Review Detail

Oliver Stone's "Alexander" has always had a rough history ever since it came to cinemas back in 2004. One of the biggest criticisms - which I agree with - is the way in which it had been edited, where key moments to the main character's past had been hidden until a specific moment in the film's present where a flashback would occur that would condescendingly try to shoehorn an explanation to the viewer what he had been reminded of at that time, taking them out of the experience they're comfortable with.

Thankfully, this edit corrects that wrong and - in doing so - delivers a much more powerful film. The passage of time is better represented and as you see Alexander grow up, it is now left up to the viewer's imagination as to what Alexander is truly feeling or reminded of from his experiences, which respects the viewer's intelligence and allows them to more easily create their own meanings and interpretations.

Massive hats off to the editor, ramapo, for this edit. He has truly fixed this much maligned film, to such a high quality as well - I did not encounter many obvious issues at all while watching it except for what I am about to list below:

41:27 - I don't mind the idea of removing the scene where Alexander refuses to apologise to Attalus which leads to Philip banishing Alexander, as I imagine having this in a chronological A-B edit would make it seem confusing for the viewer to suddenly have them both back together after being separated for less than a minute. However, the way the transition has been edited here is rather odd as the audio is still in the palace chamber (echoes of whispering + quiet, tense music) as Philip is glaring at Alexander on his chariot. This feels like a rather obvious editing error and ought to be fixed if possible.