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	Alexander
	Oliver Stone Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Val Kilmer, Jared Leto, Rosario Dawson, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Brian Blessed 2004		Briefly put, "Alexander" — the three-hour-long screen bio about world conqueror Alexander the Great — is a massive, boring, self-indulgent waste and the biggest professional misstep in the career of director Oliver Stone ("JFK," "Platoon"). It's certainly Stone's worst movie, made at a ridiculously high cost although it often looks chintzy (especially in expository scenes with Anthony Hopkins as an aged Ptolemy giving his account of Alexander's life); and it's riddled with ridiculous conceits and outright laughable moments. Who knew that the ancient Macedonians were Irish? Stone must have decided that Alexander had a four-leaf clover in his toga to assure his amazing success on the battlefield. That's one way to explain why pugilistic, charismatic Irish actor Colin Farrell, his dark hair peroxided a brassy blond color, was cast as Alexander, and why he was directed to speak in his natural brogue. But that doesn't clarify why the youthful, voluptuous Angelina Jolie is playing Alexander's mother — and why she's doing so with a Russian accent worthy of Natasha the spy from "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoons. Nor why Val Kilmer, as Alexander's randy father King Philip, treats the scenery like his private buffet table. Nor why the film's most significant battle, Alexander's troops against the Persians for control of Babylon and environs, is so poorly shot and confusingly edited. "Alexander" — not great at all.


	Sunday, November 17, 2024





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