Alexander
For those of you who don’t feel like reading my whole review of this movie, let me just quickly give you my thoughts on the movie. Don’t go see it. Done.
Now, for those of you who want to know why you shouldn’t see it, let me elaborate. I am very easy when it comes to movies. I watch them and love them and try not to overthink movies, but instead try to see what the director was trying to do with his vision of the movie. On that note, I am unsure of what the director was going for with this movie. You would think that with a great storyline, talented cast, and good writers, he would fashion a movie that would be a hit. Unfortunately that is not what happened. Even though all the reviews said you should stay away from this movie, i still wanted to see it to see that it couldn’t be as bad as they said. But it was.
Colin Farrell, whom I normally enjoy in the various roles he has taken on thus far, did a very sub-par job in his performance as Alexander. Angelina Jolie, looking hot as always, was looking good, but her accent was terrible and acting was very one-dimensional as the mother of Alexander. Val Kilmer has aged, and not well, I know that in this movie he is supposed to be a war veteran/father of Alexander, but he was looking rough and did not do the role justice as to what it could have been. I will say that the only person in the cast who did a good job and that stood out by leaps and bounds in this movie, was a virtual unknown by the name of Jared Leto who plays Hephaistion. He was very good and played the part of Alexander’s right hand man very eloquently. I enjoyed watching him in this role, and wanted to see more of him and less of the people that i expected quality performances from. Now, on to the writing.
If you like gay overtones and undertones, then you might like this movie more than i do. It was constantly putting men’s relationships in questionable situations with other men. Every time there was a moment that could have been a very heterosexual friendship, they would go a little too far and put it in the back of your mind and make you think that maybe there was more going on relationally than you knew. The only redeeming quality of the writing aspect of the movie, was actually not the writing, but the directing. The best part of the entire movie was the fight scene in the first hour. The first big fight was great. It was very realistic, and not a beautiful thing like most times movies make it out to be. Every man is equal, and does not make one more better just because of the status he holds in life. After this scene, you expect more of it, and it never happens again. There really is no climax to the movie. It grows during the first half hour and then stays on a level field until it ends. There is no time when you truly are excited, or scared, or really any emotion overtakes you. Instead it is simply an unfulfilling movie that leaves so much to be desired. Think of it as your friend who tries to be deep and philosophical by using big words, but just doesn’t know how to do it.
The storyline is great. It has nothing to do with the writers or the actors or the director, but simply to do with Alexander. It was interesting historically, but that is it. That is really the only redeeming value that it has is that it was a historic time that was amazing, My final thoughts on the movie are as follows. If you want to see a movie where there is no love story, no good acting, no good writing, only one good action scene, and a needless sex scene, then you go right ahead and see Alexander. Now for the rest of you, it is not worth your ticket money. I am not even sure it is worth a rental. If it costs you less than a dollar to see and you are extremely bored, then go ahead and see it so you can have something to badmouth the rest of the evening, but other than that, don’t ever see this movie. I give Alexander 1 out of 5 stars.