Alexander: He Had Balls

Rating: 5/10 (3 January 2006)

I have to say this film was not as bad as the critics made it out to be, which didn't surprise me because I generally tend to enjoy Oliver Stone's movies. It was too long, no question, it was unbelievably repetitive and over-indulgent, which I've come to expect from Stone, and about halfway through it I found myself wondering, "Where's Jim Morrison when you need him?" (Val Kilmer could have easily got rid of the one-eye makeup and burst into song). And the back-and-forth story telling was sort of tedious, as well, I thought. Also, the movie lost some credibility with me early on, when one of Alexander's soldiers says to one of the other soldiers, "he's got balls." And then they drove off in a Maserati. (Kidding about the Maserati, but the 'balls' comment did feel really out of place in 300 BC, give or take a few years.)