What are these people talking about? Alexander is a really good film.

Rating: 8/10 (25 November 2004)

I was really frightened at this enormous quantity of bad reviews from almost all critics and here on IMDb. But anyway, this morning I went to a theater and watched this film on premiere screening. And now I simply can't understand that all these people are talking about and. Is Alexander a film horrible or bad? Definitely NOT. Is Alexander a good film? Definitely YES. Is Alexander a great film? Quite possibly. It is different and possibly controversial film but at the same time very intelligent and inspiring. It is incredibly difficult to describe this film so my review will be short. It's a three hours highlights (from childhood to death) of the life of the Alexander the Great. There is many dialogs or even monologues in this film, possibly too many for typical action film even for typical epic film. But all of these dialogs are wise, philosophical and inspiring and the most important they are so I don't see any reason to complain about it. Cinematography was excellent. Ancient Babylon and Alexandria were shown so impressive and splendidly. All landscapes and locations during the all film
were incredibly well selected. There are not too many battle scenes in Alexander but all of them (including elephant battle) were very well made with strong emotional core. About acting. I think here is the best Colin Farrell performance. He is very good as strong but flawed character. I'm don't so sure about Angelina Jolie but anyway it was her best performance for several years. After a miserable Lara Croft films she once again proves her acting ability. Val Kilmer also good as Alexander father Philip. But one of the best parts of this film was soundtrack written by Vangelis. The music was well selected, fresh and original. My grade 9 out of 10. I see here nominations for best picture, best cinematography, best original score and, of course, for visual and sound effects. Definitely I'll see it again after a few days.
I can't understand why so many people hate this film. I can find only two possible explanations. First: many people were offended by the fact that Alexander was shown as bisexual and his love to Hephaistion . Personally, I don't care was he a gay or not and I haven't found any offensive scene in this film. And the second possible explanation. There is a some conspiracy against this film. Only a month before most of critics and the studio said about possible awards and nominations and about the greatness of this film. WB moved the release date to November, 24 due to their high Oscars expectations. And suddenly all has been changing, the critics wrote these annoying C or even D reviews and people complain about the things that they don't even try to understand.
Thanks for reading and sorry for my bad English.