Epic Collection of melodramatic cut scenes

Rating: 3/10 (23 November 2004)

Alright. I walked in the theater holding my free pass for the advance screening thinking about the possibilities. I had seen Troy recently, actually liked it to a certain extent, but hoped that this movie would top it all. Firstly, the subject. Alexander the Great! What more can an audience ask for, the story of the greatest "invador". The director, Oliver Stone. The mastermind behind JFK, The Doors, Platoon and many other classics. The actors: Val Kilmer, Colin Farrel, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, and many other great ones (including some new talent). So the possibilities seem endless. Perfect choice of director, story, actors... would it work?? read on!
Well, the movie is 173 minutes. That's just under 3 hours. Well, I'm not going to post any spoilers yet. But I wouldn't pay for this movie. Let me say this first, this is not a bad movie, it is worse; due to the fact that it squashed all the hopes I had from it. It shows promise with all the elements described in the above paragraph, but then it looses it in actuality. Firstly, the story telling style was too random. They jump around history (myth?) so much that it gave me a headache. Secondly, the story this movie tells could be told in 90 minutes. It drags on. The first time in my life I wanted to walk out of the theater. It was a drag. Another thing was the editing. It was bad. The scenes were put together in a weird order. The moments of love were stretched too long, and some of the characters were given a lot of screen time, but no significance. Some elements of significance were not explained, just shown hastily. The music in the war scenes was more distracting than energizing.
The good thing about the movie was how it came around in the end to refer to earlier elements. You'll notice that in the movie. Anthony Hopkin's narration was fine, but his genius was wasted in the role.
overall, this was a feeble attempt at making an epic. Troy was a better movie by far. Colin Farrel and Val Kilmer tried hard.. but mostly failed more due to the screenplay and editing than their own editing. the melodramatic scenes were super extended.. with the action sequences cut down to minimum.. enjoy this movie once it comes on DVD.. or get a screener ticket as I did..