Alexander (2004)

My wife picked this one up together with the weekly TV magazine. Luckily we didn't pay full price. I hoped for a film about one of the greatest warlord of all time but what I got was something about a crying homosexual wimp.

Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut. Alexander is directed by Oliver Stone and Stone co-writes the screenplay with Christopher Kyle and Laeta Kalogridis. It stars Colin Farrell, Val Kilmer, Angelina Jolie, Jared Leto, Anthony Hopkins, Rosario Dawson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Christopher Plummer. Music is by Vangelis and cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto. Alexander is an historical epic based on the life of Alexander the Great. Off the bat I have to say that this "Final Cut" versio...

_**Alexander’s conquests from Greece through Persia into northwestern India**_ After being tutored by Aristotle (Christopher Plumber), Alexander (Colin Farrell) takes over the Macedonian throne in 336 BC at the age of 20 after his father is assassinated (Val Kilmer). Over the next 13 years he, amazingly, conquers the Persian Empire and heads into India before finally turning back. Anthony Hopkins narrates as Ptolemy in his old age while Angelina Jolie plays Alexander’s snake-loving mother...

Opinion on this film seems to have been hijacked somewhat by the definition and appropriateness of the relationship between Alexander (Farrell) and Hephaestion (Leto). It seems daft to try to apply 21st century social morals onto a society in which same sex relationships were simply unremarkable. Whether or not it was about sex, or love, or both isn't really that important - I think Oliver Stone was trying to involve us in a much more complex story of human nature. It may also be more of an...