Review of Alexander (1996) by José R — 01 Jul 2009

Alexander is an epic tale on the life of the mighty king " Alexander " which his kingdom spanned Lands amongst lands, and even defeated the once impossible to defeat mighty Persian empire . With an Academy award winning director, which you may or may not know, but if you don't ... whats.

The matter with you ! Oliver Stones, and a huge cast which composes of - Collin Farell, Angelina Jolie val Kilmer, Jared Leto, Rossario Dawson, Anthony Hopkins, and the list goes on and on, and a budget exceeding 140 million, you would think it would be a terrific film by all standards, but unfortunately that's way to much of a stretch for this film, as it might be one of the biggest disasters I have seen for a while . It's honestly at over 4 hours of length, the most time wasting film you will see in awhile . It's more than 4 hours of your life that you will want back, and for you to even sit through the movie completely, is a valient effort . The story begins with Alexander sitting on his death bed, awaiting death . His most trustworthy allies, or so the movie implies at the begging are around him as he begins to fade into slumber . From there you see the life of Alexander from when he is a child, to his very last breath . What I disliked heavily on the movie, is how linear the story is . Its moving from this city to the next, but show his love towards one of his soldiers, or slaves . With the occasional forced emotional scene, but at the end of the day it's way too forced, and the story by the hour or so is completely boring, redundant, and well ... boring . I also am disappointed the homosexual portrayal of the Greeks, while there was homosexuality involved in that time, it almost feel as if the movie is trying to make it's point one hundred times . Yes we know Alexander way gay, but do we have to be reminded of it, every 5 minutes ? It feels just as forced as if I were to watch a love story about a man and a women, and the have constant sex every 5 minutes in order for the man to prove he is " Macho " . Alexander has it's share of sad and emotional scene's, but that's if you can actually sit through the film in order to watch them . It's a case of a bad script, that leads to even a more horrid execution . The acting sometimes also feels forced . Its descent, but painful at times to watch . Collin is a great actor, but it almost seemed as he was trying to win an Oscar in this film, by adding some overly dramatic performances that turn out to be exaggerated . Even actors like Angelina Jolie, and Anthony Hopkins fail to impress . If there is, one or two good things to be said, about the movie it's things that should have propelled the movie to the top, but due to it's horrid story fall down to the floor. It does have great production values with some nice CG effects, and orchestral scores . On top of that, it has a terrific art direction . Too bad the cheesy costume design, and horrible camera angles boggle down the movie in it's entirety . Overall : Alexander is a big disappointment . Despite it's massive budget, and it's huge cast of familiar, and accomplished actors, lets not forget Oliver stone behind it . Alexander is just a failure in every way . If it would have been An hour shorter it would had still been a horrible film, but not as horrid ... you know what 2 hours shorter . But at it's state its, a long and painful movie to watch no matter how much of a fan of Alexander the great you are .