Unfairly maligned, likable historical epic

Rating: 6/10 (17 March 2015)

Although I'd never seen it before, I knew that Alexander was a troubled film. The sheer number of different edits and versions available on DVD is testament to that – none of them successfully capture the 'spark' that would make the film a crowd-pleaser in the same way that TROY enthralled the masses. Despite the problems – and there are a fair few of them, not least the long-winded nature of the narrative (Hopkins' character is laboured and dull) and the slow moving and extraneous scenes – this is still a film I enjoyed. It's a pretty good retelling of the ancient story, employing a large cast, most of whom get the chance to shine on more than one occasion, and the spectacle is suitably impressive.
Colin Farrell is something of an obscure choice as the Macedonian hero, but I was surprised to find he actually fits the part very well. He brings a high level of humanity to the part, making us focus on his character's warmth and integrity. Angelina Jolie is cast as his mother, even though she's only a year or so older than him in real life; this matters not. She, too, is effective as a sinister witch-type character whose overriding love for her son also makes her sympathetic to the viewer. Val Kilmer has fun as Alexander's one-eyed tyrant of a father, Philip.
There's plenty of globe-trotting going on along here, along with debates, arguments, and cold-blooded murder. There are only one or two battle sequences, but they're big in scale and rather effective. By far the best is the fight in the jungles of India, in which Alexander and his men find themselves up against an army mounted on hulking elephants. Stone directs this part very well, soaking the screen in a blood-red canvas to ably evoke the chaotic events unfolding in front of us. It's gruesome, brutal, moving and disturbing, all as warfare should be, and in fact one of the best battle sequences I've witnessed in a film yet. It's a shame the whole of the film couldn't follow the same standard. Still, it tells an engaging story and, while it might vary in terms of effectiveness, believability and scope, as a whole I liked it, if not overly so.