August 05, 2005

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Publication Date: Friday, August 05, 2005

Ready to Rent @videoname:Alexander @videoinfo:Warner Home Video VHS & DVD 2 hrs 55 mins (theatrical version) Director: Oliver Stone @videotext: The much maligned "Alexander" is Oliver Stone's scatterbrained magnum opus of indulgence and madness; a pop biopic reminiscent of his "Doors" film but played out in togas. I should say, firstly, that it is not deserving of the scathing reviews it received in November. It is quite brilliant in some scenes, especially toward the end as Alexander's lust for dominance grows into a frenzied hum of ferocity. Unfortunately, the film lacks a focal point and loses itself in a character whose motivations are as unfamiliar as the power he worships. Coupled with a first half that, without any prior knowledge of Alexander's campaigns, can leave the viewer asphyxiated for drama, and a homosexual love story that always borders on being suspiciously titillating but never is brave enough to humanize it, "Alexander" becomes an exhausting yet strangely haunting experience.

Oliver Stone constructs "Alexander" like a sandal clad "Citizen Kane," introducing Alexander (Colin Farrell) on his deathbed in Babylon; his royal ring slipping from his dying hand. His story, however, is dictated by an older Ptolemy (Anthony Hopkins), whose voice is infused with a raspy awe of his dead commander. It is here that Stone makes his first major mistake - the narration becomes a lifeless vehicle instead of a means to an emotionally involving end.

It is through old Ptolemy's recitation that we learn of Alexander's early trials and defeats. The younger Alexander is taught Socratic discipline through Aristotle. The mutual love between Haphaistion and himself begins in sport (almost laughably in a wrestling ring). But Alexander's demons are molded by the powerful forces of his mother Olympias (Angelina Jolie, good but miscast) and King Philip (a surprisingly effective Val Kilmer, whose trademark mugging has a needed animalistic pomposity). It is also here that Stone, later in the film, revisits his "Oedipus" in a twist that may have had historians doubling over more than the homophobes that loudly denounced this film.

Where "Alexander" becomes a work of compelling intensity is in its later half, when Alexander loses himself in his endless drive throughout the wilds of India. The film becomes darker and more complex because, as in all good tragedies, it is more engaging to watch someone fall than to see them climb, and Stone's hyperbole style is perfectly suited to document something so grand as the fall of such a giant. Stone wisely relies on Colin Farrell's Byronic party boy furor to fulfill Alexander's legendary tantrums, all of which culminate in a bloody battle in the jungle, the screen ecstatically tinted red by cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto.

A sad note about "Alexander" may be Oliver Stone's choice to release a "director's cut" (along with the theatrical edition) of the film that essentially tones down its homosexual aspects. It seems ironic that such an outspoken man should choose to censure himself post-mortem after this film's dismal economic demise. It gives insult and injury to his fans to see Stone, a great uncompromising filmmaker, give in to a minority of the public whose only opinion of the film comes through word of mouth about the protagonist's sexual preference. Shame on you, Mr. Stone. @reviewertag:Joe Ramirez

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