Released: November 2004
Director: Oliver Stone
Rated R
Run Time: 176 Minutes(theatrical cut),165 Minutes(Director’s Cut), 214 Minutes(Final Cut), 207 Minutes(Ultimate Cut)
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Genre: Historical Drama/Adventure
Cast:
Collin Farrell: Alexander
Angelina Jolie: Olympias
Val Kilmer: Philip
Jared Leto: Hephaistion
Anthony Hopkins: Old Ptolemy
Christopher Plummer: Aristotle
Rosario Dawson: Roxane
Some time ago, I wrote about my feelings towards extended versions of movies that come out periodically. I generally won’t look at extended version if they’ve got less than 3 minutes of additional footage. Most of that should’ve either been included in the film from the beginning or stay on the cutting room floor. The question is, why would these extended versions exist in the first place? More often than not, when a director is finished with a film, they’re done, regardless of how well it turns out. Well, sometimes a director isn’t really satisfied with the film that was initially released. Movie studios generally don’t let film-makers go back to work on previously released films unless there might be some profit involved. It is show BUSINESS after. We’ve seen a number of extended versions released over the past 30 or so years. Usually, most movie studios would allow a film-maker to revisit their films ONCE. Very rarely, do we see a film-maker try and fix their film 3 or 4 times before settling on a “final” cut. Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner received FIVE different cuts before he was satisfied with the final product. It took him over 20 years to get to that point. While I can’t say that EVERY extended version is the definitive release, sometimes they do end up being better than what was released in theaters. Sometimes. That brings me to Oliver Stone’s Alexander. Did this film need 4 different cuts and is it better for it? Let’s find out. By the way, I’m reviewing the Ultimate Cut.
Alexander follows the exploits of the legendary Macedonian king, Alexander the Great as he conquers the known world. The film begins with the Battle of Gaugamela as Alexander prepares to take on the Persian king, Darius III. Outnumbered in every which way, Alexander still manages to defeat the Persians in open battle on their home turf. After defeating the Persian empire, sending Darius III running, Alexander decides to expand his own empire, spreading east until he conquers a part of India. Unfortunately, his obsession with glory leads to his army to begin to resent him for having them away from home for years. The life of Alexander the Great is the stuff that legends are made of. Very few people in history have accomplished as much as Alexander did in his 32 years on Earth. Not only did he conquer the Persian empire, but he expanded his rule across 90 percent of the known world at the time. He was also a brilliant military tactician to the point where he never lost a battle. The film follows Alexander from a child to the conqueror he would become, although not necessarily in that order. The theatrical release of the film followed Alexander in chronological order, which means the Battle of Gaugamela didn’t happen until about an hour into the movie. For the Final and Ultimate Cuts, the battle was moved towards the beginning to quicken up the pace, but there are moments where Alexander reflects on his childhood memories, and it’s at these moments when the movie goes back into his earlier life. Initially, when I watched the Final Cut of the film, I wasn’t sold on the back-and-forth time jumps. So, I watched it a second time with the Ultimate Cut, and I’m actually more on board with this non-linear style of story-telling. In my opinion, it actually works here. If there was ever a word to describe Alexander’s life, it would be “epic.”
Before I discuss the things that are great about this movie, I want to discuss the issues that nearly cripple this movie. First of all, the casting. Alexander is WOEFULLY miscast in nearly every aspect. Angelina Jolie is a fantastic actress, but she hams it up here as Queen Olympias with a really bizarre accent that ends up being more distracting than anything. Her performance isn’t really that bad, but it’s strange. Rosario Dawson is also a great actress, but like Jolie, she’s saddled with being a pretty face with a strange accent as Alexander’s wife, Roxane. As much as like Anthony Hopkins as an actor, his narration over nearly the entire film is irritating. There was also a lot of controversy over Alexander’s open bisexuality. In the theatrical and director’s cut, Alexander’s relationship with Hephaistion was more implied than actually shown. It was like the studio was afraid to show that kind of relationship in a movie like this. Ironically, at that period in history, bisexuality and homosexuality were commonplace and not really frowned upon, especially in Greece and Macedonia. Thankfully, in the Final and Ultimate cuts of the film, that relationship is allowed to be explored, and it’s rather compelling actually. Jared Leto and Collin Farrell have some pretty good chemistry. That, unfortunately brings me to the elephant in the room: Collin Farrell as Alexander the Great. Farrell is a fantastic actor, and when he’s allowed to really let loose the character’s rage and emotional moments, Farrell does a pretty decent job. However, goofy blond hair notwithstanding, Farrell wasn’t really equipped to handle a role with this much gravity and historical importance. He did the best he could with what he had, but the film’s writing is also incredibly uneven. The dialogue in the film is some of the worst that I’ve heard since Attack of the Clones.
Visually, Alexander is one of the best spectacular movies of its kind. The cinematography and the landscapes that are shown throughout the film are absolutely stunning. While the film was shot in places like Morocco and Thailand to make it look like Persia and India, you can’t help but be drawn into this world. The city of Babylon itself is a feast for the eyes which includes the legendary blue gates. The costume designs and sets are very period-specific, so there is a large degree of authenticity here. If there’s one thing that Alexander manages to accomplish, it’s the battle sequences. Granted, there are only two major battles in the entire film, but they are some of the most brutal and epic sequences this side of Braveheart and Gladiator. The Battle of Gaugamela was not only massive, but it also showcased Alexander’s military brilliance in taking down an army that vastly outnumbered Alexander’s. The real battle setpiece of the film is the Battle of the Hydaspes in India. The Battle of the Hydaspes is the bloodiest battle that Alexander ever fought. While in reality, the battle took place in an open plain, the film opts for a battle within a forest. The intent here was to show how savage and brutal this particular battle was, and Oliver Stone doesn’t shy away from showing the brutality. This is one of the goriest battles I’ve ever seen on screen. It’s also amazing to see how much of it was done in camera. They used actual elephants for this sequence and it’s spectacular. People get their skulls crushed, are eviscerated and impaled on elephant tusks. It pulls no punches. Another thing that has to be mentioned here is the wonderful score by Vangelis. This was the same guy that did the soundtrack for Blade Runner back in 1982. Music helps in story-telling and Vangelis’ work is nothing short of amazing. In fact, I would even go so far that the music in this movie is far better than the movie deserves.
Alexander has received a lot of criticism over the years, especially when it was first released back in 2004. A lot of that criticism is not without merit. This is a very flawed movie at it’s core. While I definitely think there are a lot of things that the movie gets right, the stuff that it needed to get right, it got wrong. The casting and the writing really bring this movie down. That being said, is it really the worst movie ever made? In the realm of historical epics? No. This may seem like a travesty to some, but I feel that Alexander handled it’s material a hell of a lot better than Braveheart did. At least Alexander had a large amount of historical accuracy, regardless of how that may have gotten in the way of the film. Ultimately, I think Alexander would’ve been better suited as an HBO limited-run series. There’s a lot of aspects about Alexander the Great the movie didn’t even bother covering. How did he become the tactical genius that he was? Who trained him and what happened to events like the rebellion at Thebes? The events portrayed in the film don’t seem to have the gravity that they should have for Alexander’s conquests. Going back to Collin Farrell as Alexander, Alexander became a larger-than-life figure in the ancient world, almost to mythic proportions. I think Alexander should’ve been portrayed as such instead of a Hamlet-like figure. Alexander is an ambitious film, and certainly the most audacious film that Oliver Stone had ever attempted. Despite the large amount of issues this movie has, it’s still an achievement that Oliver Stone managed to get this thing off the ground. I don’t blame the people that didn’t like the movie. There’s a lot here that’s wrong, but I think there is more here that it gets right and does very well.
Alexander the Great was one of the greatest military leaders that ever lived. While his ambitions may have gotten the better of him towards the end, you can’t deny what he had achieved. Alexander’s achievements would influence militaries around the world as well as the Romans. Alexander’s tactics are still being discussed in schools around the world and are still being put into actual use. Not only that, Alexander built libraries and established economies in the region. The man’s legacy is beyond far-reaching. At the end of the day, I have to admire Oliver Stone for even attempting a movie of this scale. Did it always work? No, but like a lot of historical films, Alexander is a window that gives us a peek into a world that no longer exists. If you love historical epics as much as I do, you owe to yourself to see Alexander at least once. Will you like it as much as I did? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s not the abomination that people are making it out to be. Not even close.
My Final Recommendation: 7.5/10. Fortune favors the bold.