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Alexander: Warrior King
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Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2004
Original Running Time:
214
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
91
Time Cut:
123
Time Added:
2
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Available in 4K?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
The comically bad Oliver Stone epic from 2004 has been transformed into a more serious war movie that emphasizes the battles and relationships between Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Companions. Two hours of melodrama, bad acting, and cynicism have been cut. Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Rosario Dawson, and Francisco Bosch have been removed save for a few shots. All narration and the score by Vangelis have also been removed. Vangelis' superior score from "1492: Conquest of Paradise" has been used instead. To fill in for the missing narration and original score, hundreds of new sound effects have been added.
Intention:
"Alexander: Warrior King" is the version of the film that I thought I was going to see back in 2004. It was one of the most disappointing theatrical experiences of my life. I could not believe how badly Stone had messed up. I expected a war movie, not a gay love story. Many critics at the time mentioned how the film didn't know what it wanted to be. There are epic battle sequences but also scene after scene of melodrama and bad acting. Still, I saw that there was a gem (if not an impure one) mixed in with all of the rubbish. By carefully taking a shot here and there, moving shots around, shortening, combining, and then blending it all with a new score and sound effects, I thought that I could create something new and exciting. I made this fan edit so that myself and other history buffs could experience what it may have been like to live 2,300 years ago in the time of Alexander the Great.
Other Sources:
Vangelis score from "1492: Conquest of Paradise."
Two pieces of traditional music (Persian and Afghan) were taken from live performances on YouTube.
Hundreds of new sound effects from my own audio library and others.
I added my own voice for one shot.
Two shots of Babylon from Marvel's "Eternals"
New location shots from a variety of sources, mostly 4k drone footage from YouTube.
I created new CG shots for the opening and ending credits.
All new footage and music is given attribution in the end credits.
Two pieces of traditional music (Persian and Afghan) were taken from live performances on YouTube.
Hundreds of new sound effects from my own audio library and others.
I added my own voice for one shot.
Two shots of Babylon from Marvel's "Eternals"
New location shots from a variety of sources, mostly 4k drone footage from YouTube.
I created new CG shots for the opening and ending credits.
All new footage and music is given attribution in the end credits.
Special Thanks:
I would especially like to thank @ArtisDead for this help in approving and submitting this fan edit to the IFDB. He was also the first person to view the film and leave feedback. I was also inspired by his many covers for fan edits. I knew that I had to make a good poster to be able to stand alongside his excellent work. I would also like to thank @ramapo and @Spence for paving the way by doing their edits of "Alexander." It made me feel less crazy for taking on this project. Finally thank you to all of the fan editors for your inspiration, experience, and knowledge on fanedit.org.
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
Any line of dialogue or scene that did not refer to Alexander's conquest of Asia was cut. This simple directive made the rough cut of the fan edit fairly easy as I knew exactly what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to cut. I used the blu-ray of "Alexander Revisited" mostly as raw footage.
Cuts and Additions:
This fan edit made 475 splices to "Alexander Revisited." I made so many edits and changes that they could fill a book. Two full hours of content have been removed. All five love triangles were removed. Alexander's wedding is shown but Roxane is never referenced again save for her one final appearance at the end of the movie. Cynical and mean-spirited dialogue from Alexander, his father Philip, and the Companions are greatly reduced. The Battle of Guagamela and the Battle of Hydaspes scenes have been heavily re-edited. Shots were combined, flipped, or removed to make these battles more coherent for the viewer and less chaotic. We cut less frequently from one part of a battle to another now. The Greeks are always attacking from the left side of the screen and their enemies from the right.
Cheesy or weird camera angles have been cut. This includes the two most iconic images from the movie, Alexander attacking the elephant and a Dutch angle shot of Alexander entering Babylon. Stone's film featured many Dutch angles which made it seem more like "Batman" the 1960s TV series. I cut nearly all of them. During the Battle of Hydaspes Stone decided to shoot the action with infrared film. All of that footage had to be cut. New transitions from scene to scene had to be created to make up for the deleted footage. I did this mostly with new shots and sound effects.
Vangelis' original score was meticulously removed and either replaced with sound effects or music from his score for "1492: Conquest of Paradise." Every track from the "1492" score CD was used. Two pieces of traditional folk music were added to Alexander's wedding and his collapse. New sound effects were added to every scene.
Angelina Jolie, Rosario Dawson, and Francisco Bosch have been removed save for a few background cameo shots. Anthony Hopkins and his narration have been removed completely. Bad acting and lines of cheesy dialogue have been reduced. Alexander and Hyphasian's relationship is now one of close comrades, nothing more. I had to keep this relationship as it was the most important one in Alexander's life, but their interactions are now heavily edited to remove any romantic allusions.
I created new opening and closing credits with CGI. Additional footage was added from a variety of sources such as Marvel's "Eternals" and 4k drone footage from YouTube. This was necessary to provide a passage of time in between scenes as the movie takes place over several decades.
Cheesy or weird camera angles have been cut. This includes the two most iconic images from the movie, Alexander attacking the elephant and a Dutch angle shot of Alexander entering Babylon. Stone's film featured many Dutch angles which made it seem more like "Batman" the 1960s TV series. I cut nearly all of them. During the Battle of Hydaspes Stone decided to shoot the action with infrared film. All of that footage had to be cut. New transitions from scene to scene had to be created to make up for the deleted footage. I did this mostly with new shots and sound effects.
Vangelis' original score was meticulously removed and either replaced with sound effects or music from his score for "1492: Conquest of Paradise." Every track from the "1492" score CD was used. Two pieces of traditional folk music were added to Alexander's wedding and his collapse. New sound effects were added to every scene.
Angelina Jolie, Rosario Dawson, and Francisco Bosch have been removed save for a few background cameo shots. Anthony Hopkins and his narration have been removed completely. Bad acting and lines of cheesy dialogue have been reduced. Alexander and Hyphasian's relationship is now one of close comrades, nothing more. I had to keep this relationship as it was the most important one in Alexander's life, but their interactions are now heavily edited to remove any romantic allusions.
I created new opening and closing credits with CGI. Additional footage was added from a variety of sources such as Marvel's "Eternals" and 4k drone footage from YouTube. This was necessary to provide a passage of time in between scenes as the movie takes place over several decades.
Teaser Trailer
User reviews
8 reviews
Overall rating
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
10.0(8)
Audio Editing
9.3(8)
Visual Editing
9.4(8)
Narrative
9.1(8)
Enjoyment
9.3(8)
(Updated: April 05, 2024)
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Great-ly improved! (Pun intended)
I'm not sure what Oliver Stone was thinking with his (bi-)sexually charged, incest-laden take on Alexander the Great, but this cuts out all that bullsh*t and makes it about the enlightened ass-kicking that Asiatic kingdoms got from our Macedonian golden boy.
Battle scenes are greatly improved and there's no skin-crawling "romances" between Alex and his mommy, nor any of his childhood friends.
I think this is near the best anyone could do with this otherwise bizarre film.
Great work!
I'm not sure what Oliver Stone was thinking with his (bi-)sexually charged, incest-laden take on Alexander the Great, but this cuts out all that bullsh*t and makes it about the enlightened ass-kicking that Asiatic kingdoms got from our Macedonian golden boy.
Battle scenes are greatly improved and there's no skin-crawling "romances" between Alex and his mommy, nor any of his childhood friends.
I think this is near the best anyone could do with this otherwise bizarre film.
Great work!
User Review
Format Watched?
Digital
R
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
The amount of film removed here is insane; 123 min in total. That’s unusual and there was a high change the final version would become a much different film compared to the original.
And it did; I hated the original but I loved this edit. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest improvements to a film I’ve seen on a fanedit.
The ridiculous love triangles are gone, and good riddance. I don’t think the original authors knew that ancient Greece and Macedon societies were actually more complex than just polyamorous/ polygamic relations.
Also, no more narration. That’s always a plus to me.
I fully agree with the removal of (almost) all of the Dutch angles; although they have a function in cinematography, their use should be sparce and parsimonious, or the intended effect easily becomes diluted and futile.
The heavily edited battle sections are one of the highlights here. So many things were improved, with a special mention to the 180-degree rule. Just that one made the chaotic fights much more comprehensible to the viewers.
The new time / location transitions were well executed. With one exception: the Babylon shots from Marvel's "Eternals"; those felt really out of place, in particular because the size of this Babylon is much different than the one we see in the rest of the film (much bigger and extravagant).
The 4K quality is a treat.
The replaced score sounded great to me, but of course, in this regard, it will depend on each one’s taste of music. I thought the score made the film much more epic and grandiose. In a curious way, the score works even better in this film than it does in the original “Conquest of Paradise”. The arrival to Babylon is epic because of the new score.
My only issue was that in a few sections with the new audio, the dialogue became a bit less perceptible. I could still hear the voices, but that change was noticeable.
And it did; I hated the original but I loved this edit. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest improvements to a film I’ve seen on a fanedit.
The ridiculous love triangles are gone, and good riddance. I don’t think the original authors knew that ancient Greece and Macedon societies were actually more complex than just polyamorous/ polygamic relations.
Also, no more narration. That’s always a plus to me.
I fully agree with the removal of (almost) all of the Dutch angles; although they have a function in cinematography, their use should be sparce and parsimonious, or the intended effect easily becomes diluted and futile.
The heavily edited battle sections are one of the highlights here. So many things were improved, with a special mention to the 180-degree rule. Just that one made the chaotic fights much more comprehensible to the viewers.
The new time / location transitions were well executed. With one exception: the Babylon shots from Marvel's "Eternals"; those felt really out of place, in particular because the size of this Babylon is much different than the one we see in the rest of the film (much bigger and extravagant).
The 4K quality is a treat.
The replaced score sounded great to me, but of course, in this regard, it will depend on each one’s taste of music. I thought the score made the film much more epic and grandiose. In a curious way, the score works even better in this film than it does in the original “Conquest of Paradise”. The arrival to Babylon is epic because of the new score.
My only issue was that in a few sections with the new audio, the dialogue became a bit less perceptible. I could still hear the voices, but that change was noticeable.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
G
Overall rating
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
Really well done edit - technically great and narritatively better than the original. If you're looking for a movie about Alexander the Great, this is the cut you need, and not the theatrical cut.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
L
Overall rating
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
8.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
What an absolute masterpiece of an edit by KMartKid! How in the world was this edit even in the same universe of the horrific theatrical edition? I cannot even fathom it. Easily one of the best narrative and enjoyment improvements done to a movie.
The edit from beginning to end was a great and enjoyable watch. I never cringed or wanted to give up like I did a long time ago when I watched the movie. I was highly engaged throughout the whole movie. This edit is easily one of the best transformations from a terrible movie to an engaging and entertaining one. From beginning until the end, we are given a strong and well-structured narrative. Everything cut was an absolute necessity, particularly all the distracting love stories that detract from the war narrative.
The 4K visual quality was stunning and even some of the visual corrections made enhanced the movie as was shown in the forum thread. For a movie that was chopped up into several pieces, you would be lucky to find any noticeable or awkward cuts anywhere in this movie. This was excellently put together - including new footage and CGI shots.
The new musical score incorporated fit in very nicely throughout this movie. I do think the song chosen for the closing credits was not the best fit for a movie that was set in the prior time period. I also noticed that in the opening childhood scenes the musical score often swallowed the dialogue of some of the characters. It gave me a hard time hearing what people were saying. These are my only critiques.
Overall, I want to thank the editor for sharing the edit with me. This is a definite must-watch for those who like history movies like I do. For those on the fence, you will not regret watching this. I will certainly hang on to this and rewatch in the future.
The edit from beginning to end was a great and enjoyable watch. I never cringed or wanted to give up like I did a long time ago when I watched the movie. I was highly engaged throughout the whole movie. This edit is easily one of the best transformations from a terrible movie to an engaging and entertaining one. From beginning until the end, we are given a strong and well-structured narrative. Everything cut was an absolute necessity, particularly all the distracting love stories that detract from the war narrative.
The 4K visual quality was stunning and even some of the visual corrections made enhanced the movie as was shown in the forum thread. For a movie that was chopped up into several pieces, you would be lucky to find any noticeable or awkward cuts anywhere in this movie. This was excellently put together - including new footage and CGI shots.
The new musical score incorporated fit in very nicely throughout this movie. I do think the song chosen for the closing credits was not the best fit for a movie that was set in the prior time period. I also noticed that in the opening childhood scenes the musical score often swallowed the dialogue of some of the characters. It gave me a hard time hearing what people were saying. These are my only critiques.
Overall, I want to thank the editor for sharing the edit with me. This is a definite must-watch for those who like history movies like I do. For those on the fence, you will not regret watching this. I will certainly hang on to this and rewatch in the future.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
H
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Oliver Stone's Alexander was a perplexing and absolute disaster of a movie. It had so much potential but was done a great disservice by Oliver Stone's massive ego and incoherent writing. He's always been great about coming up with cool ideas but the execution of those ideas always leaves something to be desired. Horrible script? Check. Egregious miscasting? Check. Movie that's way too long. Check. Not even revisiting the film by the director three times in order to create newer cuts could save this massive turkey of a film.
Thank goodness for fan editors though. There are two others out there that bear mentioning. One is The A to B Cut by PeterScene which does an admirable job of re-editing the extremely long film into something chronological and more cohesive. The other is Spence's Alexander Cut which heavily trims the film into something far more viewable and more easy to follow. But while I enjoy both of these fan edits, Alexander - Warrior King by KmartKid is by far my favorite reworking of Oliver Stone's ultimate disaster.
KmartKid took an axe to this behemoth and was absolutely brutal in excising huge portions of this abomination. He then took a scalpel to the rest of the footage and did an absolutely amazing job restructuring it into an hour and a half lean, mean, fighting machine. The sheer madness of carving out a cohesive story out of the monstrous heaping pile of garbage that is Alexander is absolutely astonishing. Close to 500 individual edits, a new soundtrack, and almost all new sound effects makes this movie a worthwhile viewing. Alexander - Warrior King is now my go to when I get an itch to revisit Alexander. It's a literal masterpiece when compared to the dumpster fire Oliver Stone created.
I can't recommend this fan edit enough. Get it as soon as possible and watch it repeatedly. You won't be sorry.
Thank goodness for fan editors though. There are two others out there that bear mentioning. One is The A to B Cut by PeterScene which does an admirable job of re-editing the extremely long film into something chronological and more cohesive. The other is Spence's Alexander Cut which heavily trims the film into something far more viewable and more easy to follow. But while I enjoy both of these fan edits, Alexander - Warrior King by KmartKid is by far my favorite reworking of Oliver Stone's ultimate disaster.
KmartKid took an axe to this behemoth and was absolutely brutal in excising huge portions of this abomination. He then took a scalpel to the rest of the footage and did an absolutely amazing job restructuring it into an hour and a half lean, mean, fighting machine. The sheer madness of carving out a cohesive story out of the monstrous heaping pile of garbage that is Alexander is absolutely astonishing. Close to 500 individual edits, a new soundtrack, and almost all new sound effects makes this movie a worthwhile viewing. Alexander - Warrior King is now my go to when I get an itch to revisit Alexander. It's a literal masterpiece when compared to the dumpster fire Oliver Stone created.
I can't recommend this fan edit enough. Get it as soon as possible and watch it repeatedly. You won't be sorry.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
R