Excellence.

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 2004)

Despite a three hour running time, Alexander is well worth the money. It is a given that Oliver Stone would have to make changes to fit this story into a movie. Alexander's life was over 30 years long, after all. Somehow I doubt we'd all want to sit through a movie THAT long.
Though I was disappointed that some of the scenes I'd wanted to see were either skipped over entirely or just filled in with narration by Anthony Hopkins, what we got was more than enough to satisfy me. The battle scenes, especially Gaugaumela, were epic as expected; Oliver Stone used more extras for the battles than most of his counterparts do now, and I think it showed. The dialogue did seem a bit overacted at times, but it wasn't a major detraction for me. I think the film is comparable to (or even better than) Troy.
Perhaps the most interesting issues in the film lay with Alexander's personality. I won't go into detail, but if you see the film, expect some surprises that you might not expect to see on the big screen.
All-in-all, I believe this story should stand out as one of the best films of the year, though that's probably the history major in me speaking. (And this probably guarantees that it won't do well...) Just remember, as I did...take what you see with a grain of salt. Enjoy the story for what it is. If you are further interested, go out and learn more about it.
After all, he was real. And his story lives on.
(The reviews have been pretty awful so far as you will have all seen, but Harry Knowles, much loved by many of the people we would expect to hate this movie, may have just given it a massive boost. His review on AICN is great. He has really stuck his neck out and seen the film from a very clever point of view.)