What's right about this movie?

Rating: 1/10 (21 June 2008)

I did not feel any need to comment on this movie for a long time, but after recently checking out Michael Wood's docu, 'In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great', I feel tempted to say a few things... all the people who seem to like this crap-fest seem to be taking the portrayal of Alexander being gay as the reason why most of the viewing public was alienated. HELLOOOOOO.... yes, he was bi-sexual (hell some historians have even suggested he was impotent), had an ambiguous relationship with his mother and his father. Philip himself is supposed to have been assassinated by an ex-lover, and many historians have suggested that Alexander was in on the plot. So let's take a bi-sexual, incestuous, voyeuristic, patricidal drunk with deep personal problems - presumably anyone with that combo could have:
i) inspired other''normal' men through 20,000 miles into numerous wars with vastly different armies (from Darius'forces to the Bactro-Sogdian guerrilla war to the elephant regiments in India), and survived starvation, lack of water, disease, natural calamities in the process
ii) established control (i.e., a Greco-Bactrian empire that lasted 150+ years after his passing) over a region (Afghanistan and the neighbouring countries) that no modern force has been able to do
iii) devised war strategies that are discussed (and even used) in battle till today
iv) inspired legends wherever he passed through that have been remembered 2300 years after his death
And Philip, let's not forget... presumably the transformation of the Macedonian state into the most potent fighting machine of the ancient world within a period of 20 years was achieved through drunken orgies alone?
And finally, the GREAT battle scenes - first of all, let's forget Granicus, Issus, Tyre, Gaza - those didn't exist...
Gaugamela... MVP Alexander does a comfortable canter to the Persian line (the funniest bit is to see Persian infantry matching the speed of the horses... he he) and everyone around Darius just waits, not attacking while a detachment of the enemy is right beside them
Hydaspes (in India) ... no! This is Vietnam with elephants! So what were Napoleon, George Washington and those other generals smoking when they tried to replicate Alexander's outflanking strategy at this battle (his crossing of the river in flood at night to take his enemy by surprise on a RIVER BANK with a beach, not a tropical jungle) in their careers? I mean, all the Macedonians ACTUALLY did was deliver speeches and wait with their spears as the elephants charged at them... the battle was turned when Alex's horse scared one of the elephants!
THIS MOVIE IS DOWNRIGHT INSULTING!!!