A very thorough look at the conquests and background of Alexander the Great

Rating: 5/10 (19 November 2009)

First of all, my impression after first watching it was that the movie was tediously long. I do understand that condensing the history of Alexander the Great's lives, times and conquests into a two to 2 1/2 hour movie format would be impossible. Indeed, there were so many significant events of his history that were not developed in the detail that it should have been. I did think that Oliver Stone, who tends toward politically-tainted revisionist history (JFK, W, Platoon, etc.) did a well-researched and accurate version of the history of this ancient figure. I truly believed his motivation for the film was an interest and love for ancient history. I was impressed by casting: Anthony Hopkins as Ptolemy, Christopher Plummer as no less than Aristotle, and Val Kilmer as Alexander's father. (Spoiler) The film was not without controversy as it focused on Alexander's bisexuality (not historically inaccurate) and his rather Oedipal relationship with his mother (Angelina Jolie was not a good casting decision in my opinion). This gets 5 stars out of 10 in my book because, again, it didn't hold my interest for the entirety of the movie. Other lengthy movies with historical settings don't usually have me wishing that it wouldn't drag on so long.