Wheel of fortune

Rating: 9/10 (24 March 2005)

"Conquer your fear, and I promise you'll conquer death."
Expectations were reasonably high when Alexander was about to be released, and, obviously, hardly anyone considered it a good film. But I was surprised, since I never found this 3-hour epic to be boring at all. From the dazzling opening credits, to the probably unnecessary childhood scenes, the film immediately had me hooked and I never looked at the clock once. Stone's unnecessary flashback scene(s) might be distracting from the ongoing story, and, to be honest, Alexander never truly felt all that great in the film. Stone focused more on his weaknesses instead of his triumphs, probably forgetting how this man became remembered up to this day. But his weaknesses, in some way, managed to establish Alexander as a character, a character that was flawed despite his many achievements at such a young age. And, really, no one ever truly believed in his dreams, but his determination to achieve the impossible, while it seems mad for some, was his strength.
I can certainly understand people's disappointment though: Anthony Hopkins's non-stop ramblings of things we don't care about, the uneven pacing, laughable romance scenes between Alexander and Hephaistion, and some even considered most of the performances to be over-the-top. While the romance between Alexander and Hephaistion was never really convincing, I never found it laughable at all (which is probably the worst thing that can happen), but the writers simply treated it as something abnormal, something that would be extremely cheesy had you replaced one of the characters with a woman, but it never bothered me at all. Hopkins' narration was out of place and didn't seem all that necessary, and that last scene was not at all a satisfying way to end the film. But, again, I didn't have any problems with it at all, and it helps that Hopkins was amazing in the film.
The performances were all outstanding. Sure, Anjelina Jolie playing Farrell's mother in the film, when in reality they're only 1 year older apart, was ridiculous, but they were both amazing in their scenes together. Jolie gives a tour-de-force performance as the tragic and compelling Olympias, and I absolutely loved her in all her scenes, especially between her and Alexander. While Colin Farrell, who has proved long ago that he wasn't just another pretty face, is very good as Alexander, and was able to pull off all of the scenes between him and Leto. Val Kilmer and Anthony Hopkins also provide outstanding supporting performances. The script, despite having many flaws character and story-wise, was superb, and the exchanges between characters were excellent and felt ordinary instead of being completely strange.
Where Stone, I think, somewhat failed at the characters and story, was more than successful in his direction of this epic film. The battle scenes (of which there were surprisingly few) are outstanding and very, very well done. I especially loved the bird's eye-view of the massive scale of the battle between the Greeks and Asians. But the battle in India, deemed as the bloodiest defeat Alexander faced, is easily the best, and reached such an astounding climax that had me holding my breath. Stone's well-crafted battle scenes were highly entertaining, and, thankfully, only used slow-motion at one occasion, while short and only had two opposing characters, reached such great heights of epic proportions.
Vangelis' beautiful score was perfect for all the scenes, either it be dramatic or exciting. The colorful sets and costumes were a treat to watch, and the cinematography was excellent as well. Alexander, to some, is nothing more than a well-done film with beautiful sets that feels empty and hollow. It's a flawed film all right, and could've been appreciated by more people had the story been treated differently, but I'm happy with how the film turned out. I'm sure that Stone has done better films than this (I've only seen Any Given Sunday), but I was wholly impressed by his achievement in the film, while keeping outstanding visuals, action and performances. And, more importantly, I felt that he successfully told the story of a young man who, with his determination and will power, achieved more than what any of them could even dream of, and also brought him to his inevitable downfall.
9.2