strong characters with strong ambitions

Rating: 9/10 (24 November 2004)

Alexander was an early and enjoyable kickoff to my Thanksgiving
Day weekend! Why? First, I find history interesting. Secondly,
watching Alexander the Great (Colin Farrell) conquer armies on
screen was far better then doing battle myself with ludicrous,
holiday traffic...anyway...
Despite its nearly three hour length, this film was a quick
chronicle of Alexander's life from early boyhood, through territorial
conquests and then early death at age thirty-two. I felt the cast
sold their roles. Thus, I was not at all distracted by the much
buzzed about Irish, British accents... nor the lack of age difference
between Colin & Angelina Jolie (Olympias, Alexander's mum) .
Jolie's aging process was fun to watch. Jolie came across well
as a strong, and loving, yet manipulative - working to keep the
apron strings tied. Despite his moments of wrath, Farrell's
Alexander exhibited vision, and conviction which would be a
quality men would choose to follow for a length of time, despite
difficulties .Others included Rosario Dawson, Val Kilmer, Jared
Leto. The story unfolds as a scribe records the words of an aged
former military man, Ptolemy (Anthony Hopkins). While in fact
there were two massive warring scenes depicted, (one in Persia,
the other India), director Oliver Stone's final cut is much more an
attempt to look into the "why's" behind the man and his possible
motivations, rather than a running loop of battle action scenes.
The film is violent throughout with rapes, assassinations - yet
these weren't exaggerated per se to sell the film, rather part of the
recipe which created an Alexander. The same can be said for the
issue of his bisexuality Full battle scenes were graphic, complete
with blood, guts, gore and costumes and if any place, this is where
Stone went for visual impact to accurately convey the non-glorious
side of war. Interspersed throughout the film were moments
where filming techniques allowed me to move from watcher to
"experiencing the moment first hand," whether it was adulation
from a cheering crowd, charging an elephant, falling wounded and
helpless.
I will leave military and historical experts to dispute the accuracy
of timeframes or battle maneuvers. Much of this is recorded. I
also accept and appreciate the liberties Stone and writers took to
piece together an Alexander . Surrounded by strong characters
with strong ambitions - obviously something drove the man to
pursue his dream of conquering the better part of the known world.
(Makes me want to do some more reading on my own).