Director Oliver Stone spent 15 years trying to bring this story of military genius Alexander the Great to the big screen. How sad, then, that an obvious labour of love should end up such a pompous and flaccid affair. An epic only in its running time, the film presents key events in the life of the golden-haired Macedonian conqueror (played by Colin Farrell), each lazily linked by the reminiscences of his ageing general, Ptolemy (Anthony Hopkins). As Alexander's obsessive empire building progresses, the visual detail is, the film meticulous, crowned by two remarkable battle sequences. However, this sterling work is undone by preposterous dialogue and some leaden performances. Stone tries hard to inject passion and high drama, adding a Freudian backstory with mother Olympias (Angelina Jolie) and bravely embracing Alexander's assumed bisexuality. Yet, like his subject, the director is overly ambitious, constipating his feature with too much material and never really doing justice to any of it.

Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.