Which are some of the most under-rated Hollywood movies of all times?
Oliver Stone’s 2004 epic biopic Alexander.
It was Oliver Stone’s ultimate passion project — he had been fascinated by Alexander the Great since he first read a book about the ancient conqueror as a young boy. He wanted to make the film into something epic in scope, something truly grand. Alexander, not just as the near-mythological warrior-king, but as a flawed imperialist building an empire that couldn’t possibly last. As a man who lived his life as a legend, destined to die young, knowing with his every move that he would leave his mark in ways no man ever had before and no man ever would or could since…
Colin Farrell (Alexander) and director Oliver Stone, 2004
Epic films of such a scope weren’t financially viable when Stone first dreamed up his film back in the 1980s… it wasn’t until the success of Gladiator in 2000 that he finally managed to get the funding to bring his grand vision to life, with a budget of 155 million dollars. He got himself a solid cast, not a perfect cast, mind you, but a solid cast. He got an amazing soundtrack by famous Greek composer Vangelis, seriously a thing of great beauty… honestly, things were off to a great start.
Alexander and his Bactrian wife Roxana
The scenery was gorgeous. And the eye for detail Oliver Stone showed was remarkable — from the costumes to the armour, the weapons, the horses, the military tactics, Alexander’s personal bravery and frequent injuries. Hell, he even got the curled beard of Darius III of Persia right!
The curled beard of Darius III, looking like a statue breathed to life
With a soundtrack this good, with Colin Farrell as a competent lead who portrayed Alexander convincingly and Val Kilmer making an excellent Philip II, it was promising. Having an elderly Ptolemy, founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, narrate the story was a nice touch. And having elderly Ptolemy played by Sir Anthony Hopkins was an even nicer touch… Angelina Jolie was a bit of an odd choice to play Alexander’s mother, given her age at the time of shooting. But she made her often overly dramatic lines (“In my womb, I carried my avenger!”) work because say of her what you will, she is a fine actress.
What ultimately killed the film was the studio forcing Oliver Stone to make a LOT of cuts. To keep the runtime under three hours, he was forced to remove countless scenes, eventually taking out some forty minutes of footage and messing up the story’s chronology. It still was a fine film but nowhere near as good as it could have been, had they allowed Stone to carry out his grand vision of a film kind of like a 2000s hommage to Lawrence of Arabia set in Antiquity, with undertones of criticism of modern imperialism. Much like Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven, Oliver Stone’s Alexander deserved to do far better than it did. A masterpiece butchered on the editing table, a flop that could have been a contender.
