Alexander Revisited

The Good:  Along with "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" this is the second Oliver Stone film to be reviewed on this blog, and not to mention the most epic, and that is something I can bet my crohns on.  This movie was made on a grand scale, and everything from the costumes to the sets was touched with the finest detail.  Now I haven't seen the previous two versions of this film, which were apparently horrible, but I know that the preferred "revisited" edition proves to be a great portrait of the warrior.  Colin Farrell, whom I've always associated with playing the pretty-boy roles, was actually quite good along with the rest of the cast.  Director Oliver Stone isn't one who sticks to only one side of the story, which in this case is quite good, because although there were many good qualities about Alexander, there were also many flaws as well; Oliver Stone did the right thing in making sure Alexander was depicted as the heroic/tragic man he really was.  I was not disappointed with the big and fierce battle scenes either, because not only were they long, but they were occasionally awe-inspiring.

The Bad:  Even though I praised Oliver Stone for showing both the good and the bad of Alexander's life, there were some things I honestly didn't want to see, and those scenes were often drawn out SO long.  Which brings me to the next flaw I noticed with this movie, it was 3+ hours!! usually I don't have a problem with that, but when watching a movie that long, one would want more battle sequences than just the 2 this movie presents.  Last but not least, the real reason I wanted to see this movie in the first place is it had Anthony Hopkins (my favorite actor) in it, and so I was sad to see that he was only in the movie for a short while, but happy that he was the narrator... man he has a great voice! I wish he would tell me bedside stories sometime. 

The Ugly:  I may love horror movies a lot, but nothing beats watching an amazing war epic on a Sunday afternoon.  This movie with its obvious flaws, is still a very good movie to watch.  Sure it's 3+ hours long with some boring sequences, but then again what epic movie doesn't have those?  Oliver Stone shows the world the real man Alexander was, and while doing that he holds nothing back.

3 out of 5