Oliver Stone and controversy, YAY! I guess I’ll start with the gay thing. It wasn’t overdone, in fact I thought it was underdone. The prime example of this is when Colin Farrell and Jared Leto are staring at each other talking about their love for each other. To drive the point home, they just kept saying sappy romance lines to each other. Seriously dudes, just make out already. It was like watching me on a date: all flirting, no action. And don’t get me started on Alexander’s Crying Game-lookin’ man-servant. He creeped me out so much. It was like if the bad guy from Stargate looked even more like an alien woman. But wait, where’s the conspiracy. Ok, there are some implications of Stone questioning how Alexander died, and his lack of choice for an heir and the like. Regardless, we saw the main character in bad and good light alike. And I liked it.

If I had any beef with the movie it was an overall lack of characterization, but not in the traditional sense of lack of characterization. Motivation was the driving force behind everyone. I really felt Alexander’s conflict for his people and the world, his ego and his compassion, his mother and his father. It was good. I felt the romance between him and Hephaistion (Leto). I felt some odd feelings between him and Roxanne (Dawson). What I did not feel was any genuine emotion. It was not lack of acting, (even though barring Kilmer, acting was only alright), it was just a lack of emotion in the script. It was all motivation and the appearance of emotion. It wasn’t a terrible thing, especially since the inner-workings of these characters were so adeptly woven. However, I really see how this different type of story-telling could be looked down upon.

Overall, I thought Alexander was a great piece of film-making. In fact, the film-making outshone the film itself, warranting a nod for the director but disdain for the movie. This is not an “Oliver Stone is a good director no matter what” thing. I would say the same thing if anyone else had produced the same thing. I just really think the movie was that well-made. The plot is nothing but a story behind what makes this guy tick. The visuals were amazing and it did not feel like a 3 hour movie, and I was even tired when I saw it. I would totally recommend going to see it in the theatre, and if not for just a lack of interest during some of the less eventful scenes I think I might have given ...