Alexander
From the minute Alexander was born, he was destined for greatness. His mother (Angelina Jolie) knew that; after all, he is the son of Zeus. As a young man, Alexander (Colin Farrell) found himself not destined for royalty. His father Philip (Val Kilmer) had married another woman and waited for his young son of pure blood to grow up. But after his assassination, Alexander was thrust into the role of King of Macedonia. Soon, his lust for power grew to the point that he began a conquest to the east. From Persia to India and all points in between, Alexander and his growing army lay waste to all who opposed them. The only thing stopping Alexander was Alexander himself. From his troops' desire to return home, the constant writings from his mother, the criticism for forgiving leaders of conquered lands and marrying a Barbarian woman (Rosario Dawson), and questioning his sexual orientation, these things brought down Alexander until he finally succumbed to death at the age of 33.

You would think all of these struggles would make a worthwhile movie, but it doesn't here. Director Oliver Stone seems to be obsessed with Alexander's homosexual tendencies with the numerous scenes with his servant and Hephaiston (Jared Leto). Even the battle scenes are poorly done, especially when compared to what's been done before. Sure, there was probably that much dust when they did battle, but it doesn't look good on the big screen. But for a man known to be a warrior, there are only two battle scenes in the whole film. The first was quite confusing since by all accounts, it seems Alexander lost the battle when he allowed the opposing leader to get away and surveyed the large number of injuries and casualties that resulted, yet the next scene shows him being welcomed into Babylon with open arms. How did that happen? It leads into a major criticism of the film. Yes, it's a 3-hour film, but there was way too much dialogue, most of it not even constructive. That's no fault of Farrell, who did a good job playing the title role. Jolie lays it on with a thick accent, but does she even age in the film? Stone and the writers lead situations nowhere and even mixes things up with a flashback that wasn't even needed. All in all, it's a quite boring film that just doesn't connect all of its pieces together and doesn't connect with the audience. 1.5 stars