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Alexander

Alexander (2004)

November. 24,2004
|
5.6
|
R
| Adventure Drama Action History

Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.

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Reviews

Cubussoli
2004/11/24

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

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VeteranLight
2004/11/25

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

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CrawlerChunky
2004/11/26

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

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Ariella Broughton
2004/11/27

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

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adonis98-743-186503
2004/11/28

Alexander, the King of Macedonia and one of the greatest army leaders in the history of warfare, conquers much of the known world. Despite a terrific and talented cast of big names such as Anthony Hopkins, Jared Leto, Val Kilmer, Angelina Jolie and Colin Farrell as Alexander The Great this movie directed by Oliver Stone besides the fact that it does look pretty and the costumes are quite well the story was all over the place and showcasing a scene where Alexander is kissing a man all drunk and that was just so wrong in so many places. This movie was no 300 or even a little bit like Troy it was just a waste of time and one of Stone's most disappointing films that could have been good.

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neutrinobelmondo
2004/11/29

Oliver Stone must have been stoned during the shooting of the film. In fact, I believe that everybody involved with this production was stoned. Poor and stupid script, story, acting, directing, etc... Hollywood is known for misunderstanding and misrepresenting historical events, people, etc...or in short screwing up history but this is the ultimate screw up.

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etiennestories
2004/11/30

They wasted a lot of money making this epic? film.I don't know whether it was bad acting, a bad script, or a combination of the two, but it mostly didn't work. Then there's the fact that the historic Alexander was blond, and Colin Farrell isn't. During the first part of the film, his blond hair looked like nothing more than a really, really bad wig. Then, in the scenes in Babylon, when his hair was long and parted it was better. Unfortunately, the many close-ups of his face revealed a heavy black shadow, if not stubble. This was a serious distraction. In a few scenes, he was clearly recently clean-shaved, and looked okay, but only a few THey should have hired a real blond to play the role.I won't even waste time on the overly long battle scenes. They could have done so much better with a lot less money.

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Hecate-3
2004/12/01

Creative writing professors teach that stories should be told in chronological order. Past events make present events more meaningful. Withholding the past robs the audience of meaning; flashbacks inserted later fail to correct this but interrupt narrative flow. A jumbled order of events also makes it harder for an audience to follow what's happening. Again and again, writers flout this simple rule to the very great detriment of their work. This film is no exception. I cannot say that this film would be good if it were in chronological order, but at least it would be comprehensible.In addition to jumbled chronology, this film boasts horrible direction from a top-notch director, sound effects and music that drown out important speech, poor editing, cringeworthy makeup, cringeworthy hair: dye and styling, and a cringeworthy, histrionic performance from the lead Colin Farrell. None of the acting is good here; not even Angelina Jolie showed to advantage despite being stunningly beautiful. (Incidentally, being approximately Farrell's age doesn't make Jolie miscast, because she's sometimes shown with Alexander as a young boy, and although some people seem to want more signs of aging when she is shown with Farrell, I couldn't bring myself to care about that.) But so many actors in this film were miscast, it's tempting to think that the casting directors were utterly inept, or people were cast on the basis of blackmail material. I will leave it up to others to determine whether the cast blackmailed the production for roles or whether producers blackmailed the cast into appearing in this travesty. I hate to think that these were the performances Oliver Stone wanted and used his clout as an industry giant to force from his cast.The two battle scenes (that's right: only 2 in a 3.5 hour film about a man who spent his entire adult life conquering) were designed to show savagery in slow-motion close-ups, not to depict tactics, strategy, or outcome; they also used the overworked shaky-cam that is almost never a good idea (looking at you, Gladiator). It's difficult to tell who is being impaled, but the audience was never given any reason to care about any of them anyway. Such confusion might be realistic in depicting a common footsoldier's firsthand experience of battle, but it's not the way to tell the story of a military leader who was a tactical genius. The first battle shows Alexander's legendary strength and courage by having one of his men save Alexander from his own recklessness, making him look foolishly inept. The only other thing that these battle scenes convey is that war in ancient times was brutal. If that was news to you, go read some history before you watch any more movies. And if gore is all you want, horror flicks abound.The melodramatic music did little but remind me of the emotions the film had not invoked. And no one in Hollywood has ever come close to Shakespeare's St. Crispin's Day speech, but that doesn't keep the hacks from trying. A scene of the war leaders debating tactics would have been much more effective at both informing the audience and building character.For the people defending the accents: there are generic English accents – U.S. and British – that don't scream "I'm from this particular region." An RP English accent for Greeks and a generic U.S. accent for Macedonians wouldn't distract, so I could focus on what's being said. Farrell's accent makes it impossible to forget that he comes from Ireland. Say what you will, that accent rips me right out of a story about ancient Macedonians. Would you also defend a Texas twang or cockney?People defending this film claim that its detractors only like mindless action flicks, don't appreciate history, or don't appreciate drama. I like action epics – if they're well made. I enjoy historical documentaries and history books – if they're good quality and informative. I like drama in both films and classic novels – if it's well done. This film fails at all these. It fails as an action flick because nothing happens except for two, brief, gory battles in which no one can tell who's winning. The film fails as history, because it depicts none of the important events of Alexander's life, except perhaps for his dysfunctional family dynamic which is told so out of sequence that no one can follow it anyway. And finally, the film fails as drama because it never gives a genuine sense of who any of these people were, let alone why anyone should care about them. This film neither educates nor entertains. Nor is it artistic; a few allusions, a symbolic eagle, and some acid-trip coloring isn't enough to make a movie artistic. The film succeeds at nothing except perhaps production design and costumes.This film is more historically accurate than most historical movies, but then again, that isn't saying much. This film portrayed one of the greatest warriors, leaders, and military strategists of the ancient world as a neurotic, weirdly disingenuous, emo brat who is constantly blubbering and whining. Where is the young man whose quick wit and intelligence impressed Aristotle? Where is the young man whose courage, determination, and sound military strategy won the respect of all who fought with or against him? Where is the ambitious, ruthless young man who set out to conquer the world but was wise enough to recognize that actually ruling it required a different approach? As many reviewers have already stated, there is nothing in this film to explain why he is known as Alexander the Great.I can mostly forgive Braveheart for its historical inaccuracy and even its character assassination of Scotland's national hero. But I can forgive Braveheart, because it's a good movie. Oliver Stone's Alexander is a hatchet job on the man it claims to portray, and it doesn't even manage to be decently entertaining.It hurts to think of all the resources that were wasted on this.

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