There are good spots

Rating: 6/10 (1 December 2004)

Here we have the film version of the life and times of King Alexander III of Macedon, aka "Alexander the Great". It might be hard for moviegoers to swallow but the life of the actual king was more violent and betrayal filled than the film. He is known to have been a heavy and excessive drinker who was impulsive and had a bad temper. He also likely had a homosexual lover since boyhood named Hephaestion (the Jared Leto role). His mother Olympias was also likely more evil than the Angelina Jolie character here, once forcing a woman to kill her own child and then forcing her to hang herself. Nice family that Alexander had. Alexander was by reports an excellent general and an exceptionally handsome and athletic man who set a fashion for the clean-shaven, short haired look. He was also fiercely loyal to his friends and men. He enjoyed the arts too. Kind of a well rounded guy for a conquering despot who called himself "Lord of Asia". He is thought to have eventually died of either malaria or typhoid fever. In short, a lot of what goes on here is historically based on facts known to have happened. So what went wrong? Why isn't the film more popular with such an interesting character to portray? Lets examine the results on film.
The general presentation of the film is more-or-less excellent, terrific costumes and sets (except the costuming of the Persian women have a more middle ages look to me). Overall art direction, editing, sound, music and stunts were all excellent. Cinematography was generally excellent except for a poor choice of infrared film in one battle sequence in India.
I have to lay the blame of the story presentation and direction. The battle scenes were well staged but confusing in many places in trying to explain what was going on. And although the star, Colin Farrell, did an excellent job, I can't help but feel he was led a bit astray by Stone's direction. The way the story was told was hard to fathom for people I listened to also. That jumping back and forth just added to the confusion. It was a complex story best told in straight chronology or with more narrative such as that excellently provided by Anthony Hopkins as the elder Ptolemy. Overall I enjoyed most of the individual acting performances. I think a very great film was missed here by botched story telling which I can't fault the actors with.