Alexander

release year: 2004
genre: action/adventure
viewing setting: home Bluray 1/14/26

synopsis: This is the long, overly-complicated story of perhaps the greatest ruler and conqueror in history.

impressions: I didn't like it. It was overly long - this was the "Revisited" final cut which was over 3.5 hours long, although all of the various versions are apparently too long - and had a number of problems. The main one was that it jumped back and forth between past and present events, and said jumping had little coherent purpose. There were also a LOT of characters and not all of them got introduced or explained, especially with all the jumps back and forth in time. Another problem (and I can't take credit for verbalizing it, I'll mention reelviews.net's review because he did it better) was that this film seemed to focus more on Alexander's flaws and mistakes than it did on his strengths and successes. Anyway, I have nothing else to say; it was long, drawn-out, and poorly formatted.

acting: So many cast. Main ones: Colin Farrell at times projected a caring, merciful ruler but for much of the time he just looked bemused as things fell apart around him. Angelina Jolie, as his overbearing mother, smiled a lot and sported a European-sounding accent. Val Kilmer was his often-drunk father who wasn't quite the ideal family man. Jared Leto was one of his male paramours, while Rosario Dawson was his female one. Anthony Hopkins was a narrator whose younger self played a key role in past events.

final word: Poorly-executed biographical movie.

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