Profile: Oliver Stone

Phelim O'Neill makes the mistake of getting excited about a new Oliver Stone movie - and regrets it, again
Colin Farrell as Alexander Public domain

Oliver Stone is a major tease. The run-up to his movies is easily the most enjoyable thing about them. You enter the cinema expecting to gain new truths, to see someone to stick it to "The Man", to have a grown-up movie experience. You emerge, up to three hours later, after his bloated, adolescent hectoring has beaten you down and stolen your time and money. You promise yourself: "Never again!" Until, of course, the next time...

Stone's is a classic case of believing your own hype. But, in his defence, he's been subject to a lot of hype. Some of it was bound to stick. When his film-school peers were making dismal protest films about the Vietnam war, the fairly well-heeled Stone was "in the shit". No draft dodging or moving to Canada; he actually enlisted and saw action.

Upon his return, he made a great impression as a screenwriter, his masterful Midnight Express snagging him the first of three Oscars. He then wrote two of the most testosterone-riddled scripts ever produced (Scarface and Conan The Barbarian) and directed two very trashy horror flicks (Seizure, The Hand) before he had his first solo hit with Salvador. In a 1986 Hollywood committed to truanting schoolkids and time-travelling DeLoreans, Salvador was a hurricane of fresh air; a film that was about something. Platoon and Wall Street followed, addressing war and greed in ways never before seen. But with this run of success a change occurred: he turned from an important director to a self-important one.

The Doors was bloated and obnoxious, JFK demonstrated his knack for taking a complicated issue and clouding it even further, and Any Given Sunday confirmed that good movies and sports movies are two different things. Alexander sees his most perverse transformation yet: into a dull film-maker. Beneath all the bad hairstyles and terrible accents, it's a very average film. It's as good as Troy, but Troy was dreadful.

So, what will he do next, providing he's allowed anywhere near a movie camera again? Top runner at the moment is a biopic of Maggie Thatcher, possibly with Meryl Streep. If you're enjoying the thought of that then savour the feeling: the anticipation is still the most enjoyable part of his movies.

Career high: Salvador. Well acted, purposeful, thought-provoking and lid-lifting.

Career low: Alexander is a strong contender. Did he direct this just to make The Doors, his previous worst, look good by comparison?

Need to know: Recently met with the Turkish minister for culture to make amends for the exaggerated brutality of Midnight Express, some 26 years after the fact.

The last word: "The Indians once told me that stones are the most revered and ancient of recording devices. And that perhaps I am here on this Earth to write of these mute histories - just another stone, an 'Oliver' stone."