Ashdoc's review---

The movie shows the Persian king Kashayarsha ( the Greeks called him Xerxes ) being instigated by his naval commander Artemisia to avenge the death of his father Darayavaush ( the Greeks called him Darius ) in battle with the Greeks by invading Greece again .

The Artemisia is a Greek herself but her family was raped and murdered by Greek hoplites ( soldiers ) and she was kept as a sex slave by them , until saved by the Persians . She is hellbent on revenge . It is she who plays villain of the movie , and Kashayarsha ( Xerxes ) takes a backseat as Artemisia leads her troops into battle .

If Kashayarsha ( Xerxes ) was to take such a backseat and have nothing much to do except watch the battle from the sidelines , then why is he shown bathing in a divine liquid and seen emerging as ' God king ' with his appearance changed ?? The only explanation is that the makers of the movie want to give him more importance in the sequel to this movie , which must be on the cards soon .

In this movie the Persians are shown to be whiter in colour than they were last time . The makers of the ' 300 ' series seem to have responded to criticism about the Persians being shown as black in the last movie---not their true skin colour .
( Read more here---
http://www.kavehfarrokh.com/articles...ns-and-greeks/ )
But other than skin colour nothing is changed about the Persian king's clothing---he is still shown in underwear and some strange chains around his body and neck . I wonder where the moviemakers got that from ??

Of course , Eva Green looks sexy and full breasted in her role as Artemisia---and she puts her sex appeal to full use as she tries to ensnare the Athenian general Themistokles by her captivating beauty and bring him onto her side by promising to make him her second in command .

So does Themistokles respond to her charm ??
And can the invading Persian fleet burn Athens down as it has sworn it would ??
And will Queen Gorgo of Sparta who lost her husband Leonidas and 300 men against the Persians at the pass of Thermopylae respond to Themistokles' plea and send her ships to fight the Persians ??
Watch the movie for the answers....

3D effects do enhance the pleasure of seeing the fights---ships ramming onto enemy ships , warships exploding into fireballs , swords cutting men down spilling blood in gallons , archers firing accurate arrows mowing down the opponent , warriors shown drowning in the waters of the sea....

And the leaders make rousing speechs about defending Greek liberty and freedom from the ' tyranny ' of the Persians . Greek soldiers are shown to be braver than the Persians and killing more of them .

All in all , I was satisfied with this movie---it had the action I wanted.....

Verdict---exciting stuff .