A historical epic with just a tad of Hollywood glaze

Rating: 10/10 (20 January 2005)

After seeing so many bad reviews of this movie, I was a bit nervous as I headed to the theater to see it. But I was determined to see it, both because critics are so often wrong, and because Alexander is my absolute favorite historical figure.
Believe me, if they screwed up Alexander, I would be more unhappy than anyone! I was worried they would pull some cheap trick like Troy, massively altering the characters to make the story more Hollywood-friendly.
I was VERY pleasantly surprised!!! I was completely engrossed in the movie for the entire 3 hours! I was so into the movie, I would have gladly sat through another hour or two! I liked the way they used Ptolemy narrating to condense the story into the time span of a 3 hours movie. It was an excellent idea. Granted, I would've liked to see a lot of the part flushed out more, but the movie was already at the maximum length that American movies ever seen to hit. I'm hoping for an extended version on DVD, or at least a lot of deleted scenes! All the actors were fantastic! I really got into every character. I hardly noted these supposed "accent problems" that were so ragged upon by critics.
The best part of the movie was the stunning chemistry between Colin Farrel and Jared Leto. In the end, I agreed with Stone's artistic choice to never show them together in a love scene, or even kissing. It really emphasized the true love and bond between them. There was so much between their two characters that you could just feel it when they looked at each other.
I absolutely loved this movie! I haven't seen a movie of this caliber since "Interview with the Vampire" or "Dragonheart". Fantastic epics are so rare in the cheesy popcorn world of modern movies! I plan on buys this movie on DVD the second it comes out, and, hopefully, catching it a few more times in second run theaters. I highly recommend it! However, I would advise becoming basically familiar with the story of Alexander the Great before seeing the movie; that way, you won't have to worry about figuring out the historical elements and can just sit back and enjoy this masterpiece.