Alexander the grating

Rating: 2/10 (27 January 2005)

I didn't like 'Gladiator' much, and wasn't too enchanted by 'Troy' either, but 'Alexander' makes them look like epics. The acting isn't desperately bad (although I could do without seeing that old ham Hopkins again for long enough), the film is fairly loyal to historic facts (at least to those events it shows), and the costumes are splendid. That's all the good points. On the debit side are appalling direction, a complete absence of plot, and Colin Farrell's ludicrous hair. If the purpose of the film was to show how, or why Alexander became the greatest warrior king in history, then it didn't get off the starting blocks. If it's purpose was to bore you rigid (even with the unintentional comic asides - "Roid, Macedawniyins!") then it succeeded big time.
The critics aren't always right (roight??) - but they are this time. What a honker.