Personally, I loved this movie... Although it was very long, I thought it represented Alexander the Great and his time as King perfectly... I loved Alexander before watching this movie and knew a majority of history regarding his time which could possibly be the reasoning for my liking of the film. I do truly believe that in order to thoroughly enjoy and experience the movie in its fullest glory, you have to have a large amount of background information about Alexander the Great ( which is not really practical if your a 25 year old, fresh out of collage just going to the movies with your friends to see a new movie starring Colin Farrell)... About Colin Farrell... I might be bias because I absolutely love Colin, but I do think he represents Alexander well... As most people have said, I do wish Alexanders love for Hephaestion was more in-depthly shown (Because again, most people aren't aware of Alexander's Bisexual tendencies and love for his best friend/General with out doing research before hand)... All and All, I think this is a great historical movie and do recommend it to fans of Alexander the Great (or of course fans of Colin Farrell because he has a humongous role in this film ((obviously)) )