Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.
Oliver Stone's Alexander is an ambitious but muddled epic that struggles under the weight of its own scope. The plot is fragmented and unfocused, jumping between timelines awkwardly and failing to give Alexander's arc real dramatic coherence. Acting is uneven — Colin Farrell lacks the commanding presence the role demands, and some supporting performances (notably Angelina Jolie's campy Olympias) veer into caricature. Cinematography has genuine highlights in its battle sequences, particularly the Gaugamela battle overhead shot, earning it a modest above-average mark. Novelty is limited — it covers well-trodden epic historical territory without a distinctive enough voice, and Stone's attempts to explore Alexander's sexuality and psychology feel half-realized rather than groundbreaking. The ending, including the lengthy epilogue narrated by Anthony Hopkins, is overlong and unsatisfying, failing to provide meaningful emotional closure for such a grand story.