My review

Rating: 3/10 (9 June 2005)

Well, I didn't expect much when i rented this DVD in the first place. Needless to say, that's pretty much exactly what I got. People who are expecting to see a film made on the life of Alexander the Great, emperor of Macedonia will be sadly disappointed. Colin Farell, perpetual Bad-Boy of Hollywood, tries (and tries hard) to justice to this role but somehow..... fails. Don't ask me why director Oliver Stone ever thought he would be appropriate for this role. The film starts off weirdly enough: Angelina Jolie with child Alexander in a room full of snakes where she warns him (in an accent I found to be French) that people are like snakes- they can turn on you. Original. Most of the film is historically incorrect- check out the goofs section of this movie. Although I appreciate that fact that the movie makers were essentially trying to tell the story of the man behind the battles, they screwed up. As for the characters themselves- you begin to get tired of Alexander and find yourself wishing he'd hurry up and die at the end. The relationship between Alexander and Hephaestion (Jared Leto) has been... well... all right they're supposedly gay. Now I have no problems with homosexuals at all, but the way it has been shown in this film you begin to wonder whether Alexander was just plain lazy to fall in love with a woman. They don't seem to have highlighted the fact that maybe Alexander and Hephaestion had a relationship beyond sexual desires. And when he does eventually get a girl- Roxane (Rosario Dawson)- there's as much heat in that relationship as in the peaks of the Himalayas. One bedroom scene and that's all that there is to it. Kinda like a relationship with Colin Farell. They tried to show many facets of himself but somehow ended up showing Alexander as a confused king- he wants power, doesn't know why he wants it and doesn't know what to do with it. He has a love-hate relationship with his mother, a respect-hate relationship with his father. He seems to be gentlemanly enough, and then suddenly there's blood lust. That's all fine, but the transition between these emotions isn't very smooth. Overall, the movie seems hotch-potch. Certain scenes are too overworked- most of the lines sound corny and don't have the effect it's supposed to have. Don't expect to go see a classic- you're better with "Gladiator" and Russel Throw Tele- I mean Crowe.