This movie proves that too many drugs will ruin even the most gifted filmmakers

Rating: 4/10 (31 December 2005)

After watching this film, I came to realize that if the real Alexander the Great looked anywhere near as weird as Colin Farrell with a giant blonde wig, that was probably the distraction he used to stay alive in so many battles. I'm sure that soldiers everywhere dropped their swords in confusion when faced with the awkward blonde menace. I don't blame Farrell for being horribly miscast in this film because I didn't think Val Kilmer was realistic as Philip of Macedonia either. As a matter of fact, the only convincing character was Angelina Jolie as Alexander's mother, and she is probably younger than her on-screen son, Colin Farrell! I tried to find the message in this movie, I really tried. After sleeping... I mean sitting through all three hours of the director's cut, the best I could come up with was that it's cool to conquer the world. Alexander the Great's feats make for impressive history books, but the movie seems as shallow as the Hollywood setting it spawns from because of so little self-sacrifice and true meaning to Alexander's life. I guess I should give Oliver Stone some props for sticking with historical fact and giving Alexander a "feminine male friend" but I admit, my 21st century American bias made it difficult to accept that a man who led thousands of brave soldiers also enjoyed having his nails manicured by transvestites. Speaking of Oliver Stone, I think the biggest lesson of this movie is to stay off drugs. Stone made notorious headlines lately for his many drug escapades, and after watching classics like "Platoon" and "Wall Street," and then viewing his contemporary stuff such as "Alexander," it makes me realize that too many drugs will affect any brilliant mind.