Whew! Really Tedious!

Rating: Null/10 (16 December 2004)

Let me start by saying that I usually like historical/swordplay/swashbuckling movies. However, "Alexander" is mainly just tedious. There is a lot of extended dialogue that seem to have no purpose. Usually this is for the purpose of character development, but not in this film. I thought the battle scenes would be exciting enough to make up for this, but somehow they were mostly just horses galloping. You got the impression that nothing was really happening in the battles (this contrasts starkly with Braveheart and Gladiator). It got a little interesting when Alexander fought the elephants, but this wasn't much.
I might have walked out on the movie altogether, but I thought there might be more scenes of Rosario Dawson nude. Her body is even better than I imagined, and her scene was the only one in the whole movie that was interesting. However, during the love scene between Alexander and her, all I could think was "Would Alexander even know what to do with a woman?" All his previous experiences seemed to be with men. I guess that's why it took over two years to get her pregnant :^)
I must credit Anthony Hopkins. He is a good actor, and the scenes of him narrating were not bad. But again, this was a minuscule part of the movie. I suppose Colin Ferrell is not a bad actor, but what were his character's motives? Sometimes they seemed to be saying that Alexander's travels were motivated by a desire to free all the people in the lands he found. Other times, Alexander is just depicted as a guy traveling as far as he could to get away from his mother. Speaking of his mother, Angelina Jolie does play a good psycho; although I agree that she sounded too much like Dracula.
I suppose it is unnecessary for me to state that I do not recommend this movie. I am surprised; Oliver Stone is an experienced writer and director. Well, everyone has their clunkers.