The Queen Who Wanted To Be King

Rating: 2/10 (19 January 2005)

As Anthony Hopkins in a very prophetic bit of writing tells us "His failures tower over others successes" I believe that's also true for Oliver Stone you may like him, or not, agree or disagree with him but you can never dismiss him. He goes for it, he takes amazing chances. Naturally, the risks are enormous. Alexander is a misfire from almost every angle. Maybe the most important aspect that in Colin Farrell's portrayal there isn't a hint of greatness. If this was really Alexander he wouldn't have made it into the history books as "The Great" but as "The Queen who wanted to be King". With this I'm not attacking the gay portrayal. That was a fact, present in every serious biography of the man. I remember the Robert Rossen version of the story, with a moody Richard Burton as Alexander and a great Danielle Darrieux as his mother. The problem there was quite different. We had hints of what made Alexander great but the film was a plodding, solemn, unexciting little epic. Maybe this is one of those subjects that mere mortals shouldn't attempt. Not even Oliver The Great.