Alexander (2004)

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

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writers:

Oliver Stone, Christopher Kyle

Stars:

Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins, Rosario Dawson

6 wins & 19 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony Hopkins	...	Old Ptolemy
David Bedella	...	Scribe
Jessie Kamm	...	Child Alexander
Angelina Jolie	...	Olympias
Val Kilmer	...	Philip
Fiona O'Shaughnessy	...	Nurse
Connor Paolo	...	Young Alexander
Patrick Carroll	...	Young Hephaistion
Brian Blessed	...	Wrestling Trainer
Peter Williamson	...	Young Nearchus
Morgan Christopher Ferris	...	Young Cassander
Rob Earley	...	Young Ptolemy (as Robert Earley)
Aleczander Gordon	...	Young Perdiccas
Christopher Plummer	...	Aristotle
Gary Stretch	...	Cleitus

Storyline

Conquering ninety percent of the known world by the age of twenty-five, Alexander the Great (Colin Farrell) led his armies through twenty-two thousand miles of sieges and conquests in just eight years. Coming out of tiny Macedonia, Alexander led his armies against the mighty Persian Empire, drove west to Egypt, and finally made his way east to India. This movie concentrated on those eight years of battles, as well as his relationship with his boyhood friend and battle mate, Hephaistion (Jared Leto). Alexander died young, of illness, at the age of thirty-two. Alexander's conquests paved the way for the spread of Greek culture (facilitating the spread of Christianity centuries later), and removed many of the obstacles that might have prevented the expansion of the Roman Empire. In other words, the world we know today might never have been if not for Alexander's bloody, yet unifying, conquest.

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Plot Keywords:

ancient greece | greek | gay | macedonia | borderline personality disorder | 

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Taglines:

The greatest legend of all was real

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Genres:

Action | Biography | Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some sexuality/nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

Val Kilmer gained over fifty pounds and stopped working out for the plump role of King Philip II.

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Goofs

On the map of the known world, the Black Sea is correctly called "Pontos Euxeinos," but the Mediterranean is called "Mare Mediterraneum." On Roman maps, it was called "Mare Nostrum" (Our Sea) or "Mare Internum" (Inner Sea). In the fifth century BC, Herodotos called it the "Pontos Boreios" (Northern Sea).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Old Ptolemy: Our world is gone now. Smashed by the wars. Now I am the keeper of his body, embalmed here in the Egyptian ways. I followed him as Pharaoh, and have now ruled 40 years. I am the victor. But what does it all mean when there is not one left to remember - the great cavalry charge at Gaugamela, or the mountains of the Hindu Kush when we crossed a 100,000-man army into India? He was a god, Cadmos. Or as close as anything I've ever seen.

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Alternate Versions

A third cut of the film was released in 2007 under the title "Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut". Running at three and a half hours (45 minutes longer than the original).

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Worst Action Movie Box Office Bombs (2020)

User Reviews

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.

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace [United States] Official site [Russia]

Country:

USA UK Germany Netherlands France Italy Morocco Thailand

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 November 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut

Filming Locations:

UK

Box Office

Budget:

$155,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,687,087, 28 November 2004

Gross USA:

$34,297,191

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$167,298,192

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Intermedia Films, Pacifica Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

175 min 167 min (Director's Cut) 214 min (Final Cut) 207 min (Ultimate Cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1