Alexander: not great, but bizarre and good

Rating: 10/10 (19 November 2004)

After I finished watching Alexander, my first reaction was some disappointment. I had a huge expectation on the movie. I guess that, many audience, like me, wanna see another Benhur or Gladiator. But Oliver Stone totally shocked us by focusing a lot on his weird relationships with his parents, his male lovers and wife instead of his heroic deeds. Yes, if you expect this to be a mainstream epic movie, do not waste your time and money, because it will totally disappoint you in that way. But you cannot deny that it is a good but bizarre movie.
It is quite anti-traditional. I am bored with the perfect heroes in the previous movies with the same genre. They are tough, they have no shortcomings... All in all, they are not ordinary people or they could never have really existed. Oliver depicts Alexander not as a powerful conqueror, but as a tragic man trapped in a lot of struggles in his relationships. He is a strong conqueror in the day, but he is a little bit fragile and suspicious inside. Unfortunately Collin Farrel did not do a good job to convey the pain of Alexander from inside.
Let's forget the battles. If you want to the details of every battle in his life, I recommend that you should watch a documentary in history channel. The movie is not a diary of his life. The director picked his own understanding as an angle to describe him. If you happen to hate seeing homosexuality and weakness of Alexander, that's not director's fault but your own choice.
The movie also has several obvious drawbacks, such as very loose organization. The acting overall was not good. Angelina was especially exaggerated. There are many emotional scenes between collin and jared, but you just cannot feel their chemistry. Nobody in the movie is lovable...