Mediocre - could have been a lot better

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2008)

when i first heard about this movie i was thrilled. It really sounded like it would be one of the greatest movies ever. But when i saw it, i was disappointed.
I will make this as short as possible: this movie did not work very well because Oliver Stone turned a very complex historical character more complex and added a more complex storyline. That is the main flaw of this movie, and why it did not do as well as you could expect.
Alexander the great and his empire and conquest of the world is a very complex historical piece. This would be hard to translate to the cinema. Oliver Stone then adds a very complex childhood and father-mother scenario to the film. In its own, this would be a very cinematic piece. But when it is added to a complex storyline and a complex main character the movie kinda falls apart. The whole part of Alexanders Bisexuality is also a thing Oliver Stone could have toned down or just not included in the story. It combined with all the other complex element makes for a movie, which is not that well suited for cinema. This movie should have been half as long. It should have been centered around the conquest of the world, and not Alexanders bisexuality.
The battle scenes, music and pictures are very beautiful and well made in this movie. This movie could have been so much better, if they had just made a VERY simpler storyline and much simpler characters. Oliver Stone could then just have included the cinematic release on the DVD only, and released a simpler version of the film.
That is my critique. I was disappointed. This should have been an epic war-movie, but it became a weird art-movie instead.