By refusing to toe the Hollywood line, Stone crafted some of the finest movies of the 80s and early 90s, including Wall Street, Platoon and JFK.

Generally, his films were never less than controversial and, more often than not, they would border on incendiary. He built himself a fearsome reputation as a filmmaker who could walk the walk and talk the talk.

Unfortunately, for every Salvador, there has been a Nixon, overblown, ponderous and self-indulgent and Alexander (15, seen at Odeon), falls into this category.

Alexander is a three-hour film about a man who conquered half the known world, but it only contains two major battle scenes. The majority of the film deals with Alexander’s psyche, mainly his inner struggle with his sexuality embodied by his love for his best friend Hephaistion (Jared Leto) and his relentless desire to conquer new lands.

Narrated by an elderly Ptolemy (Anthony Hopkins), an adviser to Alexander, the early scenes concentrate on the future monarch’s relationship with his warring parents, one-eyed King Philip (Val Kilmer) and a spectacularly vampish Angelina Jolie as his snake-loving mother Olympias, whose relationship with her son borders on the sinister.

Used as a tool for leverage by his parents, the young Alexander dreams of becoming a great warrior and as he approaches 20, the King is assassinated, propelling him to the throne. Immediately he sets out to fulfil his dreams by striking east into Persia.

The cavalry charge at Guagamela is the first major set-piece, the battle is a visceral experience, with no shortage of blood and body parts flying in all directions.

After the victory and Alexander’s ascension to the throne of Persia, things lull somewhat as the increasingly driven King attempts to plunder new lands and bring more people into his growing empire, covering 10,000 miles of every possible climate from snowy mountains to the lush forests of India.

As the miles pass, the army’s elation at their victories fade and soon restless murmurings lead to mutinies and betrayals, as Alexander finds himself increasingly isolated, culminating in a final brutal battle in India and a spectacular slow-motion shot of Alexander on horse back, rearing up to fight an Indian warrior on an elephant.

While the battles scenes are an epic triumph and the eastern lands beautifully rendered, the rest of the narrative is weighed down in clumsy dialogue, with Farrell struggling to convey the authority and charisma of a King who was, for a while at least, loved by his people.

For a film that aims to explore what made the man tick, Alexander leaves the viewer with more questions than answers. Stone admirably portrays the suffering of the journey and allows his Alexander to make several rousing speeches about following in the footsteps of their ancestors, but he never truly gives an insight into why he did what he did.

The only thing that becomes clear is that Alexander is a mass of contradictions, sometimes brilliant but also inconsistent: a bit like Oliver Stone himself.

VERDICT: Alexander the not so Great.

PP