Alex

Rating: 6/10 (3 April 2017)

I like epic movies especially when it involves history and human greatness. You have a topic here that qualifies however if one is to believe the movie, the subject matter namely Alexander was deeply flawed. The dysfunctions that he suffered from actually supplied the power and drive to do what he did i.e. to conquer and take over that which had never been done before just because he could. having cruel parents who specialize in crazy-making allowed his inner demons to flourish. The movie shows that after a conquest, he liked to return the situation to a status quo and one wonders why he bothered to in the first place. He lived a life of excess, irresponsibility, absolute power, sex-centered, alcoholic fueled daily existence that in the end contributed to his self-destruction. He set himself up to die so to speak. Why? He had no depth, meaning or purpose. Just an empty drive to succeed. He surrounded himself with people that supported his vanity and ego-centric comings and goings. He was not rare in that respect for history shows that all great men have peculiarities. The movie delivers these observations and more. The director comes from abundance when putting a story together which I consider a good thing. The actors each had good screen time to pitch their trade and did well. One thing though. I always notice that in certain movies like Braveheart, Return of the King, The 300, Troy and this one, the leader gives a speech to thousands of men and they cheer him on but for the life of me, how can they all hear what he saying? Only those within earshot get it which means about 100 at the most. Do the rest just do a "wave" and go along with the front group? I also had trouble with Alexander not taking the time to have many sons of which he had access to do. Again, this contributes to a self-sabotage theme for this conqueror. Oliver Stone did different versions of this movie and it gets confusing keeping track of it all. Was I glad I watched it? Sure. However, it is not something one wants to see again for it lacks the must see again scenes and has a lot of don't want to see scenes again in it as well. Enjoy with some favorite snack for after all it is epic movie time!