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Alexander the Movie (spoilers)

DemonKing

By DemonKing
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DemonKing

DemonKing

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Hi all.

 

I just saw Alexander yesterday (despite the panning most prople are giving it), and I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Unlike the abomination that was Troy, this film was actually remarkably accurate in terms of the ancient source material...major stuff like Alexander killing one of his best friends in a drunken rage and the "Consipracy of the Pages" were there and even little details like the guy who assassinated Alexander's father having an accomplice waiting by with horses to try and make a getaway were included, for example.

 

The costumes were pretty accurate and I thought that when CGI was used it was to good effect (the entry into Babylon, for instance). The battles, weapons, equipment and tactics were also pretty acurate (although far too brief in the overall context of the film).

 

I think the film has two main flaws...while all the key elements of Alexander's life are present the film is a bit disjointed (for instance, why do we get a flashback to the assasination of Phillip's father right at the end of the film for instance, when it would have seemed to me far more appropriate to have it in sequential order like the rest of the film) and sometimes lingers too long on ancient Ptolemy (Antony Hopkins) rambling when some more detail on some of Alexander's early victories would have been preferable.

 

Finally the homosexual elements of the story probably repelled a lot of the traditional key audience for such a film (testosterone laden young men). Frankly even I thought they were a little overdone - the point could have been achieved without the frequent longing looks and hugs. The film does make some effort to show that homosexual relations between Macedonian men were commonplace and accepted, but this doesn't mean that the traditional cinema-going audience is able to accept this quite so willingly.

 

Also you can't see this film without mentioning the awful wigs they stuck on Colin Farrell (the first time you see him as "the young Alexander" actually drew groans from the audience) and the terrible accents either: Angelina Jolie sounds Russian, while the Macedonians sound like half-Scottish/Irish barbarians!

 

Overall, it's a great film if you want to see a reasonably realistic depection of the life and times of Alexander...but not so great if you're looking for a typical Hollywood blockbuster epic with a macho hero.

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Baneblade

Baneblade

Posted
Posted
Hi all.

 

I just saw Alexander yesterday (despite the panning most prople are giving it), and I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Unlike the abomination that was Troy, this film was actually remarkably accurate in terms of the ancient source material...major stuff like Alexander killing one of his best friends in a drunken rage and the "Consipracy of the Pages" were there and even little details like the guy who assassinated Alexander's father having an accomplice waiting by with horses to try and make a getaway were included, for example.

 

The costumes were pretty accurate and I thought that when CGI was used it was to good effect (the entry into Babylon, for instance). The battles, weapons, equipment and tactics were also pretty acurate (although far too brief in the overall context of the film).

 

I think the film has two main flaws...while all the key elements of Alexander's life are present the film is a bit disjointed (for instance, why do we get a flashback to the assasination of Phillip's father right at the end of the film for instance, when it would have seemed to me far more appropriate to have it in sequential order like the rest of the film) and sometimes lingers too long on ancient Ptolemy (Antony Hopkins) rambling when some more detail on some of Alexander's early victories would have been preferable.

 

Finally the homosexual elements of the story probably repelled a lot of the traditional key audience for such a film (testosterone laden young men). Frankly even I thought they were a little overdone - the point could have been achieved without the frequent longing looks and hugs. The film does make some effort to show that homosexual relations between Macedonian men were commonplace and accepted, but this doesn't mean that the traditional cinema-going audience is able to accept this quite so willingly.

 

Also you can't see this film without mentioning the awful wigs they stuck on Colin Farrell (the first time you see him as "the young Alexander" actually drew groans from the audience) and the terrible accents either: Angelina Jolie sounds Russian, while the Macedonians sound like half-Scottish/Irish barbarians!

 

Overall, it's a great film if you want to see a reasonably realistic depection of the life and times of Alexander...but not so great if you're looking for a typical Hollywood blockbuster epic with a macho hero.

 

with different casting and director the movie could have been good, instead just OK.

 

68/100, IMHO.

"If at first you don't succeed... So much for skydiving." - Henry Youngman.

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Darque

Darque

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Hmmm... I may see this one.

 

I avoided Troy like the plague.. I hate historical innacuracy in movies... I mean I can understand small mistakes and minor embelishing, but from what I hear that movie is a mishmash of a dozen time zones and 2 or 3 stories :devil:

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Cantousent

Cantousent

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How can a movie based on the Iliad be historically inaccurate, you doofus?!?!

 

I'm not too demanding of films when it comes to accuracy. After all, it creates both interest in the field as well as a need for classicists. I like that!

 

Okay, on Alexander, here're my two big beefs:

 

1) Monologues without end. Shut up, Ptolemy, we get the idea. Alexander is a deranged visionary. Gothca. We understand. No need to start out the film with a four hour monologue.

 

2) The Indian battle. You know, a good battle scene can save a bad film. This could have worked well. Instead, Stone puts some freaky filter on his camera and the blood looks like mustard and the leaves look pink. ugh. Give me a break.

 

Most of the other stuff doesn't bother me, even Alexander's over the top insanity. We can't know Alexander's frame of mind at the end of the Indian campaign. Who is our source for Alexander anyhow? Arian, I think? This late antiquity stuff gets away from me sometimes, but I think he had access to Ptolemy, which would explain Ptolemy's central roel in the film. I dunno, I think Stone did a terrible job.

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Baneblade

Baneblade

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Hmmm... I may see this one.

 

I avoided Troy like the plague..

 

Troy was better. :ph34r:

 

73/100, IMO :)

 

How can a movie based on the Iliad be historically inaccurate, you doofus?!?!

 

Never mind that, how can he (Darque) use Selphie as an avatar pic, that's like... SICK. :geek:

 

I think Stone did a terrible job.

 

Fully Agree with you here buddy....

the man hasn't done a decent picture sence Platoon(and I don't generally like war movies).

 

maybe he was stoned while filming it ? :-"

"If at first you don't succeed... So much for skydiving." - Henry Youngman.

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Ludozee

Ludozee

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How can a movie based on the Iliad be historically inaccurate, you doofus?!?!

 

Never mind that, how can he (Darque) use Selphie as an avatar pic, that's like... SICK. :lol:

Darque, no offense, but I thought you were a woman? And the Iliad isn't quite historical accurate, it's a bunch of stories and legends written and re-written and so forth. They contain a core of truth, but to say the stories are historical accurate goes a bit too far IMO.

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DemonKing

DemonKing

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How can a movie based on the Iliad be historically inaccurate, you doofus?!?!

 

Well the city of Troy did actually exist...but of course as you point out, "The Illiad" is literature. Of course, saying that, the movie bears very little resemblance to the literature. ;)

 

Who is our source for Alexander anyhow? Arian, I think?

 

Arrian, Plutarch & Quintus Curtius Rufus are the main ones. Most people think Arrian is the best source, especially for the battles.

 

All that movie needed was Ewan McGregor....naked on a gold platter...

 

Have you seen "The Pillow Book"? One of my exes made me go see it and you get to see a young Ewan "tackle-out", if that sort of thing rocks your boat (actually the film wasn't all bad).

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Child of Flame

Child of Flame

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How can a movie based on the Iliad be historically inaccurate, you doofus?!?!

 

Well the city of Troy did actually exist...but of course as you point out, "The Illiad" is literature. Of course, saying that, the movie bears very little resemblance to the literature. ;)

 

Who is our source for Alexander anyhow? Arian, I think?

 

Arrian, Plutarch & Quintus Curtius Rufus are the main ones. Most people think Arrian is the best source, especially for the battles.

 

All that movie needed was Ewan McGregor....naked on a gold platter...

 

Have you seen "The Pillow Book"? One of my exes made me go see it and you get to see a young Ewan "tackle-out", if that sort of thing rocks your boat (actually the film wasn't all bad).

 

 

Isn't The Pillow Book the source material for the Kama Sutra....or is the movie unrelated? :blink:

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DemonKing

DemonKing

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I thought troy was a pile of bollox, my parents liked it tho.

Wackos!!!

 

But strangely enouh my dad is a prefessor/teacher of some sort in greek mythology, so he knows homer back to front.

 

That is weird. :-

 

I only liked 2 bits of Troy - the Bana/Pitt fight and watching Orlando get the living snot beaten out of him (until he morphed into Legolas II at the end of the film). It was basically a Brad Pitt calender otherwise.

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Baneblade

Baneblade

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Never mind that, how can he (Darque) use Selphie as an avatar pic, that's like... SICK.  :geek:

What makes you think I'm a "he" fool? :(

 

He/She who cares this is an internet forum, That was never the point in my post.

 

But Selphie.....

oh well, it could've been Rinoa *shrugs* (good thing it wasn't)

 

Besides I'm now convinced that you're actually an experimental A.I. program, and therefore neither He or She but It. :)

"If at first you don't succeed... So much for skydiving." - Henry Youngman.

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