Stone’s interpretation of Alexander is interesting, but for the most part strays from historical accounts.  Clearly, it’s an attempt to demythologize the conqueror by showing us his weaknesses.  After all, even though Alexander was regarded with godlike wonder, leading many to conclude that his father was a god, like Zeus or Dionysus, ultimately Alexander was just a man.  But the man he became is not the one we see onscreen.

To be fair to Colin Farrell, who plays the lead role with puffy blond hair and a less-than-impressive set of muscles for a battle-hardened soldier, the script is as much of a problem as his performance.  The opening act, which goes on for almost an hour, dwells far too long on Alexander’s childhood, then leaps forward to his second battle against King Darius of Persia, which came after he had already conquered half the world.  We never see how Alexander became so proficient in battle (alongside his formidable warrior father in earlier skirmishes) and his succession to the throne comes toward the end of the film, in a poorly-placed flashback that should never have been a flashback to begin with. 

Stone wants us to believe that by going on his long march, Alexander was trying to escape the clutches of his cloying mother.  “It’s a high ransom she charges for nine months in the womb,” he says, in one of the more memorable lines of the film.  Stone’s Alexander isn’t a man who lusts for power and world domination – he’s a mama’s boy trying to flee the relationship he has grown to despise.  He’s also a man who never wanted the throne.  Even when the golden crown of laurels is thrust upon his head, after his father’s death, we see the same indecision and fear that plagued Alexander throughout childhood.

His sexual perversions are virtually ignored in the film.  Instead of a man filled with lust who tortured innocent slaves for sexual gratification, we see a homosexual who married just once, for an heir, but who loved his best friend – despite an occasional dalliance with servants.  That Stone does not overtly portray homosexual sex (we see kissing and hugging between men throughout the film), probably has far more to do with what audiences are willing to witness than any hesitation on Stone’s part to do so.  Farrell’s lone heterosexual scene is extremely graphic and further highlights his character’s revulsion for women.  It begins as a rape on his wedding night and ends as an animalistic mating ritual, complete with growls.

History buffs will also be concerned with the way Stone portrays Alexander’s mind.  Instead of an intellectual who dreams of bringing Greek culture to the world through assimilation, Stone’s Alexander is a whimsical, if not mentally ill warrior who cares nothing about those around him, save his beloved Hephaistion (Jared Leto), his lifelong companion and lover.  Although we see the scrolls of “The Iliad,” his favorite book, at the foot of Alexander’s bed, which he carried with him wherever he went, we never hear the man quote from it, as he often did.  Nor do we ever see him reading, listening to music or speaking about anything that might indicate he was a brilliant man – which, by all accounts, he was.  We do witness Alexander’s education under Aristotle (Christopher Plummer), but that never translates into his character or personality.  Stone even has Alexander return again and again to a cave, a bit like a barbarian, where he studies the painted walls at the urging of his father (Val Kilmer, in a noteworthy performance), who is also portrayed as a drunken savage.