The story of Alexander the great, the King of Macedonia who sweep across much of the world as it was known at the time. With flashbacks to his relationship with his father King Philip and mother Olympias, we follow Alexander as a boy taught by Aristotle and his rise to power and first conquers all of Persia before moving eastward into deeper Asia as he attempts to reach the Ocean to return to Macedonia. However this road is tough and his men struggle with his methods of ruling his conquered territories and with the seemingly never-ending quest.
Despite the fact that this was slated (maybe because it was slated) I decided to give a try for myself. The only option available to me for rental was the slightly shorter Director's Cut, so I took that one and my comments are based around that how different it is from the original release into cinemas I'm unsure but it was what I had. Taking the eagle of the early scenes as my guide and looking at film from a great height, it is actually not too bad. Cosmetically it all looks good with lots of money spent on the CGI, the battle scenes, the cast, the costumes and so on. However the reality is that every audience must watch this scene by scene and deal with it line by line and it is at this level where the film doesn't really work.
To give it its dues though, the overall sweep is good and the battle scenes are impressive even to this post-Lord of the Rings viewer and it is fair to say that the money is right up on there on the screen. Talk about the narrative, the script, the performances, the delivery though and it is a different story. Whether the story is historically accurate or not I cannot say but, like with many of these things, I am happy to take the overall story as reasonably educational while also recognising that much of it will have been either made up for the sake of the telling or simplified for the same reason. The problem for me was not with the accuracy but more with the script. It is written like speeches rather than conversations; nobody seems to talk so much as proclaim. This makes the characters harder to get into and comes over like the writers were forcing themes rather than building them into their characters.
I actually liked the flashback structure as it gave us both elements of Alexander building towards the conclusion of the film. That said though, it is a bit laboured at times and not every timeshift works as well as it should have done or contributes as much as I suspect it was supposed to. Stone's direction is impressive in regards the battle scenes but it is as writer and deliverer of the story that he falls down; even his "cut" contains structural problems and failings.
Without a good script the starry cast mostly struggle. It doesn't help that the themes are mostly handed to the cast in clumps rather than being woven into the dialogue and the characters. Unlike many reviewers I didn't really mind the use of Irish accents; it was a bit funny at first but I got used to the device of the accents representing a certain people. Farrell is left exposed by his director. I do not mean the shot of his balls but more the fact that he seems rudderless in his performance, never being consistent and swinging wildly with each scene. It doesn't help that each line he says is delivered like it is "the most important thing ever" with this in mind I didn't care what he looked like, it was more fundamental issues I had with him. Leto, Meyers, Beattie and others provide unremarkable support but the bigger worry is in the A-list names that misfire. Contrary to what some have said, I thought Jolie did a pretty good job with her manipulative character; it is not her fault that she is too young for the role and I'm not entirely sure why she was cast as I can think of a handful of older actresses who could have risen to the role. More disappointing was Dawson who offers little apart from a nude scene (which is an absurdly comic sex scene in itself). Contrary to what my girlfriend might say, I do think Dawson is a good actress and although the male part of me appreciated seeing her naked, I cannot help but wonder why her real talents were wasted in a role that gave her nothing to work with and very little to do anyway. Hopkins is a good narrator and as a device he holds the film together well. Blessed provides a slice of his usual ham then disappears, Plummer likewise while Kilmer does an OK job as the father of the piece.
Overall then this is not as terrible a film as the critics would have led you to believe but this is not to be confused with me saying that it is "good". The overall sweep of the film is OK while technically it is professional and impressive but the script is poor, the characters delivered on a basic "and here's the theme for this scene" level, while the performances are either weak or, at best, well-meaning. Like I say it isn't as totally valueless as some have claimed but what potential there is, is mostly missed.
