Fortune Favours The Bold: ALEXANDER

okie ... me dun with the movie in 3 spells ... the trailers gave an awesome luk n feel of the movie ... and it is one of the movies that I missed in the theatres ... was not around home when it was released but nevertheless ... so with great anticipation I watched the movie carefully ...

1st impression is the best (or for the worst) ... the narration was as decrepit as the character delivering it ... Antony Hopkins was withered ... the makeup was conspicuous ... it didn't have the effect of an old man telling a story as much as I expected it ... the way he looked up to ALEX was not compelling ...

the movie did not arouse the same feeling as gladiator or troy did ... it felt more like a documentary on ALEX more so ... this movie was miserable where troy just lost its edge ... sound ... music can play with emotions greatly as in "The Beautiful Mind", "Gladiator", "Omen" and so many games that instigate fear ... the monotone of angelina - Mother of ALEX lost its appeal as the movie progressed ...

I wudn't call this movie for an entertainer ... for it dwells more into the darker side of ALEX's character than the bold part (which the actor cud not bring out just as in King Arthur - not a pint of majesty, and often was more wimpy than otherwise) ... maybe this was just set to dig the untold part of the story ...

but if ur looking to learn about the history then this movie is a good start ... never knew ALEX married an asian tribal girl nor his self-inflicted demise ... tho the fall of his conquest in India is well known ... Greek and Egyptian civilization appeal to me a lot n I will be biased bout em ... Greek esp for their swanky majestic names n their quests ... their philosophers socrates and aristotle ... n egyptian for their hieroglyphs :) n mystic ways of occult ...

the part where aristotle tuitions the young men of tomorrow ... was nice one ... I'd have njoi'd more of that ... these philosophers r amazing ... many of their musing comes right down until The Matrix :D ... n bout the Achilles and apollo (who help Paris bring down the hero) ... but unfortunately the same befalls ALEX as well (for his love with Hephaestion) ...

the scene where young alexander tames osephilis ... well I expected much more ... 1st hand it was too quick and then it was the music ... both didn't live up ... it could have been a great scene ... well short of a compelling one ...

n the fall of ALEX in india ... WOW that was nice ... the elephant and osephilis rising as they stand up on the hind legs ... very well done ... I have to give to that picturisation ... a bullet time shot kind'a stuff ... but the music was a miserable let down ...

colin farrel was not very befitting to the role ... I expected a more stout gait and attitude ... he tried to don it but :( ... personally I liked cleitis ... the gaunt luks befitting a warrior ... but that just how I wan't it ... for all we know maybe there was a much darker side to ALEX ... n how much he ran away from his mother all his life ... who was afraid of ALEX being more of philip ... while ALEX had his fear of being more of his mother ... only to realize he was both ... paving to his temporal dementia ...

the war over persia ... with the dust climbing up was done well, but for some reason was not easy to follow, the plot of the war ... as to whats goin on the scene ... after all movies are not bout obscurity ... I believe perfection does not have much room in this world ( I just read "Such Perfection" in Malgudi Days :D ) ...

angelina did well ... the accent was fitting the role ... n her vicious looks as always ;) ... at its best :)

val kilmer as philip got a descent job done ... again not as grunt in his gait ... something missing b/w his looks and his attitude ... but I liked his performance in the movie "At First Sight" a lot ... moments of poignancy can be well felt by the audience ...

so commin back to the movie ALEXANDER ... it wud be an enlightning experience for those who buy such ... n if u take interest with the greeks ... not a very good entertainer ... but its good to have occasional movies showing the other side of such people ...

updates on LP: Live at Texas up next ...