Was Macedon populated by the Irish?

Rating: 4/10 (26 December 2005)

From many of the comments made here, it appears as if some of the low ratings are due to viewers disagreement with the portrayal of Alexander's relationship with Hephaistion, Bagoas, etc. Having a keen interest in Alexander throughout my life, I am aware of the details of history and Alexander and don't have a problem with this aspect of Alexander's history. I found the movie itself to be flawed. I don't care if Oliver Stone is beatified by the Pope; he has become enthralled by his own techniques and is a legend in his own lunch box. The constant shifts in time - present-10 years earlier-present-nine years earlier-present-nine years earlier, for example...with apparently no motive other than to provide some vision or memory for Alexander was just plain silly. The seaming together of certain scenes with Anthony Hopkins' rambling was just plain silly. And aside from the blurry, fast-speed, playing with colour battle-scenes, the thing I found most ridiculous was that many of the characters, the Companions, young Alexander, and even Philip/Val Kilmer (who's American for heaven's sake!), spoke with a kind of Irish/Celtic accent. Why is that? One could barely understand Rory McCann in his only speech. I know he can speak plainly, because I've seen him in other work. Stone, or the screenwriters he works with, has a penchant for characters who hold long diatribes and speeches full of sophomoric-metaphors. This medium is called MOV-IE for a reason. There must be action. If I want to hear a lecture, I'll go back to university. I could say more; however, those who agree with me know what I would say, and those who disagree with me will have long ago stopped reading. My 'recommendation' is see this movie if you aren't familiar with the history, but if you want entertainment with your Alexandrian history, read Marie Renault's excellent series on Alexander or even the several excellent nonfiction books on this remarkable world-maker.