Review of Alexander (1996) by Aaron W — 27 Sep 2013

To pretty and not gay enough.

Alexander is ambitious in how much it tries to impart, but unfortunately only succeeds in delivering a confusing story and little insight into the man.

I wanted so much to just have the film put back into chronological order. It wasn't boring - just confusing - because of the constant jumping through time.

Costumes were outstanding and beautiful. Vangelis's music is certainly one of his best scores and the weird accents of the actors worked for me. Jolie is outstanding as the slightly-unhinged Queen.

But ultimately this film skimmed the surface in so many ways - story not fleshed out - set pieces too often look like 300 actors with 10,000 CG doubles - the gay relationship looks totally heterosexual to me and I'm gay - and although the film looks fine, it's a little too discovery channel for me. Everything looks like the paint is still drying on it, there is a theatrical beauty to the freshness of the sets and costumes, but ultimately it feels less authentic because of this. There is no dirt anywhere in the film.

But the film is worth sitting through, for the magnificent confrontations that come in the final hour. The dramatic threads all unravel finally with sparks and energy that really delivers in one or two memorable scenes with Alexander's father and mother, and his generals and lover. If you have at least two evenings to spare, Alexander is worth sitting through.