Alexander ***½ (7/10)

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2018)

Available on Blu-ray Disc (Region B)
France/UK/Netherlands/USA/Germany 2004 English (Colour); Action/Drama/War/Biopic/History/Romance/LGBTQ (Warner Bros./ Intermedia/IMF/Pathé Renn/Gordian/Great Filmproductie); 176 minutes (15 certificate)
Crew includes: Oliver Stone (Director); Oliver Stone, Christopher Kyle, Laeta Kalogridis (Screenwriters, adapting Book ALEXANDER THE GREAT by Robin Lane Fox (uncredited) *** [6/10]); Thomas Schühly, Jon Kilik, Iain Smith, Moritz Borman (Producers); Paul Rassam, Matthias Deyle (Executive Producers); Rodrigo Prieto (Cinematographer); Jan Roelfs (Production Designer); Tom Nordberg, Yann Hervé, Alex Marquez (Editors); Vangelis (Composer)
Cast includes: Colin Farrell (Alexander), Angelina Jolie (Olympias), Val Kilmer (Philip), Christopher Plummer (Aristotle), Jared Leto (Hephaistion), Rosario Dawson (Roxane), Anthony Hopkins (Old Ptolemy), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Cassander), Brian Blessed (Wrestling Trainer), Tim Pigott-Smith (Omen Reader)
"Fortune favours the bold."
Forty years after dying in 323 BC, the extraordinary existence of an all-conquering Macedonian leader (Farrell) is recounted by an elderly pharaoh (Hopkins).
Unconvincing as a golden-haired 18-year-old, Farrell grows into the role, in Stone's long, ambitious epic, with occasional pompous dialogue and overacting, as befits such larger-than-life characters as Alexander's brutish, one-eyed father (Kilmer) and smothering, snake-charming mother (a scene-chewing Jolie).
Impressively for a mainstream film (a US flop that fared better in Europe and on home video), Alexander's conceivable bisexuality, while not tackled head-on, is neither sidelined, and despite taking a Persian wife (Dawson), the tenderest scenes are between a compassionate king and his trusted, boyhood friend (Leto).
Blu-ray Extras: Commentary, Featurettes, Trailers. *** (6/10)