Imposters #36 - 300: Rise of an Empire

Well, as per my earlier review, I really didn't Zack Snyder's 300. And I'm applying the Sequel-itis tag here, as I think it's cheap and dumb to release a cinematic follow-up 7 years after the first effort.

But, really, I already got my licks in during my prior review. Also, Snyder isn't helming 300: Rise of an Empire, just producing, so it has some chance to not be horrible - even though I have no idea who Noam Murro is or what's he's directed before (1 movie, 1 program for HBO). I'll just stick to the poster itself.

And, it looks good. It conveys a moment of intense action, which suits the story and would interest a viewer. The composition of the shot is nice, with lots of negative space. I like the jagged, crude look to the font, and the words "Athens will burn" are both plot-informative and engaging.

Of course, the big flaw is that there's absolutely no background. Y'know, the text is informative enough, but it feels empty or lazy without some kind of actual setting. Instead, we get something far less imaginative and gripping, with a big shot of some man.

And I can barely express how much I really don't like the uber-freak look to Xerxes - I keep joking that he looks like part of Marilyn Manson's entourage. But, stupid character design aside, it's hard to find much fault with this poster. I'm not going to watch this movie no matter what, yet it's not hard to be fair when judging its poster.