Review Detail

Alexander The Great has always been a fascinating historical figure to me so I was pretty disappointed by Oliver Stone's initial film and his subsequent attempts to stick the landing. However, the reason I kept coming back for Stone's various 'revisitings' of his film is that there is undeniably some great material in the ungangly mess he created. This edit is the most successful edit I've seen thus far, likely because it decides to focus on only one aspect of Alexander's short, but eventful life--his rise and fall as a military leader. Honestly, you could probably make an entirely different edit from just the psycho-sexual material Stone was also trying to work out in his film because it's also interesting in itself, but trimming all that allows this edit to have more forward momentum. I also think the long-debated Alexander/Hephestion relationship is handled very well. You can view them as either lovers, best friends, soul mates, or any of the above depending upon your own opinion.

My only complaint would be the choice of the final song during the end credits. Given the classical nature of both the film and the soundtrack up to that point, suddenly being thrust into a song that I'm guessing is from a Transformers movie felt very jarring. Otherwise, this is a solid edit of a deeply imperfect, but interesting, film. Absolutely recommended.