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Alexander Review

Release Date: Nov 24, 2004
Rated: violence and some sexuality/nudity
Runtime: 2 hr. 56 min.
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama
Director:Oliver Stone
Cast:Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Jared Leto, Anthony Hopkins. Full cast + crew

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

2.0

39

out of 100

Metascore^®
Generally unfavorable reviews
based on a weighted average of all
critic review scores.
30

out of 100

The New York Times Manohla Dargis
This is the costliest, most logistically complex feature of the filmmaker's career, and it appears that the effort to wrangle so many beasts, from elephants to movie stars and money men, along with the headaches that come with sweeping period films, got the better of him.

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30

out of 100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
There's no zest to the general depravity, no coherence to the script or the spectacle -- clarity is missing in some of the camera work -- and, most important, no character to give a Greek fig about.

38

out of 100

USA Today Mike Clark
A movie that has neither dramatic focus nor a single memorable performance, aside from one or two that are memorable for the wrong reasons?

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42

out of 100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
An exhausted epic, one that Stone has directed with an almost startling lack of personality or vision.

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50

out of 100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
[Stone] gives us provocative notes and sketches but not a final draft. The film doesn't feel at ease with itself. It says too much, and yet leaves too much unsaid.

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50

out of 100

Variety Todd McCarthy
At best an honorable failure, an intelligent and ambitious picture that crucially lacks dramatic flair and emotional involvement.

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60

out of 100

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Since the movie lacks a vision of what Alexander was really about as a man and a figure in history, it falls back all too frequently on movie spectacle.

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70

out of 100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
If, as the Virgil quote that starts the film claims, fortune favors the bold, Alexander has not been nearly bold enough.

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88

out of 100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Vast, riveting, madly audacious movie biography.

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See all Alexander reviews at Metacritic.com

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For Families provided by Common Sense Media

OK for kids 16+

Alexander the person was great. This movie isn't.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this movie has extreme and explicit battle violence with many impalings and other graphic injuries. Alexander is portrayed as bi-sexual. There are very explicit heterosexual sexual situations and references and male and female nudity, plus references and implications of gay sex and some same-sex kissing and a mother-son kiss on the mouth and an attempted rape. Some exotic dancers perform in skimpy attire. Characters drink, sometimes to excess.

Families can talk about Alexander's influences. What did he learn from his father and what did he learn from his mother? Why did he marry Roxane? What was most important to him? What is best remembered about him? Why?

The good stuff

Messages: Not an issue

What to watch for

Violence: Intense and graphic battle violence, many deaths, lots of blood.
Sex: Nudity, explicit sexual gay and heterosexual references and situations.
Language: Not an issue
Consumerism: Not an issue
Drinking, drugs and smoking: A lot of drinking, characters get drunk.

Common Sense Media

An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology.

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Alexander Review

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

For Families provided by Common Sense Media

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