Blood and Glory
Genre: Action/Historical/War
Director: Tarsem Singh
Writer: Jack Brown
Cast: Dave Bautista, Cosmo Jarvis, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sam Spruell, Said Taghmaoui, Paz Vega, Aiysha Hart, Milo Gibson, Laurie Davidson, Anok Yai, Fares Fares, Richard Coyle, Alexander Siddig
Plot:
334 BCE.
The Persian Empire spans from the Nile to the Indus.
Alexander of Macedonia rises in the West, while Darius - King of Kings, rules Persia.
Two kings. One world. Only one will rule.
Atop a massive ziggurat in Persepolis, Darius (Dave Bautista) slits the throat of a bull before an assembly of generals and nobles. Blood pours into a stone basin. He stands silent as flames rise behind him. Bessus (Saïd Taghmaoui) and Mazaeus (Fares Fares) - his generals - flank him. Across the sea of bowed heads, Darius' beloved wife and queen Stateira (Paz Vega) watches behind a curtain of incense smoke. Inside the throne room, Darius listens to reports. Mazaeus urges preemptive strikes against the approaching Macedonians. Bessus proposes letting them come further inland, where they can be swallowed whole. Darius raises a hand. No more. They wait. He turns to his daughter Barsine (Aiysha Hart), dismissing her from the room. Her eyes linger on her father before she exits into the colonnade.
Atop a massive ziggurat in Persepolis, Darius (Dave Bautista), muscled and marked with sacred scars, drives a blade across a bull’s throat before a crowd of nobles and priests. Blood spills fast into a stone basin. Flames roar behind him. His generals - Bessus (Saïd Taghmaoui), lean and conniving, and Mazaeus (Fares Fares), intensely quiet - watch from behind the altar. Stateira (Paz Vega), his veiled queen, sits above. Inside the palace, incense snakes through the throne room. Nobles shout over one another. Mazaeus urges a swift strike against the Macedonians. Bessus suggests drawing them inland and burying them in the desert. Darius says nothing. Then he lifts a hand to excuse his daughter, Barsine (Aiysha Hart) from the room. She bows slightly and exits. Outside, Barsine passes guards training with spears. She pauses, watching. A Persian soldier slams his opponent to the dirt, then grins up at her. She turns without a word.
Torrential rain. A funeral pyre burns as King Philip II lies dead - an arrow jammed through his eye. Macedonian generals whisper among themselves. Ptolemy (Laurie Davidson) watches as Philip's son (Cosmo Jarvis) kneels beside the body, soaked to the bone. Philip's most trusted general, Parmenion (Sam Spruell) urges swift vengeance - name the traitor, spill blood. Cleitus (Milo Gibson) throws a severed head to the cobbles. Hephaestion (Jamie Campbell Bower), pale and composed, stands near Alexander, always near. Alexander says little. Just watches the fire. Later, in the darkened palace, Alexander drinks with Hephaestion. They sit close. Too close for brothers-in-arms. Hephaestion places a hand on his shoulder. Alexander leans into him—but pulls away when footsteps echo outside. Parmenion enters, laying out maps of the Persian frontier. Antigonus (Richard Coyle) follows. They speak of swift retaliation. Alexander stands and declares they will march southeast. No delay.
In a temple in an oasis of the Siwa desert, Alexander kneels before the Oracle of Amun (Anok Yai) - a striking figure with ink-black skin and long limbs painted gold. She touches Alexander's forehead and offers him a black draught. He drinks. Visions seize him - blood, a snake, a burning eagle, a thunderclap. Alexander gasps awake. The Oracle's priests lift Alexander back to his feet. The Oracle whispers: “You are the son of Zeus.”
At the Persian court, Darius presides over a war council. Mazaeus reports Alexander’s advance. Bessus calls him a boy with a dead father’s sword. The council grows loud until Darius slams a mace into the table. Barsine enters and addresses him publicly, warning against underestimating the Macedonians. The generals scoff. Darius listens. She bows and leaves. That night, Barsine lies nude in a stone bath, steam rising. A noblewoman enters, half-drunk, joining her. They speak softly. Their legs touch beneath the water. Fingers trace skin. Barsine pulls the woman closer.
On the Aegean, the sea thrashes as hundreds of Macedonian warships surge forward. Horses scream below deck. Alexander stands at the prow, cape whipping. Behind him, Hephaestion watches. Parmenion barks orders to the soldiers. As they land, horses crash into the shallows. Soldiers wade ashore, spears raised. Alexander orders the ships burned - they will not return. Cleitus laughs and jams his spear into the sand. Fire spreads across the hulls.
In Susa, Darius hosts a pre-war feast. Fat lambs roast on iron spits. Slaves pour wine and strip meat from the bone. Bessus mutters about Greek arrogance. Mazaeus advises caution. Barsine enters in white silk, all eyes turning. She lifts her cup, toasts her father, then cuts into him with veiled words about the price of pride. Darius listens without reply. Stateira eyes her coldly. When the feast ends, Darius walks alone into the palace gardens. There, he finds Artabazus (Alexander Siddig). They speak briefly. Artabazus warns that Alexander may not be the directionless boy they expected, but rather a power-hungry king - truly King Philip's blood.
At the Granicus River, the Persian cavalry waits across a violent current. They beat drums. Alexander, gleaming in bronze, steps forward. Parmenion warns him to hold back. Alexander doesn’t flinch. With a shouted command, he charges into the river, spear raised. Arrows fall like black rain. Water explodes. Horses crash into each other. Macedonians roar and follow. Cleitus tears through a line of archers, dragging one man under the water with a scream. The water turns red. Alexander takes a blade to the face but fights on, blind with blood. He emerges on the opposite shore, roaring as the Persians break.
In Persepolis, Darius hears of the loss. He crushes a goblet in his hand, blood mingling with the wine. He shouts for silence. Bessus urges retreat. Darius draws a dagger and drives it into the map. That night, under the temple flame, Darius dons war armor. Stateira watches him nervously.
As dawn rises over Gaugamela, Persian troops stretch to the horizon. They ride chariots spiked with blades, their faces masked in iron. Darius, clad in black-scaled armor, rides the lines in silence. Bessus and Mazaeus trail him.
In the Macedonian tent, Alexander stands before his generals. Maps litter the table. Ptolemy traces Darius’ likely movements. Parmenion recommends a flanking maneuver. Alexander nods as though he is listening to Parmenion, then orders a direct charge - the exact opposite of his general's recommendation. Hephaestion approaches Alexander in private. He tells him there are other paths to power than a bloody battlefield. Alexander brushes his hand against Hephaestion's chest before turning away. As night falls in the Macedonian camp, drums pound, soldiers drink and sharpen blades. Cleitus drinks deep and dares three men to fight him barehanded. He beats two bloody before the third pins him. He laughs, spitting teeth. In his tent, Alexander strips off armor. Hephaestion enters. They undress each other in silence. Their bodies collide, nude.
At sunrise, Darius raises a blade skyward to signal his army. Battle explodes. Macedonian phalanxes crash into Persian cavalry. Arrows darken the sky. Chariots scythe through infantry, cleaving legs and heads. Parmenion’s line falters, then rallies. Alexander rides hard at the center. Blood arcs in sprays as he splits horsemen down the spine. Darius charges from the opposite flank. Their eyes lock. Darius cuts a swath through Macedonian footmen, crushing skulls with his war hammer.
In the Persian camp, Barsine watches the carnage from a distance. Stateira kneels in prayer. Barsine sneaks away on foot, into the haze of the battlefield’s edge.
Back in the chaos, Cleitus saves Alexander from a charging chariot, dragging him free by the cloak. Alexander thanks him with a grunt and dives back into the fray. He impales a Persian archer, pulling the man’s bow through his throat. Hephaestion is wounded by a cut across his shoulder while fighting beside Ptolemy, who buries an axe into a Persian captain’s face. The Persians begin to break. Darius watches his men scatter. He slams his war hammer into the ground in fury, then retreats in silence, blood streaming from a wound in his side. Barsine emerges from behind shattered wagons. She watches Alexander in the smoke.
Later, in the Persian camp, Darius lashes out in fury. Bessus urges regrouping at Ecbatana. Mazaeus suggests entrenching in Babylon. Darius punches a pillar, shattering the stone. Stateira bandages his wound.
Meanwhile, in the Macedonian tent, Alexander washes blood from his arms. He looks exhausted, not victorious. He watches Hephaestion sleep. Cleitus enters, drunk and laughing. He mocks the Oracle’s prophecy. Alexander lashes out - grabs him by the throat for a moment, then lets go.
In the royal palace of Ecbatana, Darius sits silent. Bessus tries to argue that they must take control of the remaining forces and retreat east. Mazaeus warns that the men no longer trust Darius’ vision after their earlier defeat. Stateira steps forward to tell Darius he must crush Alexander with whatever strength he has left - or hand the empire to another man. Darius sighs, then declares that he will face Alexander himself.
Back in the Macedonian camp, Alexander walks through the tents alone. He finds Barsine waiting. She stands outside the supply pavilion. He asks who she is. She doesn't answer, instead stepping forward for a rough, sudden kiss. She bites his lip. Inside the tent, they tear into one another passionately. At dawn, Barsine puts back on her clothes and slips away. Alexander watches her disappear into the mist.
On the outskirts of Ecbatana, Darius inspects the terrain, trying to anticipate the path Alexander's forces will take.
Alexander's forces approach the edge of Ecbatana. Skulls mark the paths. Persian soldiers hang from trees - executed by their own for retreating. Alexander orders the men to halt. He wants Darius alive. They continue to advance through a canyon. Arrows tear through the ranks in an ambush. Soldiers die screaming, impaled to horses. Bessus leads the attack. Alexander survives, but barely. Cleitus rips a dagger from his own thigh and plunges it into a Persian rider’s throat. Hephaestion hurls a spear into another’s chest. Alexander cuts down three attackers. After the battle, Parmenion confronts Alexander. He demands they regroup. Alexander refuses. They argue. Parmenion accuses him of madness. Alexander nearly strikes him - Hephaestion pulls him back. Parmenion rides off.
In the Persian war tent, Bessus argues with Darius, calling him weak and suggests Darius should take his own life before the Macedonians do. Darius holds his tongue and calmly pours himself some wine. After Bessus leaves, Darius looks out and sees a lion pacing the distance before disappearing into the hills.
Persian banners ripple in the breeze at dawn over Ecbatana. Alexander’s army advances through scorched fields—formation tight, shields bloodied from the canyon ambush. Smoke trails rise behind them. Ptolemy narrates: “A god does not knock. He breaks the door.” Inside the city, Darius prepares for war. He dons a scaled bronze cuirass. Stateira helps tighten the straps. Darius tells Stateira and Barsine that if he falls in battle, make sure people remember him as more than a man.
Alexander’s army surrounds the walls. Siege towers roll forward, spears poking from slits. Ballistas fire. Persian archers ignite tar and launch volleys. Flames streak the sky. A tower collapses, killing dozens. A Macedonian soldier burns alive, screaming until he drops from the parapet. Alexander leads the charge himself. He scales the walls under a hail of arrows, plunging his sword into a Persian spearman’s throat. Blood sprays the stone. Behind him, Cleitus covers the flanks - smashing heads with a mace, screaming curses. Hephaestion follows, slitting throats and slipping through gaps. Inside the city, Darius stands at the palace gate. Antigonus breaks through the western gate. Darius confronts him alone, driving a spear through Antigonus' belly. Antigonus gasps, blood pouring from his mouth. Darius finishes him with a brutal stomp to the head, crushing his skull to pulp.
The two armies clash at the heart of Ecbatana. In narrow alleys, men choke each other in puddles of blood. Swords snap. Shields splinter. One Persian rider is pulled from his horse and torn apart by Alexander’s infantry, limbs breaking like sticks.
In the temple square, Alexander and Darius finally meet, drawing their swords. Their duel is savage. Alexander hacks downward—Darius blocks and counters, driving a knee into his gut. Alexander spins, cuts Darius’ thigh. Darius slams his gauntlet into Alexander’s face. They bleed and fight like gods. Alexander knocks Darius’s sword away. Darius lunges barehanded. Alexander drives his blade through his heart. Darius gasps. Blood fills his throat. He grabs Alexander’s arm, gripping it, not as an enemy, but as an equal. Then he collapses.
Around them, the Macedonians have overrun the city. Bessus is gone. Mazaeus captured. Later, Alexander walks alone through the ruins. He finds Barsine among the ashes. Her hands are tied by a soldier. Alexander orders them cut. Barsine doesn’t thank him, instead asking what he will do to her after he killed her father. He says he intends to marry her.
Buzzards pick at the corpses on Gaugamela's battlefield. Soldiers drag Darius’s body onto a burning pyre as Alexander has insisted on a funeral for the Persian king. Alexander orders his men to give Darius the same honor they recently gave his own father - to be burned like a warrior king. Bessus is brought in chains. Alexander nods to Cleitus, who then slams an axe into Bessus's face, splitting it in half. Blood and brain matter spray the dirt. The soldiers cheer, but Hephaestion and Ptolemy do not. Barsine stands before her father's pyre. Alexander joins her, taking her hand to lead her to his tent. That night, they have sex - fast and bitter. She lets him finish, then turns away.
In the middle of the night, Alexander finds Hephaestion reading a scroll by firelight. Alexander sits beside him, kissing him briefly.
Meanwhile, Cleitus and Parmenion drink heavily near the campfires. They brag of victories, mock Persian customs, laugh. Antigonus is dead, but they drink in his name.
In Babylon, Macedonian banners wave in the wind. Alexander rides into the city with Barsine beside him. The Persian people kneel. Macedonians cheer. But within the cheering crowd, assassins lie in wait. A dagger is thrown - Cleitus blocks it with his arm and the attacker is slain by Hephaestion. Alexander doesn't flinch during the ordeal. He tells the crowd that if they wish him dead, they will need to try much harder than that.
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