too long

Rating: 5/10 (1 January 2005)

Too many wrong things to mention, too long of a journey to take. The bulk of the three-hour film details Alexander's defining campaign, his slow 22,000-mile trudge east, a crusade to dominate and then liberate Persians, Egyptians, Indians and anyone else in his path. He's viewed as a conquering hero in Persia, but as he moves further east, further from home, he's met with less enthusiasm by those he liberates, as well as his own troops, who long for home. But driven either by a hunger for a lofty place in history, a need to top dad (Val Kilmer as Philip), or his vision of One World, he ignores their complaints and marches on.
At about the same rate that Alexander is losing his supporters, Stone is losing his audience. We long to admire Alexander the way Anthony Hopkins does - we're an audience hungry for heroes these days - but "Alexander" doesn't deliver.