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.

Intentions:

"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.

Change List:

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.

Additional Notes:

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.

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.

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.