|
 |
Alexander Director: Oliver Stone Rated: MA Now showing 
There was a time, long ago, when great men carved themselves into history. They were movie directors, and they made films about the age of heroes; films like 'Spartacus' and 'Ben Hur'. Now, with new films like 'Gladiator', 'Troy' and 'King Arthur' the epic film is entering something of a new Renaissance (just to confuse our time periods completely).'Alexander' is the latest and covers the life of Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great. The film starts with a 'Citizen Kane'-esque shot of Alexander's death, followed by a pretentious prologue given, forty years later, by Ptolemy (Anthony Hopkins), one of Alexander's generals. This sets up the action of the film, where we see young Alexander (Connor Paolo) grow up with a violent drunken father, Philip of Macedon (Val Kilmer) and a manipulative mother, Olympias (Angelina Jolie), who claims to be descended from Achilles. A few jumps forward see an older Alexander (Colin Farrell), now king of Macedonia, leading an army into Persia. He wins battles against significantly larger enemies and gains the adoration of his men, but becomes obsessed with winning ever more land. Moves such as an ill-planned invasion of India and a marriage to an Asian princess, the fiery Roxana (Rosario Dawson), anger and alienate his followers. Meanwhile, much is made of Alexander's relationship with Hephaestion (Jared Leto), a friend since childhood and now a lover, although we never see more than a manly hug on screen. Slowly we see a great man lose himself to ambition, violence and drink. The good news is that the film is historically accurate, following Alexander's campaigns and noble character faithfully. However, the authenticity stops at the voices. For some reason, all the Macedonians (except Jolie) have Irish or Scottish accents, presumably to match Farrell's native brogue. It might be too much to expect Greek (or Macedonian) cast members, but the thick Celtic accents are gratingly out of place. Apart from this, the acting is fairly undistinguished. Farrell seems to be channelling Russel Crowe's 'Gladiator', Jolie displays a melodramatic vigour and Kilmer, whose character requires only that he snarl and brood, does his job. Of the remaining one-dimensional characters, none is a bigger waste than Roxana, who never gets to develop the jealous rage for which she is famed. The set pieces of the film are two protracted battle scenes in Persia and India, which admirably capture the noise, blood and chaos of war; the scenes in between are devoted to pompous, long-winded speech making. While earlier epics were shot straight, as if the directors were really there, Stone's tricks keep reminding you you're watching a movie: slow motion, captions showing troop deployment, a blood-red rinse. The worst of all is a long flashback that comes in the middle of the film, breaking the flow entirely, and especially irritating because it could have appeared earlier and in present time. The film is overlong, self-important and, worst of all, fails utterly to be epic. When the end finally comes, you realise you've watched a lot but haven't really seen anything. If you want to see a real epic, remember: they still haven't found anything bigger than 'Ben Hur'...  |
|
The latest issue available now!     |
All content copyright dB Magazine