A Kinder, Gentler Alexander

Rating: 6/10 (4 August 2005)

Having seen the Richard Burton version of Alexander's biography, I waited for the "Director's Cut" DVD/VHS release to see what the newer film did.
On the plus side: Philip and Olympias. Philip was an alcoholic, and Olympias did dig snakes ("Keeping real snakes in the house of an alcoholic is not a good idea. It just complicates matters." -- Will Cuppy). (Possible spoiler) That Olympias didn't seem to age could underscore her potential "supernatural" reputation, as presented in the film.
On the minus side: historic detail. Not only did we learn little of Alexander's military strategy (rather than seeming to know exactly what he was doing, we just see him as impulsive and headstrong). Further, prior to his battle with Darius, Alexander was overmatched in manpower by Darius, but Darius had troops up all night roaring defiance at the Macedonians to unnerve them. But that also exhausted his own men, leaving them to go into battle sleep-deprived. This was all overlooked in the film.
The movie jumped around in time, and thus we're deprived of many of Alexander's conquests, such as Egypt (which explains, as the film doesn't really, how Ptolemy became Pharoah). As a general, Alexander was a military genius, and this isn't clear in the film.
The epic of Alexander, as has been noted, included the fact that he could be as brutal as a velociraptor, but only his good side was shown. More's the pity; he was complex.
Nonetheless, as historical fiction, the film entertains.