Rate "Alexander"...

[Mercule]

Boy, it is too bad this movie is not so good. I was looking forward to it.

Well, you can just wait for the one starring Leo DiCaprio. It could be better -- but I don't think Leo could do any better with a great script/director than Collin Farrell could with a lousy script/director.

 

[GSHamster]

I heard in the Oliver Stone version the focus is on the conspiracy around Philip's death.

You're probably joking, but that does take up an inordinate amount of screen time.

Elephants? so, the movie covers AtG's campaign in India? or is Gaugamela the only battle shown in any detail?....

Kind of. The movie basically goes Childhood -> Gaugamela -> India, with bits and pieces in between. The only battles shown are Guagamela and one in India.

The Julius Caesar reference is to the story that when he was in Spain at the age of 30, Caesar wept beside a statue of Alexander because at that age Alexander had conquered the world, while Caesar had accomplished nothing. It's pretty minor, but I've always liked that story (and it would have been far better than Ptolemy droning on and on).

 

[barsoomcore]

Wait a minute.

I thought the story was ALEXANDER hearing of his father's conquests and weeping because there would be nothing left for him to conquer.

Julius Caesar's a tryhard. Trying to horn in on my gay elephant non-time-travelling Hellenian.

I got your GREAT right here, Jules!

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Heh, I am glad I decided to not go see it with my brother. Even though my mother is somewhat mad at me for not going, oh well.

 

[swrushing]

Run away as fast as you can.

Man, i gotta add oliver Stone to my list, which i am now calling the oliver stone list, of directors i wont go see no matter how good the movie subject is for me.

how you can take a story sey in the age of heroes, so to speak, drain all the drama out of it and replace it with frankly springer-esque melodrama, how you can take what amounts to world conquest and drain it of all the action it could have had, and how you can take that cast and drain them of any semblance of portraying interesting characters... its got to be magic, very very dark magic...

the horse was the only character i cared about...

 

[shilsen]

Wait a minute.

I thought the story was ALEXANDER hearing of his father's conquests and weeping because there would be nothing left for him to conquer.

Julius Caesar's a tryhard. Trying to horn in on my gay elephant non-time-travelling Hellenian.

I got your GREAT right here, Jules!

Actually they both did some crying. Caesar cried in front of a statue of Alexander (Virgil, Plutarch) and Alexander supposedly cried when he reached the ocean and saw he had nothing more to conquer. The second one has been quoted and referenced many times by later authors, but doesn't seem to have any actual classical sources supporting it. One of Plutarch's moral essays has a story about him crying when he heard about the universe having multiple worlds, since he had not yet conquered even one, so perhaps it's a bastardization of that story.

But, crying or not, he was a pretty cool guy. Though I still say we'd have kicked his ass if we'd had a few more elephants.

 

[Welverin]

It was pretty bad. I'd rate it about 5/10.

5 out of 10 isn't bad, that's average. If you do think it's pretty bad you need to lower your numerical rating.

 

[David Howery]

Ebert gave it 2 stars (below average), said it was nicely filmed and costumed, but lacked focus badly....

 

[Mark]

You're probably joking, but that does take up an inordinate amount of screen time.

Not joking. It may have sounded so because it is the kind of thing that someone might think Stone would inappropriately do (ala JFK). One of those times where life imitates humor, I guess.

The Julius Caesar reference is to the story that when he was in Spain at the age of 30, Caesar wept beside a statue of Alexander because at that age Alexander had conquered the world, while Caesar had accomplished nothing. It's pretty minor, but I've always liked that story (and it would have been far better than Ptolemy droning on and on).

Now I see where you were leading with the Julius Caesar reference. However, Ptolemy was a contemporary of Alexander who later became King of Egypt. It's not a stretch to suggest that Ptolemy could give a first hand account as a narrator. I guess it might have been interesting to frame the film with Julius Caesar giving his adopted son Augustus a history lesson.


Now that I am seeing more and more clips from the show, via advertisements and interview shows, I'm less and less interested in seeing it in the theatre. As a period piece, I think it is jarring for the disparate accents to be included, especially when one is so obviously affected merely for the movie (Jolie). That layer of acting is something that should be a group choice, or direction. I think I may wait until this makes the cable/satellite rounds.

 

[GSHamster]

Now I see where you were leading with the Julius Caesar reference. However, Ptolemy was a contemporary of Alexander who later became King of Egypt. It's not a stretch to suggest that Ptolemy could give a first hand account as a narrator. I guess it might have been interesting to frame the film with Julius Caesar giving his adopted son Augustus a history lesson.

Now that I am seeing more and more clips from the show, via advertisements and interview shows, I'm less and less interested in seeing it in the theatre. As a period piece, I think it is jarring for the disparate accents to be included, especially when one is so obviously affected merely for the movie (Jolie). That layer of acting is something that should be a group choice, or direction. I think I may wait until this makes the cable/satellite rounds.

Well, in theory, Ptolemy would have been a good narrator. In actual execution, though, he ended up long-winded and boring.

I've beening thinking about Jolie's accent, and it might not have been as innappropriate as some are saying. After all, the character comes from the Albanian region, so an Eastern European accent (as she had) might be more correct. In my view, the Irish/Scottish accents were more jarring.

As for the score, maybe 5/10 is a bit high. But there are a lot of worse movies out there, and I didn't feel like walking out of the theatre. Personally, any movie I consider worth seeing in theatres should rate at least a 7/10.