Stone Shrinks The Greatness of An Emperor

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2010)

Baz Luhrman had been planning to make a movie on 'Alexander The Great' featuring Leonardo Dicaprio and Nicole Kidman. However, as Oliver Stone's movie was running ahead towards completion, Luhrman's project got shelved. Stone's film has received tremendous flack for various reasons.
I could tell that the movie was trying to be as historically accurate as it could given the limited running time but the writing is still quite bad. The monologues keep rambling on and on. Stone also uses some clichéd elements like the irritating background score and the excessive makeup. Even the camera-work was ineffective at times, especially in the battle scenes. The sex scene was quite funny. It looked passionless, silly and dare I say, juvenile (and that's not how it was supposed to appear).
I did like how Alexander and Hephaistion's relationship was portrayed. There were hints of homosexuality but Stone never puts a label to it. Alexander's relationship to his mother was also interestingly displayed as a love-hate relationship of sorts. However, seeing Jolie and Farrell play mother and son was awkward. Couldn't Stone have found an older actress for the part? In my opinion, Colin Farrell was a good choice for the title role. He does the best with what he's given. If he's limited in any way, it's due to the writing. If one can overlook the fact that she plays Farrell's mom, Angelina Jolie acts very well (except in a few scenes where she's unintentionally funny). Val Kilmer and Jared Leto are quite adequate.
'Alexander' could have been a great movie. It's not as bad as what many have made it out to be. It looks nice but it's hardly anything memorable.