Alexander (15, 175 mins) Stars: Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Val Kilmer, Jared Leto, Rosario Dawson, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers Directed by Oliver Stone
DIRECTOR Oliver Stone has bitten off more than he can chew with this epic on Alexander the Great.
The story is a massive one - even though he died aged 32 - and Stone just can't squeeze it all into one film.
So we get Alexander as the young man with a drunken dad (Val Kilmer) and a nutty mum (Angelina Jolie) who strokes snakes. Then we move into the era where Alexander decides to conquer the Persians and then the world.
Cue lots of battle scenes in which heads are lopped off, eyes pop out and there is gore everywhere.
Meanwhile, Alexander is having his own emotional crises; a bisexual, he marries Roxane (Rosario Dawson) but is fixated with his best friend Hephaistion (Jared Leto).
Casting bad boy Colin Farrell, right, as Alexander seemed inspired but the actuality of Farrell with blond locks spouting his lines in a strong Irish accent is most off-putting.
Sir Anthony Hopkins brings some dignity to the proceedings as Ptolemy, the chap who narrates the story. But it's about the only dignified thing about this Hollywood version of ancient history.
