I was fortunate to be in LA when Oliver Stone showed in the theater the Ultimate Cut of the film. He spoke at the beginning about how this version was his ultimate vision for the film after the previous 3 cuts didn't satisfy him. It was great to see on the big screen and having seen all the previous versions, it was the best as far as it made more sense. I do wish it had been a success and hope he puts out a 4k release as the visual are still pretty stunning.
Would love to see a 4k but I worry that the longer cuts of the film are too rough in quality. The extra footage is in rough shape, and sometimes goes worse than DVD quality in some spots. The theatrical and director's cut probably would look great in 4k, but final or ultimate cuts would need lots of love and care and great expense to restore, methinks, though I'd love to see them do it.
6:05 I like how the music changes and becomes kind of tetric as he finally confessed what they did. He dismissed his words saying is "An old fool's rubbish" but it was the plain and horrible truth and the reason why his voice is full of guilt, regret and sadness. They killed him and they did it for the most petty and selfish reasons and that was an awful tragedy.
@@Emy-fv5ny Apparently Vangelis was iffy about releasing expanded scores when he was alive. Preferred a tailored/curated album experience (complete with tracks bleeding together / no clean cuts ughghhgg). Dunno if his estate will let them do more complete releases now, just wish he had come around on it before his passing. :(
@@samuelliragoncalvesliragon4989 The theatrical cut is universally panned as quite horrible. I think the Final Cut and Ultimate Cut hint at a flawed masterpiece. Now sit down.
@@mangomation3945 In your opinion, what is the best version of Alexander (2004)? I would like to know your order of versions from best to worst... In my opinion the theatrical versions are always the best, every director's cut/extended adds unnecessary scenes that were cut for a reason, directors are sentimental about their work if they let them have full control they will want to include all the scenes that were filmed, and editors have jobs for a good reason they put together the best cut concisely and leave unnecessary scenes in the editing room
@@samuelliragoncalvesliragon4989 It's tough. Director's Cut is the only one with the original scripted story structure but it's way too short and cuts out wayyyy too many good moments. Theatrical cut is one of the better ones pacing-wise but has some structural issues and misses some great moments. Final/Ultimate cuts are mostly interchangeable but a bit too long and have different structural issues. I would honestly recommend either watching the theatrical cut or the final/ultimate (whichever you can get your hands on) cuts first time around, depending on if you're down for the full 200+ minute length or not.
@@mangomation3945Which of the four versions do you defend as being the best? I would like to know your arguments regarding the theatrical version, in your opinion why the theatrical version is the best of all I would also like to know what the main negative points of the final and ultimate version are.
“… and if his desire to reconcile Greek and Barbarian ended in failure… What failure! Alexander’s failure towered over other men’s successes. I’ve lived a long life, Kadmas, but the glory and the memory of men will always belong to the ones who follow their great visions; the greatest of these is the one they now call Megas Alexandras, the greatest Alexander of them all.” It gets no better than this ending.
Unfortunately it's unreleased, it's by Vangelis but isn't on the album. Some people have tried to isolate the music though. I've seen people upload it under the name Megas Alexandros or Alexandria.
The Director's Cut was the second cut to come out, and it's the only cut of the film that has the correct structure without any re-ordering of scenes, though it still shifts some lines from the epilogue back to the prologue like the theatrical cut does. At the time, the idea was to restore the film's correct order as well as a few cut scenes, but the director also elected to trim the movie down to make it faster-paced in response to criticisms, as well as catering to homophobic reactions to the film by cutting out much of the gay content. The Final Cut in 2007 was, by comparison, a wildly different new cut with tons of new footage, and with the gay content reinstated and even expanded compared to the theatrical cut. The Ultimate Cut is slightly shorter than the Final Cut, and is just a minor tweak, though it restores the last line of the film to 'Greatest Alexander of them all' instead of 'Greatest of them all' as in the Final Cut. The ultimate cut is also the only cut that is fully uncensored violence-wise, containing more footage of a bull being sacrificed. The Final and Ultimate cuts unfortunately both place the big battle scene at the start of the film though, which messes with the film's original intended narrative structure. It's a gigantic web of differences really, and I think the ideal cut would be somewhere between all the different cuts, with the Director's Cut's structure used for the order of scenes.
@@Sqk. I'm in the process myself, but it's very rough and it'll take time. One day when I settle how to work with surround sound audio better I may try and make a truly polished fancut, but for now it'll just be a rough test cut, albeit one edited to the best of my abilities.
@@mangomation3945 oh, wow, i hope it goes well just wondering, where did you get the footage for all of these? do you have all of the physical releases of these cuts ripped or are they selected clips from online or something?
@@Sqk. I have all the different cuts ripped from physical! The Final and Ultimate cuts are available on BD easily in the US/Canada, and the Director's Cut is DVD-only but can be found for cheap on ebay and such. The theatrical cut was briefly included as a bonus feature on the ultimate cut's limited edition box set, but the same disc was re-used for the UK blu-ray which is region-free, so you can get that cut from there. Theatrical cut is by far the best-looking cut out of all of them, the final/ultimate cuts have artificial degraining that makes the image appear blurrier, and for some unknown reason there's a single shot in the prologue that becomes worse in quality than even the DVDs in the final/ultimate BDs. Thankfully though the problem is isolated to just that one shot.
i have looked all over the internet and i cannot find a version of the ultimate cut that is region 2, or compatible with systems in europe, could anyone give their thoughts on this please
The reason the ultimate cut wasn't released in Europe is because no foreign language dubs exist for it. Theatrical cut was re-released on blu-ray instead because that's what all the dubs were done for. However! The North American Blu-Ray of the ultimate cut isn't region locked and will play on your player if you import it.
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I was fortunate to be in LA when Oliver Stone showed in the theater the Ultimate Cut of the film. He spoke at the beginning about how this version was his ultimate vision for the film after the previous 3 cuts didn't satisfy him. It was great to see on the big screen and having seen all the previous versions, it was the best as far as it made more sense. I do wish it had been a success and hope he puts out a 4k release as the visual are still pretty stunning.
Would love to see a 4k but I worry that the longer cuts of the film are too rough in quality. The extra footage is in rough shape, and sometimes goes worse than DVD quality in some spots. The theatrical and director's cut probably would look great in 4k, but final or ultimate cuts would need lots of love and care and great expense to restore, methinks, though I'd love to see them do it.
6:05 I like how the music changes and becomes kind of tetric as he finally confessed what they did. He dismissed his words saying is "An old fool's rubbish" but it was the plain and horrible truth and the reason why his voice is full of guilt, regret and sadness.
They killed him and they did it for the most petty and selfish reasons and that was an awful tragedy.
Real tragedy is that this film has never gotten a complete soundtrack release. None of the music from these scenes is on the album! Huge shame.
@@mangomation3945 I hate when they do that 😒
@@Emy-fv5ny Apparently Vangelis was iffy about releasing expanded scores when he was alive. Preferred a tailored/curated album experience (complete with tracks bleeding together / no clean cuts ughghhgg). Dunno if his estate will let them do more complete releases now, just wish he had come around on it before his passing. :(
The Ultimate Cut is probably the definitive version of Alexander.
Theatrical cut is better than ultimate cut
@@samuelliragoncalvesliragon4989
The theatrical cut is universally panned as quite horrible. I think the Final Cut and Ultimate Cut hint at a flawed masterpiece. Now sit down.
Could you upload the differences in the scene of Cleitus’ death and King Phillips assassination?
I'll see about it sometime! Thank you for commenting.
@@mangomation3945 In your opinion, what is the best version of Alexander (2004)? I would like to know your order of versions from best to worst... In my opinion the theatrical versions are always the best, every director's cut/extended adds unnecessary scenes that were cut for a reason, directors are sentimental about their work if they let them have full control they will want to include all the scenes that were filmed, and editors have jobs for a good reason they put together the best cut concisely and leave unnecessary scenes in the editing room
@@samuelliragoncalvesliragon4989 It's tough. Director's Cut is the only one with the original scripted story structure but it's way too short and cuts out wayyyy too many good moments. Theatrical cut is one of the better ones pacing-wise but has some structural issues and misses some great moments. Final/Ultimate cuts are mostly interchangeable but a bit too long and have different structural issues. I would honestly recommend either watching the theatrical cut or the final/ultimate (whichever you can get your hands on) cuts first time around, depending on if you're down for the full 200+ minute length or not.
@@mangomation3945Which of the four versions do you defend as being the best? I would like to know your arguments regarding the theatrical version, in your opinion why the theatrical version is the best of all
I would also like to know what the main negative points of the final and ultimate version are.
“… and if his desire to reconcile Greek and Barbarian ended in failure… What failure! Alexander’s failure towered over other men’s successes. I’ve lived a long life, Kadmas, but the glory and the memory of men will always belong to the ones who follow their great visions; the greatest of these is the one they now call Megas Alexandras, the greatest Alexander of them all.”
It gets no better than this ending.
The name of the song since 08:34 please ?
Unfortunately it's unreleased, it's by Vangelis but isn't on the album. Some people have tried to isolate the music though. I've seen people upload it under the name Megas Alexandros or Alexandria.
@@mangomation3945 thank you so much, i found it here on youtube, thank you thank you thank you
why does the Director’s Cut cut out so much?
did the director really consider so much footage as unnecessary?
The Director's Cut was the second cut to come out, and it's the only cut of the film that has the correct structure without any re-ordering of scenes, though it still shifts some lines from the epilogue back to the prologue like the theatrical cut does. At the time, the idea was to restore the film's correct order as well as a few cut scenes, but the director also elected to trim the movie down to make it faster-paced in response to criticisms, as well as catering to homophobic reactions to the film by cutting out much of the gay content.
The Final Cut in 2007 was, by comparison, a wildly different new cut with tons of new footage, and with the gay content reinstated and even expanded compared to the theatrical cut. The Ultimate Cut is slightly shorter than the Final Cut, and is just a minor tweak, though it restores the last line of the film to 'Greatest Alexander of them all' instead of 'Greatest of them all' as in the Final Cut. The ultimate cut is also the only cut that is fully uncensored violence-wise, containing more footage of a bull being sacrificed. The Final and Ultimate cuts unfortunately both place the big battle scene at the start of the film though, which messes with the film's original intended narrative structure.
It's a gigantic web of differences really, and I think the ideal cut would be somewhere between all the different cuts, with the Director's Cut's structure used for the order of scenes.
@@mangomation3945very interesting. thank you. i wonder if at some point someone has attempted to make an ‘ideal’ cut
@@Sqk. I'm in the process myself, but it's very rough and it'll take time. One day when I settle how to work with surround sound audio better I may try and make a truly polished fancut, but for now it'll just be a rough test cut, albeit one edited to the best of my abilities.
@@mangomation3945 oh, wow, i hope it goes well
just wondering, where did you get the footage for all of these? do you have all of the physical releases of these cuts ripped or are they selected clips from online or something?
@@Sqk. I have all the different cuts ripped from physical! The Final and Ultimate cuts are available on BD easily in the US/Canada, and the Director's Cut is DVD-only but can be found for cheap on ebay and such. The theatrical cut was briefly included as a bonus feature on the ultimate cut's limited edition box set, but the same disc was re-used for the UK blu-ray which is region-free, so you can get that cut from there. Theatrical cut is by far the best-looking cut out of all of them, the final/ultimate cuts have artificial degraining that makes the image appear blurrier, and for some unknown reason there's a single shot in the prologue that becomes worse in quality than even the DVDs in the final/ultimate BDs. Thankfully though the problem is isolated to just that one shot.
i have looked all over the internet and i cannot find a version of the ultimate cut that is region 2, or compatible with systems in europe, could anyone give their thoughts on this please
The reason the ultimate cut wasn't released in Europe is because no foreign language dubs exist for it. Theatrical cut was re-released on blu-ray instead because that's what all the dubs were done for. However! The North American Blu-Ray of the ultimate cut isn't region locked and will play on your player if you import it.
@@mangomation3945 for real, cus i saw one guy from the UK selling it on ebay
Kinda sad that they didn't film Olympias's execution!
Hellenic civilization open to all, watching the Olympics now ...