight edit, that you kept the running time to under three hours. I won’t view 300 Rise again. Fire and Water will be my go to there. Does not eclipse 300, though I doubt that was the intention. Action binge fest, and a fun one at that.

Now this was interesting.

The edit works incredibly well as a single narrative, regardless of the movies being released almost a decade apart. The reprising roles make it even more convincing, and no unaware viewer would take this for less than a back-to-back production of two separate installments. There are some narrative inconsistencies that could have been edited along - like the persian emissary disdain for Queen Gorgo's say as a woman, even though he is shown to have been Artemisia's mentor at that point. But that's on the nitpick side. While other reviewers have taken issue with how prominent the sequel story is in the edit, I think it's for the better since it gives the original some real-world political sustenance instead of relying just on mythic sandals-on-the-ground.

AV quality is just okay, editing is pretty flawless throughout.

Good showcase for fanediting.

The editing here is superb, and the quality of chopping these 2 films together is top notch.

Unfortunately, the weak spots of the film are from the prequel. I hated 300 Rise of an Empire completely. Outside of the origin of Xerxes, the prequel was just garbage...and sadly, while the editing and pacing here was really well done, I still had zero interest in the 300 Rise characters or plotlines. The original 300 bits are still equally as good as they ever were, but it's obvious where the shift in tone and color scheme take place when switching between films, and I just didn't give a crap when the Rise parts came into play.

I was just hoping that the Rise portions would be minimal, which they weren't. I feel like the Spartan story took a backseat to the sub-par Rise bits in this edit. We never really got to know the Spartans before the war, although we got history on the main characters from Rise. It's a shame because the quality difference between 300 and Rise is huge. I feel like Rise is better off a secondary supplementary material than being a focus.

If anything I would have cut the stupid sex fight between Eva Green and whats-his-face from Rise. That was just dumb. I was hoping at a minimum, this edit would omit it, but alas it was still there.

I can't knock the quality of this edit though. Technically, it's a very professional edit. I just was hoping to much less Rise and retain the majority of 300. And the majority of my 7/10 score for enjoyment here goes to the original 300 bits.

Being a huge fan of the testosterone driven 300, I was not-so-very-but-still-a-bit anxious to see its pre-/se-/interquel 300: Rise of an Empire.

I should have known... Bar a handful of exceptions, Hollywood no longer has the creativity to handle sequels like it once had. There are no Empire Strikes Backs, The Godfather Part II's or other similar masterpieces in this decade's films. Bar a handful of exceptions. Rise of an Empire is not an exception. Trying to gap the bridge between to films when you have almost no one of the original cast to your disposal is one of the most ludicrous, impossible things one could try. I applaud their efforts, but it still feels as if they failed.

Aztec tried to bridge the two in a two-hour-ish epic. He succeeded partially, but his efforts are highly recommended viewing. If his edit lacks in execution, it is only because of the source material.

AUDIO:
Everything flowed nicely and I didn't notice any hiccups, save one. When Captain Astemis' eldest son, Artemis, is decapitated, the sound drops considerably in a matter of seconds. It made it clear something was missing. This flaw, if you will, is also the one moment where Aztec's skills are best evident. Up until that point I had COMPLETELY forgotten that Dillios' had been narrating the whole thing in the original feature! Aztec did a fantastic job at keeping the plot going, not having missed a beat where Dillios would try to fill the gap with storytelling.

VIDEO:
Added grain (and other effects?) did a commendable job in bringing the slightly visual styles of both films closer together.

STORY:
The parts that were left out were never missed. Every time someone was mentioned, the next scene cut to that person. A great example was where Themistocles visited Gorgo while Leonidas was out. To show Leonidas was withheld elsewhere, Aztec then cut to Leonidas visiting the Oracle. Great craftsmanship, and it really made it feel as if the stories were interflowing, rather than making up for the original cast not having returned (as was the case). It was disappointing to see the arrogant Xerxes of the original 300 be reduced to the puppet he was in 300 RoaE. He was controlled, told what to say and do, and only seldom did he show a spark of arrogance, which was then in contrast to his puppet-like nature, that in turn did not help making his character believable. If both stories truly played back-to-back, he should have been arrogant from the start. in 300 RoaE he swayed back and forth, while Artemisia proved the real villain. Again a fault of the source material, which Aztec tried his best fixing.

Despite Aztec's great efforts, 300 Rise of an Empire is still an underwhelming sequel compared to its grand predecessor 300. It was everything I'd been looking for in an action film for quite some time. Aztec's fanedit strips the sequel of its shortcomings and ties it into the original film to bring a better storytelling experience of the brave Spartans than the original sequel ever could.

Comes highly recommended for fans of 300 and those who like the sequel but prefer the original.
*NOTE: Gave an 8 for enjoyment. Was looking for 7.5 but 7 does not do it justice.
8 for narrative because of the inferior 300 RoaE storyline.