Review of Alexander (2004) by Filmqueen — 21 Oct 2015

I have to disagree with everyone who claims this film is bad. It's not perfect for sure, but still very enjoyable. I love Alexander the Great and I have studied and read about him a lot and it's wrong to say that this film is historically inaccurate.

They mixed a bit of legend into the story. Like his mother being a kind of witch and him being Zeus's son... but obviously we all know this kind of stuff is just the legend to make his character more grand.

But the facts are true, the film is historically accurate enough. I especially liked that they didn't create a theory about his death. We do not know the cause of his death, so the movie doesn't make it clear either and just leaves the viewer guessing, just as historians are guessing.

My only problem is that they portrayed him more emotional than he probably was. The battle scenes are great, violent yet beautiful and realistic as well. The music is composed by Vangelis,so yeah...epic, probably there is no need to say more.

The scenery is beautiful as well. The kid who portrayed young Alexander provided a surprisingly good performance that I usually don't expect from kids. Not to mention that he actually resembles Colin Farrell.

Probably it's due to the make-up and hair, but my point is it's actually believable that the kid is his younger self and that's quite rare in movies. In many other films I hate flashbacks, because it usually kills the illusion that the kid is so obviously not the same person.

Not in this film,though. I could keep on complementing certain parts of this film, but what's essential is that it has enough good to keep you entertained despite the bad parts.