300 Rise of an Empire: Taking the Battle to Sea

This is the sole featurette on my library's bare-bones DVD copy of...hm, should we call it 300 #2 or 302? What's the empire the title refers to, and where did they show it rising?

It goes into a number of subjects. The more varied action. The fact that, in spite of all the sea we...see, it's shot entirely dry. The CG, and that, this would not have been possible to make were it not for how much it had grown in complexity over the years it took for everyone to stop caring about a potential sequel...prequel...midquel...heck, all of them at once. All the effort put into ensuring that it's stylistically consistent with its parent. Using hand-held cameras. The use of shorter swords, enabling them to get closer with every hack, pretend-thrust and such, without risk to the performer on the receiving end. And of course the extreme blood and gore.

This is made up of interviews with crew and some actors, clips from the film as well as possibly from its predecessor, behind-the-scenes footage, stills and design artwork. It doesn't answer all the pressing questions such as "why do people from Ancient Greece (still) have British accents", etc. The running time is 8 and a half minutes.

I recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about the picture it goes into. It's legitimately informational and an enjoyable watch. 8/10