Alexander the Great Movie: ‘Gay Hero’ in Stone’s Fetishistic Dud

Alexander the Great movie with

Alexander the Great movie with Colin Farrell . Possibly because of the haphazard, wishy-washy depiction of the Macedonian prince – gay? questioning? heroic? psychotic? – Colin Farrell looks utterly discomfited in Oliver Stone ’s fetishistic historical epic.

• Alexander (2004) movie review: Creator of the first “Western” (i.e., European-rooted) empire in history and to this day an inspiration to bloodthirsty megalomaniacs the world over, 4th-century B.C.E. Macedonian prince Alexander the Great is the subject of Oliver Stone’s bloated, fetishistic, and dramatically jumbled historical epic.

Alexander review: Oliver Stone’s bloated + disjointed Alexander the Great movie is an epic fail

The Oscar-winning director of Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, Oliver Stone is no stranger to controversy. His latest polemic comes courtesy of the filmmaker’s first historical epic, Alexander, a movie about the life of Alexander the Great, the youthful Macedonian ruler (356–323 B.C.E.) who conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks.

The arguments thrown about both for and against Alexander result from the fact that this (reportedly) $150 million German-British-French-American-etc. production officially boasts a “gay” (bisexual?) protagonist who not only is the supreme commander of a mighty army, but who also slaughters his enemies with the kind of superhuman fearlessness that would put to shame the heterosexual-est of movie heroes of past and present.

Now, was Alexander the Great gay or bisexual? And whatever the historical accuracy of such a portrayal, will audiences accept a homoerotically inclined hero?

Although these are pertinent questions, they rapidly fade into the background as one sits through Stone’s seemingly never-ending three-hour film.

Alexander the Great movie Q&A

Since the “gay side” of Alexander the Great is only hinted at mostly via some embarrassing dialogue and several lovey-dovey looks the megalomaniac conqueror directs at his right-hand man, those watching Alexander will likely spend their time wondering about more significant matters:

• How much of what is depicted in the film is fact-based?
  A number of events/situations are condensed or fabricated – e.g., elements from the battles of Gaugamela, Issus, and the Granicus are blended together.
• Isn’t Angelina Jolie a magnetic screen presence?
  So much so, she would be ideal casting in early 21st-century remakes of Gypsy Wildcat and Siren of Atlantis.
• Why on earth did they cast Colin Farrell as the title character?
  That remains a head-scratching mystery. (Leonardo DiCaprio was to have played Alexander the Great in a Baz Luhrmann project.)

For the most part, however, viewers should wonder why a gargantuan $150 million was wasted on this turgid attempt at mixing epic filmmaking, sociopolitical commentary, and heavy-duty psychological drama.

As a consequence of its own meandering incertitude, Oliver Stone’s costly opus ends up failing on virtually all counts.

Lovable European despot

In his movie, Stone – credited for the screenplay alongside fellow Americans Christopher Kyle and Laeta Kalogridis – tries to show us a complex, multifaceted Alexander the Great – but one we must love and admire unconditionally.

Stone’s Alexander may be a despot, but he is a despot with good intentions. Like another well-intentioned big-screen autocrat, the King of Qin seen in Zhang Yimou’s Hero, this Alexander is guided by a lofty goal: to unify all the peoples of the world.

Whether or not they want to be unified is irrelevant. The emperor knows best. Stone often sides with him or at least tries to justify his impulses – a stance that comes somewhat as a surprise from a filmmaker known for his (supposedly) liberal views.

So, if Alexander seems much too obsessed with his next conquest, it’s because he is the innocent victim of an extraordinarily dysfunctional family, and not because he is a ruthless megalomaniac. If he executes those who rebel against his rule, it’s for the good of the empire, and not because he is a bloodthirsty tyrant. And so on.

Complex or confused?

Just in case we find those (and other) deeds and character traits a tad too revolting, Stone tries to soften his hero.

Unlike Richard Burton’s macho Alexander in Robert Rossen’s dreary 1956 sub-epic Alexander the Great, Colin Farrell’s Macedonian ruler has no qualms about displaying both his “masculine” and his “feminine” sides: he rules, he cries, he murders, he whines, he has his long blond hair carefully coiffed, and he apparently enjoys sex with men as well as with women.

Instead of complex, however, Farrell’s Alexander comes across as hopelessly confused. In fact, one is likely to reach the final credits knowing more about Oliver Stone’s Alexandrian fetish than about the inner workings of the film’s protagonist.

Alexander the Great movie with Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, and Val Kilmer. Every family past and present had/has its problems, but Alexander the Great’s clan was undoubtedly more warped than most.

Alexander the Great movie with Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, and Val Kilmer. Every family past and present had/has its problems, but Alexander the Great’s clan was undoubtedly more warped than most.

Family dysfunction breeds megalomania

This early 21st-century Alexander the Great movie begins with an homage to Citizen Kane, as we see a ring fall from the hand of the dying Macedonian emperor. The similarities to Orson Welles’ examination of another deeply flawed historical figure end there.

Fast forward several decades to Alexandria, where Ptolemy (played by a mechanical Anthony Hopkins), the self-proclaimed king of Egypt and one of Alexander’s former generals, recounts the life story of his fallen leader.

We then travel back in time to Macedon, a kingdom (located in today’s northern Greece) ruled by the vulgar, bullish Philip II, played in overreaching fashion by a one-eyed Val Kilmer. (Next to Kilmer’s, Fredric March’s overripe performance as King Philip in the 1956 film feels like a model of underplaying.)

An official descendant of the demigod Heracles (and by extension, of Zeus), King Philip drinks by the gallon, carouses with both males and females, and has no concept of the meaning of the word “bath.” When not participating in orgies or battling one fellow Hellenic tribe or another, the king abuses his Russian-accented wife, Olympias (actually, from nearby Epirus), campily played by a stunning Angelina Jolie. Channeling Maria Montez in Cobra Woman, she is by far the most memorable element in Stone’s film.

Cunning & incestuous Mom

A cunning, manipulative witch with a taste for big, long snakes, and a curious yen for her little boy, Alexander (Jessie Kamm), Olympias is no decorative queen. This ancient Lady Macbeth knows that her son’s allegiance is all-important to her political – and even to her physical – survival. Thus, she is always reminding the young Alexander that no one loves him as much as she does, adding that his real father is Zeus – not the battle-scarred, one-eyed slob in the palatial room next door.

With parents like these two – as a child, the boy had witnessed Dad trying to rape Mom – it’s no wonder that Alexander grows up to be a confused teen (Connor Paolo). He loves his mother, but feels stifled by her; he loves his father, but is revolted by Philip’s animalistic behavior.

Matters worsen when the king impregnates and marries another woman, Eurydice (Marie Meyer). Both Alexander’s position as heir to the throne and his life are now threatened.

Obsessive-compulsive warrior

Fast forward to the Battle of Gaugamela (in today’s northern Iraq), where Colin Farrell’s adult Alexander the Great is discussing war strategies with his generals and counselors.

His father murdered by a traitor (Olympias may have had a hand in Philip’s assassination) and all potential rivals to the throne murdered at his command, Alexander has become the supreme ruler of the Macedonian empire, which now stretches all the way to the border with Persia.

Without a Macedonian Freud to help him sort through his Oedipus complex, his father complex, his demigod aspirations, and other assorted neuroses, Alexander has become an overachiever compelled to go on conquering whichever land he finds in his path. That will keep him as far from Mom’s bosom as possible, while proving to himself and to Dad in Hades that he is indeed worthy.

George W. Bush & Iraq War analogies

According to Alexander’s own reasoning, however, he keeps on expanding his empire because the people of West Asia and elsewhere need a civilizing hand to free them from their barbarian (i.e., non-Hellenic) ways.

Obviously, writer-director Oliver Stone and his co-screenwriters are making an analogy to current U.S. policy in that part of the world, as the script is peppered with reminders that history is (somewhat) repeating itself. These include Aristotle (Christopher Plummer) warning, “The East has a way of swallowing men and their dreams,” and Alexander grandly declaring that those barbarians are ready for “change.”

Of course, one key difference between Alexander the Great and today’s chickenhawks is that the Macedonian king actively participated in the battles, chopping off arms and heads right along with his soldiers. The Battle of Gaugamela – impaled bodies, severed limbs, decapitations – is shot with brutal realism, as Stone and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto offer both panoramic views of the conflict and bloody close-ups of the slaughter.

Although technically well done – and quite disturbing, when one realizes that much remains the same when it comes to human savagery – the battle sequence suffers from a crucial miscalculation.

Alexander the Great movie: Colin Farrell has his Lawrence of Arabia moment. And yet, Alexander feels like a mega-budget version of Dick Powell’s 1956 bomb The Conqueror, starring

Alexander the Great movie: Colin Farrell has his Lawrence of Arabia moment. And yet, Alexander feels like a mega-budget version of Dick Powell’s 1956 bomb The Conqueror, starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan and Susan Hayward as his Tartar love interest.

Central miscasting

That is the casting of Irish actor Colin Farrell, who lacks the necessary charisma to make one believe that all those men would follow him for thousands of miles to risk life and limb in a fight against a formidable enemy, King Darius III’s Achaemenid (Persian) Empire.

Farrell looks especially out of place when his Alexander the Great, wavy blond hairdo and all, is juxtaposed with the Darius of Israeli actor Raz Degan, a good example of a modern-day performer who truly looks the part of an ancient king. (For the record, this particular ancient ruler is supposed to have been quite a bit older than Degan at the time of the Gaugamela clash.)

Hollow victories

As Oliver Stone’s movie progresses, Alexander the Great continues to achieve victories (usually off-screen) until he is forced to stop after a disastrous battle in India. Alexander the Movie, however, achieves precious little after Gaugamela.

True, Babylon looks incredibly real, and the second and final on-screen battle (in India) offers some gruesomely realistic moments of elephant trunks being cut off, plus the usual impaled human and equine bodies.

Though hardly pleasant to watch, the Indian battle sequence retained this viewer’s attention, which is more than can be said of the inane arguments, soulful speeches, drunken whining, and longing looks found elsewhere in the film.

Alexander the Great gay, bisexual, or who cares?

The aforementioned longing looks are exchanged between Alexander the Great and his right-hand man, Hephaestion (played by Jared Leto, as Hephaistion) – considered by some historians to have been Alexander’s one true romantic love. (Others dispute the theory; there is no foolproof evidence either way.)

In those moments, Oliver Stone is wink-winking at us that those long-haired dudes actually do it when they’re not on camera. But if that is so, wouldn’t something a little more intimate than a chaste hug have been called for while the cameras were rolling?

Well, yes, except that Alexander is, allow me to remind you, a $150 million production, and Stone and his backers would rather not offend all those ticket buyers who also happen to be anti-gay bigots.

The problem with this reticence is that it comes across as wishy-washiness, which is hardly the type of filmmaking approach one would normally attribute to the guy who directed JFK and Natural Born Killers.

And really, would a kiss between Alexander and Hephaestion disgust bigoted audiences any more than those pathetic “how I love ya, baby” glances?

Alexander the Great: “Gay” or “bisexual” or…? As the Macedonian nobleman Hephaestion, Jared Leto looks as befuddled as the insipid title character.

Alexander the Great: “Gay” or “bisexual” or…? As the Macedonian nobleman Hephaestion, Jared Leto looks as befuddled as the insipid title character.

Jared Leto & Rosario Dawson wasted

Not helping matters is Stone and his fellow screenwriters’ failure to create flesh-and-blood characters out of Hephaestion and the Bactrian princess Roxane, Alexander the Great’s other big-screen love interest.

The former is less an individual than a hint to Alexander’s sexual orientation. As the fearless conqueror’s one-dimensional BFF, Jared Leto – lost in time and space, all mascara and no role – looks like a smoldering cross between a Malibu surfer and a Valley girl.

As Alexander’s potential heir-provider, Rosario Dawson cuts a striking figure whether clothed or naked; even so, it’s unclear why she, of all “Eastern” princesses, is chosen to be the Macedonian’s breeding partner. (And what on earth is a part-black actress doing in the role of a Central Asian woman?)

Despite her ludicrous accent – “Doo you luff heem?” an angry Roxane asks Alexander about you-know-who – Dawson plays the non-role with more gusto than it deserves. And needless to say, Oliver Stone has no problem whatsoever showing us Alexander and Roxane’s laughably kinky wedding night.

Having so much ground to cover, Stone, Christopher Kyle, and Laeta Kalogridis probably believed they should not spend too much time on those supporting characters. But by failing to turn Hephaestion and Roxane into real people, the filmmakers ended up diluting the psychological essence of their protagonist while robbing their Alexander the Great movie of some much needed emotional depth.

$150 million missed opportunity

With Alexander, Oliver Stone has missed a $150 million opportunity to create a sweeping psychological-historical epic that would resonate in the 21st century.

By remaining undecided on whether Alexander should be unabashed hagiography or demythologizing biopic, Stone will likely leave audiences as bewildered as his blond, bland protagonist – a shadowy nonentity who is neither superhero nor human.

Oddly, several Greek attorneys have threatened to sue the filmmakers and distributor Warner Bros. for the movie’s veiled portrayal of Alexander the Great as a gay (or bisexual) ruler. If this story is true, those lawyers might want to spend their time doing something more productive than going after a bloated B movie that doesn’t know where it stands or what it stands for.

Alexander (2004)

Director.: Oliver Stone.

Screenplay: Oliver Stone, Christopher Kyle, and Laeta Kalogridis.

Cast: Colin Farrell. Angelina Jolie. Val Kilmer. Jared Leto. Anthony Hopkins. Rosario Dawson. Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Christopher Plummer. Raz Degan. Gary Stretch. Neil Jackson. Connor Paolo. Jessie Kamm. Toby Kebbell. Brian Blessed. Tim Pigott-Smith.

“Alexander the Great Movie: ‘Gay Hero’” endnotes

Val Kilmer, Angelina Jolie, Jared Leto, and Colin Farrell Alexander movie images: Warner Bros.

“Alexander the Great Movie: ‘Gay Hero’ in Stone’s Fetishistic Dud” last updated in September 2021.