Hard to Believe

Rating: 4/10 (12 January 2006)

I have never been a world conqueror nor am I even well read on the subject. However, I felt cheated in this movie. To be sure it had its good scenes and may still be worth watching. However, I did not think it met with common sense on what I would expect from a world conqueror.
If Alexander the Great did conquer more than half of the known world, one would expect him to be a reasonably tough individual. And yes, perhaps one that would also seem a little mean at times to some people. Driven people who conquer other nations I believe are tough individuals. In this case, Alexander just seems too soft. One is led to believe that people wanted to be conquered. Sorry, that is just too far fetched. Instead of a tough individual such as Russell Crowe in the Gladiator, we seem to have instead the "Stay-puffed marshmallow man" as depicted in the movie "Ghostbusters". Sorry, too hard to swallow.
Yes, driven people at times did try to conquer the world. But I would like movies to be fair and treat all of these conquerors as they should - tough individuals. It is now hard to find a copy of the old movie El Cid in DVD form in the US. However, in it, a warrior leader named Ben Yusef tries to conquer Europe. Now this portrayal is anything but the "stay-puffed marshmallow man". Ben Yusef scares me. But one also thrills to the terror of his forces and his leadership. Likewise, Shaka Zulu, in the movie of the same name, also clearly was not someone to be trifled with. I think those examples are what a world conqueror would really be like. My opinion.