Greece Is the Word

Rating: 7/10 (18 October 2008)

Could one of the great figures in history (Alexander the Great), a great director (Oliver Stone), and a great deal of money amount to something significantly less than great? Yes, and this film is proof. Courageous Colin Farrell (as Alexander) wears different lengths of blonde wigs, in the title role. Alluring Angelina Jolie (as Olympias) is a couple of decades too young to play the mother role throughout, but she does. Veiled Val Kilmer (as Philip) is unconvincingly half-hidden, under an eye scar. Alexander digs men and women with heavier eye make-up.
Unfortunately, the performers do not come across as well as you have a right to expect, under Stone's direction; in particular, the title character lacks Alexander's certain je ne sais quoi. Anthony Hopkins (as Old Ptolemy) performs double duty, as a semi-omniscient narrator (which works better in the original, theatrical version). Films with too many "narrative" interruptions are not, in general, successfully telling their stories visually.
However, Mr. Stone more than earns an "E" for effort; his "Alexander" definitely evidences the many individual strengths of its cast and crew. The main battle scene is very well done; Stone successfully employs his great poetic violence, with an increasingly blood-red drenched infrared lens, marauding elephants, and slow motion. After this excitement, the remainder of the film moves along briskly, and effectively. Alexander's main relationship, with Jared Leto (as Hephaistion), is not fleshed out; he beds both genders, but is only allowed to hiss like a lion, on-screen, with wifely Rosario Dawson (as Roxane).
Who knew either Stone, or the Greeks could be so prudish?
****** Alexander (2004) Oliver Stone ~ Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer
Good grief! For his "Director's Cut", Stone took what bad about "Alexander" and made worse, for:
**** Alexander (2005) Oliver Stone ~ Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer (Director's Cut)
Good riddance? Stone throws up the kitchen sink for "Alexander - The Final Cut". If you've got the time, the excellence and beauty of the film is there. Also, you can make your own version, with:
******* Alexander (2007) Oliver Stone ~ Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer (Revisited - The Final Cut)