rymenhild: Manuscript page from British Library MS Harley 913 (Default)
rymenhild ([personal profile] rymenhild) wrote2004-11-24 12:19 am
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I attended a free preview showing of Alexander tonight.

Thoughts of the not-particularly spoilery variety:

1. I could stare at the sets and costumes forever. (This does not mean that there was anything wrong with the occasional absence of costume.)
2. Angelina Jolie is actually good at playing a beautiful mad fifty-year-old woman.
3. There is no nonsense about Achilles and Patroclus being cousins in this film. Alexander's love for Hephaistion is completely surtextual, as is his lust for Bagoas.
4. The filmmakers should have trimmed about an hour from the final cut, mostly in the flash-forward scenes narrated by the future emperor of Egypt. The film as stands is an interminable 173 minutes.

[identity profile] emidala.livejournal.com 2004-11-24 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
#1. ♥ your icon.

#2. so no spoilers set aside, should I see it? it won't make me start killing people?

ext_27060: Sumer is icomen in; llude sing cucu! (Default)

[identity profile] rymenhild.livejournal.com 2004-11-24 06:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Caveat: I am not an expert on Alexander, nor on Hellenistic history.

That being said, I didn't cringe once at a historical detail. They may possibly be there to cringe at, but none were obvious enough for me to notice.
ext_27060: Sumer is icomen in; llude sing cucu! (Macedonian Party)

[identity profile] rymenhild.livejournal.com 2004-11-24 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Also, the icon is from the Macedonian Party website.

[identity profile] prosewitch.livejournal.com 2004-11-24 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
The real question is... was it worse than King Arthur? Should I drag a fellow intellectual friend so we can mercilessly mock it when we're not drooling over the eyecandy? Should I even bother going back and rereading some of the historical sources on Alexander that I recall liking, or will the movie just make me regret it?
ext_27060: Sumer is icomen in; llude sing cucu! (Default)

[identity profile] rymenhild.livejournal.com 2004-11-24 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
It was not nearly as bad as King Arthur. It wasn't necessarily a good movie, but it didn't have the same mindboggling ghastliness. As far as reading historical sources -- you might then have a better sense than I about what might be wrong with the film, but I get the feeling the filmmakers really did their research well this time.

[identity profile] fleurdelis28.livejournal.com 2004-11-24 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I love the bit about hundreds of soliders on loan from the Moroccan government. It's the history-as-farce version of all those European wars fought largely with mercenaries.

[identity profile] emidala.livejournal.com 2004-11-24 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I wonder if anything in this world is as bad as king arthur. :)
ext_27060: Sumer is icomen in; llude sing cucu! (Default)

[identity profile] rymenhild.livejournal.com 2004-11-25 09:40 am (UTC)(link)
I hope not.

That being said, the more I think about Alexander, the worse it seems. It doesn't really hold up to lengthy thought processes.

[identity profile] prosewitch.livejournal.com 2004-11-25 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, that's mostly what I wanted to know. I'll see who I can drag with me to see it when I've got time... ;)
ext_27060: Sumer is icomen in; llude sing cucu! (Default)

[identity profile] rymenhild.livejournal.com 2004-11-25 09:41 am (UTC)(link)
Don't hurry. As I just told [livejournal.com profile] emidala, the movie...shrinks on me. (Is that the opposite of "grows on me"?)