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Alexander: The A to B Cut

ramapo

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Hi everyone,

I'm happy to finally present my fan edit of Oliver Stone's critically maligned 2004 film Alexander.

Brief synopsis
This is my best attempt to rework an admittedly flawed film. I hearken back to the Theatrical Cut’s chronology, interweave much of the Final Cut’s additional material, and excise anything that A) Insults audience intelligence, and B) Prevents this film from being the sweeping, ever-moving-forward epic it so desperately wants to be.

Technical details
Resolution: 1920x820
Frame rate: 23.976
Video codec: H265 (HEVC)
Audio codec: HE-AAC
Container: MP4
File size: 4.4 GB
Total runtime: 210 minutes

Full write up
After the critical shellacking of the 2004 epic Alexander, I imagine director Oliver Stone wringing his hands, thinking, “They didn’t like it because they didn’t understand it. I’ll spell out every detail to a ‘T’. Then they’ll like it.”

And with that, all subtlety went out the window—and all respect for the audience’s intelligence with it. Four director-approved edits later, and it’s more of a mess than ever.

The truth is, I think the critics harpooned this film not because it was incomprehensible, but because writing bad reviews is fun. It was one of those films that the critics loved to hate. Once their peers started in with the scathing criticism, they all piled on. A game of witty and vitriolic one-upmanship ensued.

It was too easy to pass over its many merits and focus solely on the Irish accents, Colin Farrell’s hair, the soap opera level of melodrama, and the subtle but not-so-subtle homosexual undertones (remember this was 2004). It’s not a perfect film by any stretch. But to quote Anthony Hopkin’s Ptolemy, “What failure? [Alexander’s] failure towered over other man’s successes.” And so I believe it to be with this film—I would take its failures over other film’s successes any day.

But I'd like to minimize its failures as much as I can. That’s why I created this fan edit—Alexander: The A to B Cut.

An epic covers great distances and a great span of time. A great span of time. There is no better way to properly convey a great span of time than by presenting your story in chronological order. After three-plus hours you see where you are and remember where you started, and think, I’ve really taken a journey here. When you break the chronology and layer time on top of itself, you fail to properly convey that span. It becomes a muddle. It becomes less epic.

With all due respect, Mr. Stone, you messed up when you made this film a tossed salad. I can only speculate why you did it. The pessimist in me surmises you hold your audience in contempt. Perhaps you think that without opening the film on your signature battle scene at Gaugamela you’ve lost your low attention span viewers. Or, perhaps it’s less audience contempt and more a lack of confidence in the material that makes up Alexander’s upbringing. I can’t help you with either.

Beyond Gaugamela, perhaps you strayed from the chronology because you felt it lacked good flow. If you truly believe that, you should have scripted a better film. There are large jumps in time, most notably between Philip’s murder and Gaugamela. You should have shot more, and you didn’t. It’s too late now.

What I truly suspect is that the broken chronology serves to keep certain characters in the film throughout the duration—such as Olympias. Did you want to sustain a strong female presence in this largely male-dominated cast to broaden the film’s appeal? I can understand that from a marketing perspective, but brass tacks: who are you trying to win over 12 years later? Alexander is a boy’s club, like so many epics that have gone before it. Just own that already. Do you know what’s even more of a boy’s club? Lawrence of Arabia. You’re in good company.

This is the worst part about the broken chronology: we’re never free from the past. We’re never permitted to truly stride forward with Alexander off the edge of the map. Olympias is always there, even though Alexander never sees her again after Philip’s murder.

Maybe—just maybe—this is a purposeful creative decision on Stone’s part. He wanted to show that Alexander was always shackled to his past, and particularly his mother. But going about it this way is like a sledgehammer over the head. It’s heavy-handed to the extreme.

This idea comes across subtly but clearly in my edit, where the last 2.5 hours are blissfully Olympias-free. It’s obvious exactly how much and in what ways his mother messed with his head, because we already had an hour of it. It’s obvious he’s running away from her. The nagging voice of her letter writing is an insult to our intelligence. It brings nothing new to the table. It does nothing but drag us backward when an epic should never stop moving forward.

In keeping with the “ever forward” concept, I cut little snippets of rehashed footage all over the place. If it occurred earlier in the film and Stone replayed it to remind us, or point out something he thinks we overlooked, I excised it without a second thought. Only near (and on) his deathbed, when Alexander had pretty much lost his mind, do I allow early movie footage to replay. It makes sense that his life is flashing before his eyes in this context.

Stone’s notable exception to the Theatrical Cut’s chronology is the flashback to Philip’s murder. It was never intended to play where I relocated it, and it’s still problematic to say the least. The scene directly preceding it has Philip banishing Alexander. To see them riding together, on friendly terms, 30 seconds later is… not ideal. But what can be done? This was one of those jumps in time that I can only wish Stone had padded. As it is, I truncated that preceding scene short of the banishment. It serves, instead, as rather a bad fight that we the viewers just have to accept they made up off-screen.

Then there are the title cards: I cut out pretty much every title card from the film. I did add one title at the very beginning of the story to set the stage: “Pella, Macedonia 351 B.C.” That seemed appropriate. Tell the audience where and when we are, and then leave them be. What more does the viewer need? Do we really need a title card that says “India”? I know we’re in India because I’ve been paying attention. If you've truly lost your place, the film’s narrator Ptolemy won't let you stay lost for long. Does the audience really need a title card that says “Macedonian Center”? What is this, a lesson on military strategy? I thought I was watching a Hollywood film with an Irishman in a bad wig. Stop trying to teach me. This is not the medium for it.

Lastly, you’ll find that there’s now an Overture and Entre’act. This is an epic, and the epics of yesteryear had them. Call me a traditionalist; I suppose I am. The music that plays, I took from the soundtrack.

Oliver Stone wrote of the Final Cut, “For me, this is the complete Alexander, the clearest interpretation I can offer.” With all due respect, Mr. Stone, the clearest interpretation of your story is the one presented here. What could be clearer than an unbroken chronology? What could be a more true and honest epic?

I look forward to sharing this with you!
 

TM2YC

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Welcome ramapo. Is this something you are working on, or have you finished it and want people to give you feedback? Thanks.
 

ramapo

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I don't know why this post was moved to "In-The-Works". I was told to post in "Pending Approval". It's 100% done. I'm looking for feedback. Thanks!
 

TM2YC

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ramapo said:
It's 100% done. I'm looking for feedback. Thanks!

Okay cool.
 

MrBadcrumble

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Hello ramapo! A brilliant write-up, I must say. Part description, part intriguing, part open letter to Oliver Stone. It does indeed read like you've put great effort into this cut.

Looking forward to it! The only thing I fear is the h265...
 

ramapo

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Why fear H265? H265 is the future! It requires a more powerful computer to decode, sure. But I did a number of compression tests, and this file by far looks better than H264 -- and at less than half the size.
 

TV's Frink

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ramapo said:
I don't know why this post was moved to "In-The-Works". I was told to post in "Pending Approval".

We've recently changed the submission process and we're still working out a few kinks.

Have you filled out the submission form yet, as requested?
 

MrBadcrumble

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ramapo said:
Why fear H265? H265 is the future! It requires a more powerful computer to decode, sure. But I did a number of compression tests, and this file by far looks better than H264 -- and at less than half the size.

Hehe, that's exactly what scares me. My computer will probably scream at me in pain if I get the chance to play it. Otherwise I'm all for the pros of h265, I don't doubt your methods or results. :)
 

TM2YC

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I've finished previewing 'Alexander: The A to B cut' and I'm happy to say it's approved.

14514010924_d2f40d31b9_o.jpg


For me, it doesn't fix the film, because I think 'Alexander' has just too many unfixable elements to ever be made wholly right. That said it does have some spectacular images and is never let down on the epic CGI front, so is worth a watch now and again. The decision to make this chronological (The voiceover exceptiing) is a welcome one. It doesn't make the film suddenly work but it does save the narrative from feeling cluttered and meandering all over the place. Plus since Jolie and Kilmer's scenes are over in the first hour, we mercifully don't have to see them again, which is a bonus.

Like I say, it's approved as it is but there are a few points that could still be tweaked, if you want to:

00.00.00 - The new 'overture' titlecard font looks too clean and the font isn't right (Too large for one thing).
00.01.54 - Arguably the two studio logos should come first and not between the overture and title sequence.
00.06.56 - Again the font isn't right for this titlecard
00.30.25 - Fade to black is a bit abrupt and so is the audio fade down
00.54.02 - Audio fade could be smoother, or don't fade it at all, just have Hopkins talk across a hard cut to the library
02.09.31 - The mosaic backdrop for the 'intermission' titlecard is very classy but the font still looks too big
02.10.04 - Same thing for the 'entr'acte' titlecard
03.29.21 - It would be better for the final fanedit titlecard if it said "Support the filmakers by legally purchasing this film", instead of "Please consider supporting the filmmakers by...". If you are watching a fanedit you need to own the original, not consider owning it. Plus it's not centered on screen.

27642593670_333f4187da_o.png


(^ Click to see larger images)
 

ramapo

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Well, better late than never: I'd like to finally complete the submission process to have this fan edit listed on IFDB.

I've submitted a Fanedit Submission here on the site. Let me know if there's anything else I can do.

Thanks!
 

Dwight Fry

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Was this edit finally approved, then? And if so, were @TM2YC 's suggestions implemented and the technical flaws ironed out?
 
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