Alexander

Rating ***/*****, or 5/10

Epic biopic follows the life and times of Alexander the Great (Colin Farrell, refusing to loose his Irish accent, so all the other actors portraying Macedonians had to adapt to him), and highlights the man himself far more than his accomplishments. So while we are treated to large scale battle scenes and his brave trek across Persia and Asia in grand, sweeping scenes and vista shots, we also get a closer look at his troubled relationship with his parents (a seductive Angelina Jolie and a boorish, abusive Val Kilmer) and his love life, which included a supposed homosexual affair with his close friend Hephaistion (dreamy Jared Leto). Oliver Stone's focus on Alexander's screwed up personal relationships is a bold, but ultimately doomed attempt to explain the man's motives and his sometimes mysterious decisions, which undermines the picture as a whole by making it feel unbalanced and overly melodramatic. Stone himself wasn't really pleased with the final product either, and made a total of three released cuts, adding several scenes, loosing others and playing with the sequential order of events. A good try, but never satisfactory in whatever form.

Starring: Colin Farrell, Jared Leto, Angelina Jolie

Directed by Oliver Stone

USA, UK, Italy and many other countries: Warner Bros Pictures, 2004