Alexander

USA 2004 - Adventure/Drama/War — 175 min — Directed by Oliver Stone
Cast: Colin Farrell, Jared Leto, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Anthony Hopkins

Conquering 90% of the known world by the age of 25, Alexander the Great led his armies through 22,000 miles of sieges and conquests in just eight years. Coming out of Macedonia, Alexander led his armies against the mighty Persian Empire, drove west to Egypt, and finally made his way east to India. This film will concentrate on those eight years of battles, as well as his relationship with his boyhood friend and battle mate, Hephaestion. Alexander's conquests paved the way for the spread of Greek culture (facilitating the spread of Christianity centuries later), and removed many of the obstacles that might have prevented the expansion of the Roman Empire. In other words, the world we know today might never have been if not for Alexander's bloody, yet unifying, conquest.

Underwhelming and dumbed down, two things that sums up this supposedly 'epic' movie. Colin Farrell does an allright portrayal, as does the rest of the cast - though Val Kilmer as the King was excellent. Hannibal Lecter is his usual, mega-boring self, and Jolie did a much better job than I thought her capable of. But Olive Stone, the director, did a shoddy job at best. It sure doesn't feel epic is any way, which is what an Alexander movie should be. Too bad Baz dropped his version, it would easily have been much this movies' superior, without even trying.

The battles are way too brief and muddled, and Stone dwells too much on the wrong things and events. You never get a feel for Alexander's greatness if you will. It's a long move, almost 3 hours, and I apprechiate the difficulty of making a movie about the whole of his life, but this surely isn't it. Even a documentary on Discovery will do a better job at that. By concentrating on certain events and battles, and only brief mentions of the conquering of Egypt, Babylon and bloody much the rest too, lessens any impact it could have. It's almost as if it was made for US television, totally dumbed down, and patronizing