Odd Movie

Rating: Null/10 (20 November 2004)

I saw this movie at a free screening because I love Oliver Stone. I had heard horrible things about it so I was prepared for the worst. It wasn't awful, but it certainly had a lot of unintentionally hilarious moments. It seems Stone wasn't able to go fullboard with the gay theme, so there are many laughable double entendres and longing looks. I won't ruin them for you by telling you what they are so you can enjoy them yourself. Also, Colin Farrell looks and sounds like an Irish escapee from a heavy metal concert- really bad blonde hair and there's something just not very epic about him. He has one particularly unfortunate moment where he yells something about the GLORRRRRRYY! at which most of the people in my screening guffawed. The landscapes, scenery, and epic battle scenes are very engrossing. Babylon looks likes an acid dream, which seems appropriate for an Oliver Stone movie. The oddest thing is everyone's different accents. Though the acting for the most part is very good, the hodgepodge of speech patterns actually overshadows it. Most of the Greeks and Macedonians speak in Irish and English accents, but then Jared Leto sounds like a Californian and Angelina Jolie- well, let's just say she may have discovered a new accent. Over all though, this film offers a great escape from reality, and is quite enjoyable in its own weird way.This may be what we've come to in this era of censorship- an Oliver Stone movie so constrained in its content that it becomes unintelligible, and unintentionally comedic.