A losing battle

Oliver Stone, director of the newly released epic Alexander, seems to work best when he’s on a mission. His objective in Platoon was to depict the horrors of the Vietnam War from the perspective of the young soldiers who were there. In Wall Street, the goal was to deliver the message — already obvious to most — that greed is indeed bad.

It’s always helped that Stone’s films, even the lesser ones, were beautifully made affairs with stunning production values and memorable performances. But by the time the director made Alexander, a movie about warriors, he might have run out of missions. Or it could be that he hasn’t made a feature film since 1999’s Any Given Sunday.

For whatever reason, Alexander is one of Stone’s worst movies.

Alexander the Great (Colin Farrell) was born in 356 B.C. to King Philip of Macedonia (Val Kilmer) and his wife Olympias (Angelina Jolie). The movie begins with Alexander as a child, but focuses mostly on the eight years he spent conquering much of the known world. During that relatively short time, the warrior and his army toppled Persia and Egypt, and finally made their way to India.

Alexander was known as a ruthless opponent but a fair ruler, and won over his subjects with his humanity as much as his sword. The one thing Alexander couldn’t conquer was an early death, at age 32.

Stone and his co-writers were careful to include many details from Alexander’s short but fascinating life. The writing is the most redeeming quality of the problematic film, perhaps because Stone started his career as a screenwriter. The director, who won a screenwriting Oscar in 1979 for Midnight Express and has been nominated a total of six times, is a great storyteller and there are moments when the film captures the imagination.

But at just under three hours long, Alexander needs more than mere moments. It seems that as soon as the movie draws in the audience with another conquest, it meanders for a good 10 minutes or so with a useless detail or some of Stone’s trademark symbolism.

If film length was the only weakness, I would have liked Alexander a little better.

Performances from the marquee stars are also an issue. Farrell is a commanding presence, but he goes over the top more than once. Jolie turns in one of her strangest performances ever. She is the only one in the movie to affect her accent, which sounds like the old gypsy woman in The Wolfman.

It’s good to see Stone return to moviemaking, but let’s hope he gets angry again and makes a good one.

Alexander just isn’t.

Alexander
R (for violence and some sexuality/nudity)
Playing at area theaters
Two reels out of four

Recommended rental

Spiderman 2
PG-13
Available Tuesday

Although Spiderman (2002) was one of the best comic-book adaptations ever, many critics felt it could have used a better villain. Director Sam Raimi corrected the situation and kept the elements that made the first one so good, and darned if he didn’t come up with a sequel that’s as effective or even better than the original. Tobey Maguire is back as the webbed one, now having trouble balancing his superhero work with the rest of his life. His friendship with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) seems to be faltering and the city is threatened by the evil Dr. Octavius (Alfred Molina). A great popcorn movie with substance.