It was good, but I was hoping for a more in-depth historical account.

Rating: 6/10 (11 August 2005)

Although I enjoyed this movie, I felt that too much attention was placed on the relationship between Alexander and his parents. Too many of the mythical, and historical events that made Alexander such a controversial subject in history were skipped. The first major battle against Darius (Battle of Issus) where Alexander proved that he was a brilliant tactician, was not even mentioned. There was no mention of Alexander's unorthodox solving of the Gordian Knot puzzle (supposedly anyone who could untie this massive tangle of knots would rule Asia; Alexander untied it by cutting it open with his sword). What about the capture/burning of the Persian capital of Persepolis, or the scaling of Aornos (a mountain in modern day Pakistan) to squash rebel resistance? I don't know if the issue was budget, or a rush to release the movie at a certain time, but I feel that a much better job of telling the tale of one of history's great military commanders could have been accomplished in about 4 hours. I failed to see the need of switching between present day and the past to show Alexander's mother preaching about treachery. This movie fails as did the version with Richard Burton in that it focuses too much on events in Macedonia, as opposed to Persia where Alexander accomplished his greatest feats.
On the plus side, the movie has a great cast. The battle scenes are entertaining, but fail to exploit Alexander's genius in battle. I recommend that people research the life/accomplishments of Alexander before watching the movie or they will fail to grasp how great his accomplishments were.