Alexander - The Directors Cut... Am I about to waste 3hrs of my life?

[Neil]

Should I watch it?

[EvilNed]

Alexander is one of my favourite films of all time, and I've watched it probably 5-6 times. But to be honest, you'd have to actually be interested in Alexander the Great or the hellenized world in order to like it. It's very beautiful, massive, epic. But it's definetly not action packed. It's a costume drama. What action there is kicks absolute ass, but it's... definetly not even close to being the bulk of the story. So expect a drama.

[Neil]

Alexander is one of my favourite films of all time, and I've watched it probably 5-6 times. But to be honest, you'd have to actually be interested in Alexander the Great or the hellenized world in order to like it. It's very beautiful, massive, epic. But it's definetly not action packed. It's a costume drama. What action there is kicks absolute ass, but it's... definetly not even close to being the bulk of the story. So expect a drama. I've no problem with that I watched 'Kingdom of Heaven' recently, and the directors cut is (from what I recall) far better than the cinema cut because it is more talkie and is willing to explore the situation more... What interests me, are the reviews for Alexander seem so love or hate... Why

[EvilNed]

Because walk into Alexander with a disinterest of history and you'll be bored to tears. Walk into Alexander with a conservative, narrow-minded way of seeing things (such as "gay boys are lame") and you'd probably walk out of the theather when it's constantly hinted at that Alexander is bisexual. If you have no knowledge of the any of the greek myths, you'll miss out of alot of references and many themes that develop throughout these films are directly inspired by these myths and infact Alexander relives many of them. The film does not adapt itself to a modern audience. For instance, if a character in King Arthur or whatever would say "By god, I hate you", they would in this film say "By Hera, I hate you". There's tons of these references that creates the most perfect illusion of the ancient world, tied in first place with the TV series Rome. So once again, if you have little knowledge or understanding or interest in how the ancient greeks, and most importantly, Alexander the Great, lived then you'd loose out on all these details that enriches the movie for me and the "lovers". The dialoge is cheesy, but once again, it's cheesy for a reason. The macedonian aristocrats spoke like this (or it is at least believed that they did, as some greek historians had pointed out the pompous nature of their northern "barbaric" neighbours). People complain about the irish accents. They say it's wierd and unfitting for the ancient macedonians to speak Irish. Somehow, these are the same narrow minded people who seem to think that every greek and roman in ancient times spoke english with a british accent. The dialect is used to differ between the macedonian characters and greek characters (tho, most are macedonian). The admiral Nearchus, for instance, does not speak with an irish accent. In conclusion, Alexander is a film with great depth, and many, many layers. But if you are not interested in any of those layers, then you will hate the film and rightly so because it's not a film for everybody. It's not a high concept film.

[Skippy911sc]

Alexander - The Directors Cut... Am I about to waste 3hrs of my life? YES! JK I think the previous posts are correct...although they are correct in any movie. Is this film interesting...perhaps to some it is. I thought it was a little to much for Collin Ferrel to pull off...Its like watching a river runs through it to see brad Pitt cry, or any other movie he has worked on before Oceans and AJ. If you are a fan of history, see it. If you are a fan of Collin, see it. If you are a fan of film, see it. If the whole Gay issue seems bothersome to you, skip it, there is a lot of this. I watched the movie and appreciated it for what it was, and loathed it for what it could have been, but then again I like Gladiator and 300, for what they are.

[EvilNed]

I won't say Colin Farrell pulls off the role of Alexander the Great flawlessly. There are some scenes that make me raise an eyebrow. He's generally very good, but not always. Might have been Oliver Stone's direction tho, because there seems to be a tendency for overacting and cheesiness in all of the actors. Val Kilmer excluded, who is just pure brilliance. But then again, who wouldn't want to see a biopic on perhaps the single most important man in world history? I know, Poseidon would send me to sea for 10 years for such a comment, but think about it. Without Alexander: No roman empire. No christianity. No unifying force of Europe. No Islam. How would the world look?

[Neil]

I'll give it a watch then

[clanglee]

I found it overly long, meandering, and WAY to centered on the homosexual theme. I am in no way a homophobe, but the movie seemed to center almost entirely around Alexander's sexuality, which made no sense to me.

[Kaos]

I agree it was overly long and meandering. Couldn't care less if it focused on homosexuality or not. I was just praying this dog would die 2 and a half hours in...but there was more... much more... by the end I felt like clawing my eyes out like the little kid in The Jaunt.

[Terran]

I hated it.... And its not that I hate the story of Alexander....theres a lot of good documentaries about the figure....its a great story.....but my opinion is that this is a bad movie....maybe even very bad....

[EvilNed]

I found it overly long, meandering, and WAY to centered on the homosexual theme. I am in no way a homophobe, but the movie seemed to center almost entirely around Alexander's sexuality, which made no sense to me. There are no scenes in the film which solely focus on his homosexuality. Infact, there's only one single shot (within a montage) in the entire film that suggests that he has sex with a man. People see what they want to see, I guess, but just because Hephaistion and Alexander are close doesn't mean they are homosexuals or even lovers. They may be, they might just be very close friends. I find this adds another great layer to the film, and the portrait of Alexander. How nobody understands him. How they, deep within, only really care for themselves. Except one person: Hephaistion.

[clanglee]

There are no scenes in the film which solely focus on his homosexuality. Infact, there's only one single shot (within a montage) in the entire film that suggests that he has sex with a man. People see what they want to see, I guess, but just because Hephaistion and Alexander are close doesn't mean they are homosexuals or even lovers. They may be, they might just be very close friends. I find this adds another great layer to the film, and the portrait of Alexander. How nobody understands him. How they, deep within, only really care for themselves. Except one person: Hephaistion. Most of the movie was a love story between Alexander and Hephaistion. The movie was very Homo-erotically charged between thise two. And Alexander's new boy and the jelousy from Heph. And then When he gets married, and the jealousy from Heph. ETC ETC. This was the major plot point of the movie.

[EvilNed]

Most of the movie was a love story between Alexander and Hephaistion. The movie was very Homo-erotically charged between thise two. And Alexander's new boy and the jelousy from Heph. And then When he gets married, and the jealousy from Heph. ETC ETC. This was the majot plot point of the movie. No, the jealousy was a very minor plot point. While Hephaistions and Alexanders relationship is a major theme in the movie, Alexanders relationship with EVERYBODY is a major theme in the movie. It's sad to hear that you found the film homo-erotically charged, when the only person you ever see Alexader make love to is his wife - one of two.

[clanglee]

No, the jealousy was a very minor plot point. While Hephaistions and Alexanders relationship is a major theme in the movie, Alexanders relationship with EVERYBODY is a major theme in the movie. It's sad to hear that you found the film homo-erotically charged, when the only person you ever see Alexader make love to is his wife - one of two. I find it sad that you seem to think that in order to identify a homosexual relationship, we must see them have sex. The movie was largely about the love between two men.