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Alexander: Revisited - The Final Cut [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)


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Not As Bad As I Thought It Would Be!!!
Review date: 2008-07-04 Rating: 6 out of 10

Three-and-a-half stars, actually.

The story of Alexander is so broad in scope it would be impossible to do it justice, but Oliver Stone has made a bold attempt at it. Some scenes work quite well. An example is the Battle of Gaugamela, with which Stone begins the epic (conflating it with the battle of Granicus in which Cleitus actually saved Alexander's life). Although I am not usually an enthusiast of battle scenes in glorious technicolor, I found Stone's depiction of Alexander's third major battle with Darius III quite thrilling. I was very interested in seeing the sarissas--the Macedonian long (and heavy) pikes--in action. I also appreciated Stone's labeling of the left, right, and center wings in an attempt to clarify Alexander's strategy of attacking the enemy at its strongest point rather than its weakest.

I found the Battle of the Hydaspes River with Porus less convincing. For one thing, Stone placed the mutiny at the Hypahsis before the battle with Porus and not after (In addition to facing monsoons, rotting clothes, fungus, disease, and poisonous snakes, the army had to face King Porus and his elephants--the last straw on what by that time was a 17,000 mile march that made the troops demand that Alexander turn back). For another, the actual account of the Macedonian army on one side of the Hydaspes River (the Jhelum) and the Indian army on the other side paralleling and trying to psych each other out is so much more exciting. Although the rearing and roaring of the elephants (and the resulting bloody mess) was effective, the armies did not fight in the middle of a tree-glutted jungle, but on a sandy spot where there was room to maneuver. Since Stone also conflated the Hydaspes (in which the 31-year old Bucephalus died from injuries) with the Battle with the Mallians, where Alexander was shot in the lung, the surrender of Porus to Alexander (one of the great moments) got dropped. In fact Stone stole Porus' line of wanting to be treated like a king, and reassigned it to Stateira at Babylon, who wanted to be treated like a princess (big deal!).

In addition to the Gaugamela scene, the flashbacks worked quite well; in fact, I think the flashbacks to Alexander's childhood and youth, probably worked the best as far as explicating the story, which is actually a bit of a mess after Babylon.

And while I can see that it might not be practical, not to mention impossible, to present all the highlights of the saga, the omission of Alexander's burning of Persepolis is simply inexcusable; and Stone also missed a couple of great opportunities, first, by not showing Alexander's armies moving through the burning oil fields between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and next, by omitting the "Macedonian flyers" climbing of the Soghdian rock, which is where Alexander is said to have met and married Roxane (Her introduction to Alexander in the movie, not to mention the animalistic love scene that seems to have been intended to demonstrate Alexander's latent heterosexuality to those who are bothered by Hephaistion and Bagoas, was both tacky and lame).

As for the characters, Anthony Hopkins gave the elderly Ptolemy--dictating his memoirs--a touch of class (But did Ptolemy's scribes who are shown following him around with their laptop papyrus desks really have pens that didn't need to be dipped into ink?); and Christopher Plummer made a suitably distinguished Aristotle. However, I could have done without Angelina Jolie's pseudo-Epirot accent; and Colin Farrel's five-o'clock shadow made him look more like Alexander the Wimp. Stone also omitted major characters that would have added immensely to the plot, including Callisthenes, Aristotle's nephew who objected to Alexander's dressing in Persian style and making the Macedonians prostrate themselves on the ground (plot-points that got lost in this production), and Stone also omitted Aristander of Telmessus, Alexander's soothsayer and damage-control czar, who used the omens to explain Alexander's increasingly bizarre behavior as he moved farther away from civilization.

I did not see the first versions of this film, so I cannot compare this one with them; and while I found "Alexander Revisited" interesting--partly because the actual story is so fascinating--I feel that Oliver Stone missed the sweeping scope that the story would have had at the hands--say--of David Lean. But then David Lean probably would have had the good sense not to attempt an epic of such magnitude.

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Reviews


"Stunning battle scenes!"
Review date: 2008-01-15 Rating: 8 out of 10

Oliver Stone's 'Alexander' is certainly not a perfect film, but I've never found it the total trainwreck its reputed to be. Especially in this extended "Revisited" edition, the film packs an impressive punch as it recreates an enormous amount of history with stunning battle scenes and interesting characters. As an HD DVD presentation, this one's almost sure to wow, thanks to a demo-worthy video transfer, a convincing audio mix, and more than ten worth hours of candid supplemental material (most of which is exclusive to this high definition release).

So much improved
Review date: 2007-08-09 Rating: 8 out of 10

I always liked this film at the cinema even though it generaly got a lot of bad reviews. However it was always obvious that there were several things wrong with the first cut in regards to paceing and a feeling of it not quite being a complete film. This revised cut of the film really sorts out the problems and feels like a much more polished film and more like what you would expect from Oliver Stone. As someone quite intersted in Alexander as a historical figure outside the film it satisfies on most levels. While there are still problems with a bit of miscasting (Farel imo didn't make a deep enough Alexander), dodgy hair cuts and hammy lines that dont really get the blood pumping like other films as a historical epic this is now a very enjoyable film. The musical score is also a bit old fashioned. Overall a worthy edition to anyones DVD collection who likes their history.

Highly undervalued film.
Review date: 2007-03-08 Rating: 10 out of 10

Ignore the Colin Farrell tabloid backlash that surrounded the film and just take it as its own thing and you might enjoy it. Colin Farrell wears a big blonde wig. Get over it. Everybody speaks in an Irish accent. Is this any less realistic than everybody nattering away in American or English accents? Nope. Not really.

Alexander came out around the same time as other similar film such as King Arthur and Troy, yet was the only one in my eyes not to suffer the inevitable comparisons to Lord Of The Rings. Oliver Stone brings his typically manic style and subtlety, if you want to call it that, to Alexander that sets it apart right off the bat. Farrell is a fantastic presence - say what you will of his drunken antics in the newspapers, he's a fine actor - and the story is a belter. It's a long movie, but then it's a very ambitious one. Stone tries to tell the life story of one of the greatest leaders of all time, a man who charged into battles so massive that subtitles are required to tell you which part of it you're watching.

History buffs will get a lot out of this, as would anybody with enough patience to sit through the runtime and enough maturity to deal with the homosexual themes and big blonde wigs. It is very over the top, it does get a little hammy, but I admire the director's drive and his courage to tell such a huge story without compromise. It's unlike any movie he, or anybody else, has ever made. That alone gets my money.

Another Stone on the planet...
Review date: 2006-08-27 Rating: 8 out of 10

First of all, and even though I am a huge fan of Oliver Stone, I really think that this film doesn't worth the massive advertissement... Anyhow, the battles and the photography are perfectly awesome and Oliver Stone always is original in his film making...
But please, do buy the double DVD with the making of by his son... THIS WORTHS the price...
Sean Stone is a f... brilliant and gifted young man... he filmed his father and the backstage of Alexander with humanity and a real "eye"... I think that he is going to do great films if noone compares him to his father...
Another Stone is still a good news... so Thank you Sean for your vision of the Oliver the Great...

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Angelina Jolie
Val Kilmer
Anthony Hopkins
David Bedella
Jessie Kamm

Creators:
Anthony Hopkins (Primary Contributor)
David Bedella (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 0085391143512
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Colour, Director's Cut, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC,
Release date: 2007-02-27
Universal product code (UPC): 085391143512
Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 214 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2007
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)

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