Alexander (2004)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writers (WGA):

Oliver Stone (written by) and
Christopher Kyle (written by) ...

Release Date:

24 November 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Biography | Drama | History | Romance | War

Tagline:

Fortune favors the bold

Plot:

Alexander, the King of Macedonia and one of the greatest military leaders in the history of warfare, conquers much of the known world.

Plot Keywords:

King | Army | India | Alexander The Great | Battle

Awards:

2 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Colin Farrell	...	Alexander
Angelina Jolie	...	Olympias
Val Kilmer	...	Philip
Anthony Hopkins	...	Old Ptolemy
Jared Leto	...	Hephaistion
Rosario Dawson	...	Roxane
Jonathan Rhys Meyers	...	Cassander
Rory McCann	...	Crateros
Gary Stretch	...	Cleitus
Ian Beattie	...	Antigonus
Neil Jackson	...	Perdiccas
Raz Degan	...	Darius III
Christopher Plummer	...	Aristotle
John Kavanagh	...	Parmenion
Annelise Hesme	...	Stateira

Also Known As:

Alexander (Germany)
Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut (USA) (recut version)
Alexander: Director's Cut (USA) (censored version)
Alexandre (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and some sexuality/nudity. (also director's cut)

Runtime:

175 min | 167 min (director's cut) | 214 min (final cut)

Country:

Germany | USA | Netherlands | France | UK | Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:18PL | Spain:13 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Singapore:M18 (also final cut version) | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA (director's extended cut) | Brazil:14 | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Chile:TE | Czech Republic:12 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Ireland:15 | Italy:T | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #41133) | USA:Unrated (Cut Director's Version) | New Zealand:R13 | Australia:M (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Ait Benhaddou, Morocco

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The Irish accents you hear from the Macedonian soldiers were not there to accommodate Colin Farrell as some have asserted. As Macedonians were mostly from more remote hill tribes and were coarser and less civilized than the Greeks, the Celtic accents used in the movie serve to portray fictionally the difference between them and the more refined Greeks, who speak in a more upper class, English accent. Many critics and audience members failed to understand this device.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Alexander is reading a papyrus scroll, English words are clearly visible.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Old Ptolemy: He was a god, Cadmos, or as close as anything I've ever seen.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Charging for Alexander (2004) (TV)

Alexander proves too smart for dumb American critics

The US reviews have been really terrible and the IMDb user rating is lower than KING ARTHUR, so I'm wondering if Europe has got a different cut, because the film I saw was excellent. Problems, yes, like Anthony Hopkins and Val Kilmer hamming away and Angeline doing a very odd accent. Farrell's not bad even though he doesn't have enough small moments to work with to shade the role: after Clive Owen's disgracefully bad performance in KING ARTHUR it's amazing that it's Farrell the critics are laughing at.

You don't get involved in the characters as much as you should, but its an amazing flick, a real movie. It feels like it's been done for real not by a computer by someone as mad and vainglorious as Alexander himself. Not a total success, but the 80% that hits the target is really intelligent and ambitious and is worth more than a lot of pictures that work better, if you know what I mean.

I think the reason Hollywood is so dumbed down now is when someone tries to do something different on a big scale like Alexander, HEAVEN'S GATE, REDS, ONCE UPON A TIME IN America, THE RIGHT STUFF or films like that is that the American critics who are always complaining about dumb audiences and filmmakers can't get them and tear them a new *beep*hole killing them off at the box-office. Certainly seems to be the case with Alexander. Not the most successful flick I've seen this year but easily one of the best.