Not obsessed with AtG (not like a certain other "Great"), but interested enough that I rented this when it first became available for renting. I stopped watching partway through (you know my difficulties with watching things), and the only thing I really remember is "This guy is not charismatic enough to lead that army to those places for that long."

It made me reflect on various things I'd watched and conclude that it's really hard for an actor to sell me on a larger-than-life historical character. And that for all his flaws as a human being that I later found out about, I give Mel Gibson credit for selling me on the belief that his William Wallace could inspire and lead a rebellion.

One of the things I had osmosed about the movie was that Stone...was chickening out of showing Alexander as actually in a same sex relationship with Hephaistion. This, it turned out, wasn't true.

Funny that that's what you got from the reviews. I encountered some reviews during my reprisal of 4th century BCE history two years ago (immediately before switching to the more interesting "Great"), and the complaints I saw were that Alexander's lover is *all* Hephaistion gets to be in this film. No competent logistician, no second-in-command, nothing else. He's there for backrubs and a sympathetic ear.

He's supposed to be Fredersdorf! :P