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.

Top notch editing. The technical profiency of this edit is very high. It was an interesting watch, but at the end of the day I just don't care about the events in Rise as much as the original. This makes them as good as they can be, I think. I wish the movie didn't have to go on after the ending of the original 300, but narratively there would be no way to make that work. This was a cool idea executed as well as is possible. I think the story of the sequel/prequel just isn't that strong. I'll watch this edit on occasion though it doesn't replace 300 for me.

The editing is pretty seamless and the picture quality is outstanding.

REALLY liked this. Like a hell of a lot. It works almost perfectly well. Good job taking out Wenham's narration from 300. I'm sure that wasn't easy.

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.

An outstanding work.

I loved 300. The sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire was...ok, but not something that I would watch more than once.

This fanedit takes the best elements of both films and ties them together into one seamless narrative. I was very impressed with both the visual and audio editing, and Aztek463 has succeeded in making a fanedit where the end result is greater than the sum of its parts.

Highly recommended!