Very disappointing....especially for those of us who share the name.

Rating: 3/10 (1 March 2005)

Ever since 2001's Gladiator, America has been in love with the epic historical movie. Unfortunately, there haven't been many good ones. The newest of these epic movies is Oliver Stone's tale of Alexander the Great.
Alexander is the tale of the great Macedonian king and one of the greatest military leaders in history as he conquers much of the known world of the time. We see his passion for continuing the kingdom that his father began and his never ending battle to become the greatest ruler in the world.
Now, all my life, in school, it was always "Alexander The Great? That's my name too!" So you'll understand that I really wanted to like this movie. We have the same name. And the name is quite a kickin one. So I tried to like this movie, I really did. But I just couldn't.
First off, ill get this out of the way; the movie was very well made. The cinematography throughout the film was beautiful. And the movie as a whole was very well made. It being directed by oliver stone, I didn't really expect anything less. The movie also had 2 of the coolest battle scenes that I've seen lately in such films. However, unfortunately, there are only 2 battle scenes in the movie, much less than what I expected to see in a movie about one of the greatest conquerors and battlers in history. So, to recap, Alexander had beautiful cinematography and was very well made, however, unfortunately, it didn't have the actual movie to back it up.
The acting in this movie was sub-par at best. Colin Ferrall does an alright job as Alexander, but just alright. So too is Angelina Jolie as Alexander's mother, Olympius. I'd have to say that the best acting job in the movie would have to go to Val Kilmer for his portrayal of Alexander's father King Philip.
The entire course of this film was just hard to sit through. First off, the film just refused to end. At about three hours, the film dragged at several parts. There were about 18 endings, 17 of which were not actually the ending. The first 10 or so minutes felt like I was in history class as an old Ptolemy, played by Anthony Hopkins talked. That's it, just talked. Nothing else was happening. I couldn't understand why someone would desire to sit through that. The narration throughout the movie by Anthony Hopkins got to be rather annoying and too school like. Worse of all was the fact that half of what he was saying, most of the smartest members of the audience wouldn't have a clue who or what he was talking about.
There has been much talk about Oliver Stone's decision to portray Alexander as Bisexual. While, I don't know if that's historically accurate, I don't believe that it should have been as much of a focal point in the movie as it was made. The homosexual undertones were brought to the forefront of the film too often. Its something, that even if true, isn't what the story of Alexander the great should be about. Also very troubling is the fact that none of the characters were consistent. A movie that has its characters all originating from the Greece, had people talking with English and Scottish accents, nothing near Grecian. Most peculiar of all was Angelina Jolie's portrayal of Olympius as a Dracula. She maintained a good Transylvanian accent throughout the film. I guess Oliver figured that if Alexander could have gay tendencies, his mother could have blood sucking ones.
Oliver Stone's Alexander is a very disappointing movie, especially to those of us named Alexander. While it has some beautiful shots and is appears beautiful, there is no substance to fill it up. I suggest you skip out and wait for it to come out on DVD if you really must see this, even for those die hard Colin fans. I think you die hard battle between horse and elephant fans can wait too. Alexander gives Alexander 2 stars out of 5.