An Oliver Stone is quite always an event and, this time again, critics for Alexander are very different from one to another between love and hate.
Alexander is a long time project for Oliver Stone as he and Val Kilmer originally discussed Alexander while filming The Doors in 1991 !
As Oliver Stone was finally working on it, in 2003~2004 there were two projects in Hollywood regarding Alexander the Great. One which is now on screen, the other from Baz Luhrmann, the director of Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge. The second one is still untitled and in pre-production and might be forgotten as in October 2004, Nicole Kidman, a potential star of the movie, asserted to the media that the movie would not be going forward.
No doubt these two films would have been very differents anyway and I wish Baz Luhrmann good luck if he wants to go after Alexander
Oliver Stone has choosen a very unexpected angle to present the audience Alexander the Great. If the movie is called Alexander I think, as I've read it also, that it is because the movie is about the man behind the myth.
As Alexander is non a common man (at the height, Alexander's empire covered over 2 million squared miles united by a common Greek language) we see in this movie some epic moments with two battles and the encounter between young Alexander and his to become warhorse, Bucephalus.
As Alexander is commonly depicted in statues, he appears also in many scenes with eyes raised upwards towards the sun, especially in a superb scene at the top of white mountains.
But, as said before, the intention is less to show us the war leader and the conquerer than the man. More than the results, we see in this movie the motivations behind the acts. We see the personnal motivations behind the official ones.
For this reason, if the work of Colin Farrell, who seems really possessed by the role, must be saluted, so do the works of both Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer playing his parents.
Val Kilmer gained over 50 pounds and stopped working out for the plump role of Philip and the lest we can say is that he delevers the audience one of his best performances ever.
Oliver Stone's work as actors director must be saluted as the result regarding the expectation we could have from this casting is just perfect.
The two worst actors of this movie are a scribe (David Bedella ?) and Anthony Hopkins but that is explained also by the scenes in which they appear.
To come back to the plot, we see in this movie how trying to please his both parents expectations Alexander slowely becomes one of the greatest military leaders in the history of warfare. How he deals during his childhood between a rude and alcoholic Philip, who is also a very respected warchief, and a very dangerous found of manipulations and conspiracy Olympias who wants her son on the throne.
We see also the influence of his love for Hephaistion (Jared Leto) on his life and how he lives his bi-sexuality. Oliver Stone treats very well the difficult subject of bi-sexuality in a very sober way.
I've only been disapointed with a scene with Roxanne (Rosario Dawson) as we see her completely naked for an heterosexual relation while Oliver Stone had stayed very sobber on the homosexual relations, giving all their meaning to kisses. Even if for a man it's pure pleasure for the eyes (believe me
) , it was not necessary I think.
Except this little mistake, quickly forgiven in front of Rosario Dawson arguments in favour of this scene, I have absolutely enjoyed this movie A LOT !
I give it a 6/6 and invite you to see it as soon as you can.
I was hesitating between 5 and 6 but will stay on 6 to counter all bad critics I've seen regarding this movie, bad critics I can't understand
Again, don't expect a new The Return of The King. As the poster says it, here it's reality we are talking about, with a few legendary moments in it
Chevvie
