Something to ponder

Rating: Null/10 (29 November 2004)

I have read through many of the comments on hear--most of them being mixed ranging from "loved it," "luke warm," to "don't waste your time."
What I find the most fascinating is most people who knock the film find some way of stating throughout the course of the panning that Alexander was portrayed as too gay. I find it fascinating, because in the very next breath of a bad review, the tagline usually says, "But, Angelina Jolie was hot." Interesting double standard. Perhaps some people are "too straight" to write an objective review, though I'm sure Ms. Jolie will take the compliment if not necessarily reciprocate it in all cases.
James Bond through the course of 2 hours is totally expected to bed every woman he comes in contact with--all the while saving the day--but, for Alexander to be preoccupied with sex is totally outrageous in comparison with his quest to dominate the world as he knew it. If you think soldiers don't think about sex in the foxholes--think again. It's been said that the average male thinks about sex thousands of times a day. Just because you don't happen to agree with whom he chooses to make the apples of his eyes doesn't make it any less of a fact.
For those others who like to categorize Alexander's sexuality as "speculative," read a book on antiquity. Before the days of Christianity (remember the days when they fed them to the lions?), ancient Greek and Roman men had homosexual lovers. Bare in mind, this was well before the birth of Christ. Once he was born, and the Christians got the upper hand as far as control, making Zeus and Jupiter pagan gods insuring a one way ticket to hell, it should come as no surprise that they wanted to damn everything that ancient Greeks and Romans did--down to their societal beliefs. The fact that it was "hinted at" rather than graphically portrayed is probably due in part to the fact Stone wanted his film to "play malls." After all, it's called "show business." I say, if you weren't prepared to see what you saw, maybe you should consider it a gift. If you were expecting to see "Platoon" in loin cloths and togas and feel you left the cinema cheated, think of how disappointed you'd have been seeing a historically accurate rendition of Old Alex's life. Good luck getting Colin Farrell to agree to that, too, I'm sure. There's an awful lot of "Red States" out there, and just because you might not like history, questioning it's validity doesn't make it any less true.
Not enough battle scenes? Possibly. Questionable accents? Definitely. A "too gay" portrayal of Alexander? Doubtful.