Alexander/Hephaistion OTP!
Nov. 26th, 2004 06:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sadlikeknivesThe movie could have been better. But it is what it is, and I love it anyway. Those of you who were wondering, yes, a large chunk of my insanity is displaced hockeylove. But I still love Alexander.
Colin Farrell does better than a lot of people have given him credit for. He's not the greatest Alexander, but then, there's only one of those and he's been dead for two thousand years. Jared Leto is perfect as Hephaistion (OMG the eyes). I like that he never talks in the council scenes. It's like...his stance is obvious. His stance is whatever Alexander's stance is. If he has a problem, they'll talk it out in private, but in public he presents a unified front with Alexander. When Philip dies, it's Hephaistion who takes the initiative, grabs Alexander, and yells, "The king lives!" Smart boy. Consolidate power now, worry about everything else later. I approve.
Angelina Jolie's accent isn't really as noticeable as it seems in the trailer. And you get reminded a few times she's not from Macedonia, so, there you go. Rosario Dawson...jiggly! Vast tracts of jiggly land, as someone else said.
Heh. Roxane. You're never gonna get him, hon, he's practically married to Hephaistion. Roxane's accused of having Hephaistion killed, but that's psycho!grieving!Alexander talking, and I think it's pretty clear that it's the insanity talking, not any actual belief she had anything to do with it. This move is conspiracy-theory free, to my mind, except for the pre-existing conspiracy theories (most of which were thought up by dear crazy Olympias).
It should be clear to the average cabbage that Hephaistion and Alexander are lovers. One of my favorite bits of the movie is the wedding night, pre-jiggly, when Hephaistion's just left and Roxane asks Alexander if he loves him. He says simply, "He is Hephaistion," like that's all that needs to be said.
Hephaistion's death had me crying and saying, "He's already dead; he's already dead," into my hands. They changed it--Alexander's actually there for the death, which did bother me a little. Though he's looking out the fucking window, which kind of helps. He's not there for Hephaistion when he dies, not really. Still, he's physically present, which was a bit of a strange choice.
The battle scene in India had me crying, too. The red filter I've heard complained about so much worked better than I expected, except for the horrible technicolor magenta of the foliage. That was...bad. But Bucephalas was beautiful and magnificent in his final battle, and I've been in love with that horse since I was seven years old and saw The Black Stallion for the first time. I don't care if it wasn't historically accurate, it was lovely.
I've heard some people muttering vaguely darkly about Bagoas' lack of a speaking part. Well, of course he doesn't talk. He's being played by Francisco Bosch who, while lovely, is modern and male, and not about to chop his balls off for the sake of a film. The moment he opened his pretty, pretty mouth, the jig would have been up.
I burst out laughing at one point. No one else in the theater found it funny, but when Alexander's going on about how they'll equal the glory of Achilles and Patroclus, and Hephaistion broke in with, "Yes, but Patroclus died first." I know it wasn't meant to be funny, and right after Alexander vows to follow Hephaistion down to Hades and it's all very romantic, but the way he has to jerk him back to reality...well. It amused me.
Hephaistion's ring! *wibble* (Go see the movie and you'll understand.)
I have some things to say about the young Alexander scenes, but for now I'll just shut up. Does anybody have any questions?
Colin Farrell does better than a lot of people have given him credit for. He's not the greatest Alexander, but then, there's only one of those and he's been dead for two thousand years. Jared Leto is perfect as Hephaistion (OMG the eyes). I like that he never talks in the council scenes. It's like...his stance is obvious. His stance is whatever Alexander's stance is. If he has a problem, they'll talk it out in private, but in public he presents a unified front with Alexander. When Philip dies, it's Hephaistion who takes the initiative, grabs Alexander, and yells, "The king lives!" Smart boy. Consolidate power now, worry about everything else later. I approve.
Angelina Jolie's accent isn't really as noticeable as it seems in the trailer. And you get reminded a few times she's not from Macedonia, so, there you go. Rosario Dawson...jiggly! Vast tracts of jiggly land, as someone else said.
Heh. Roxane. You're never gonna get him, hon, he's practically married to Hephaistion. Roxane's accused of having Hephaistion killed, but that's psycho!grieving!Alexander talking, and I think it's pretty clear that it's the insanity talking, not any actual belief she had anything to do with it. This move is conspiracy-theory free, to my mind, except for the pre-existing conspiracy theories (most of which were thought up by dear crazy Olympias).
It should be clear to the average cabbage that Hephaistion and Alexander are lovers. One of my favorite bits of the movie is the wedding night, pre-jiggly, when Hephaistion's just left and Roxane asks Alexander if he loves him. He says simply, "He is Hephaistion," like that's all that needs to be said.
Hephaistion's death had me crying and saying, "He's already dead; he's already dead," into my hands. They changed it--Alexander's actually there for the death, which did bother me a little. Though he's looking out the fucking window, which kind of helps. He's not there for Hephaistion when he dies, not really. Still, he's physically present, which was a bit of a strange choice.
The battle scene in India had me crying, too. The red filter I've heard complained about so much worked better than I expected, except for the horrible technicolor magenta of the foliage. That was...bad. But Bucephalas was beautiful and magnificent in his final battle, and I've been in love with that horse since I was seven years old and saw The Black Stallion for the first time. I don't care if it wasn't historically accurate, it was lovely.
I've heard some people muttering vaguely darkly about Bagoas' lack of a speaking part. Well, of course he doesn't talk. He's being played by Francisco Bosch who, while lovely, is modern and male, and not about to chop his balls off for the sake of a film. The moment he opened his pretty, pretty mouth, the jig would have been up.
I burst out laughing at one point. No one else in the theater found it funny, but when Alexander's going on about how they'll equal the glory of Achilles and Patroclus, and Hephaistion broke in with, "Yes, but Patroclus died first." I know it wasn't meant to be funny, and right after Alexander vows to follow Hephaistion down to Hades and it's all very romantic, but the way he has to jerk him back to reality...well. It amused me.
Hephaistion's ring! *wibble* (Go see the movie and you'll understand.)
I have some things to say about the young Alexander scenes, but for now I'll just shut up. Does anybody have any questions?
AlexanderxHephaistion wuv wuv!!!
Date: 2004-12-19 03:50 am (UTC)I also laughed when Hephaistion said "Yes, but Patroculus died first." My mom looked at me wierdly XD;; moo, at least she let me watch the movie <3 (i'm underage ^^; )
I don't hate anybody, but Roxane was SUCH an ANNOYANCE! Ugh >_< *stabs her* I guess I just dislike her...a LOT.
Hephaistion's ring was sooo sweet! it was practically BEGGING to say 'Marry me!' >3 *fangirl squeal* Too bad the old man narrating the story got to keep it >>;; poor Hephy (official pet name yo! ^_~) ;_; sometimes I felt Alex was too mean to him, but that's how history goes. I loved the way that Hephy was always by Alex's side, no matter what. It was sad that he died ;_; *hugs Hephaistion plushy (err...i wish XD)*
The child Alexander (the first you see of Alexander) was pretty cute! I would've liked him as a brother ^^ when he was a teen he looked not-so-good, but still okay. When he was older, he was HAWT! <3 Hephy, of course, always looked hawt X3 *glomps Hephaistion*
Re: AlexanderxHephaistion wuv wuv!!!
Date: 2004-12-19 05:45 am (UTC)Alexander and Hephaistion were practically married, by historical standards--there was this whole ceremony at Achilles and Patroclus' tomb at Troy, where they ran around it buck-naked (SO sad that didn't make the movie).
The kid Alexander was okay, but I can't stop seeing him as the kid he played on an episode of Law & Order: SVU. He was a pre-teen who broke into a woman's apartment to rob her and wound up raping and killing her. Creepy stuff.