Conquering 90% of the known world by the age of 25, Alexander the Great led his armies through 22,000 miles of sieges and conquests in just eight years. Coming out of tiny Macedonia (today part of Greece), Alexander led his armies against the mighty Persian Empire, drove west to Egypt, and finally made his way east to India. This film will concentrate on those eight years of battles, as well as his relationship with his boyhood friend and battle mate, Hephaestion. Alexander died young, of illness, at 33. Alexander's conquests paved the way for the spread of Greek culture (facilitating the spread of Christianity centuries later), and removed many of the obstacles that might have prevented the expansion of the Roman Empire. In other words, the world we know today might never have been if not for Alexander's bloody, yet unifying, conquest. This film isn't bad, it's terrible.
It drags on for around 3 hours, (though it seemed more like 12). The characters are rather feeble, and although the battle scenes are good it just drags on, and on, and on. The Titanic style flashback method makes it even worse. This is not a film that is just, as one user put it, above the masses, it is just far too dull to get anywhere. It's not actually that historically accurate, it's not entertaining, but it IS the only film i've been to see at the cinema which i have been very tempted to walk out of! The script is also pretty abysmal.
Alexander is the incredible story of a life that united the Known World and proved. The version of Alexander I'm reviewing is the second or director's cut, which.
A shame - they could have made such a good film out of this.