Alexander Revisited is the film Stone wanted us to see.Bloody, beautiful and brilliant.

Rating: 10/10 (15 August 2007)

Perhaps my above summary of the final version of Oliver Stone's much maligned and previously much mucked about Alexander may seem over the top.If you've seen the theatrical version and/or the so - called Director's Cut, you ain't seen nothing'yet! I'm a great admirer of Mary Renault's Alexander Trilogy and Robin Lane Fox's Alexander The Great( the result of a lifetime's research by the Oxford history professor who was Stone's chief historical adviser for the film). If you think I'm overrating Stone's meticulously researched,wonderfully well acted and beautifully photographed movie,read Fox's review and article on Wikipedia's entry for Alexander The Great( links ). If you haven't read any of the Renault trilogy(for me she's almost clairvoyant in her uncanny ability to evoke Alexander and his times, especially Book 2 The Persian Boy ( the story of Bagoas, Alexander's eneuch - related as a personal memoir )I urge you to give it a try.It's far superior to the more recent trilogy by the Italian writer Valerio Manfredi, though the translators may be at fault here- but I doubt it. As for Alexander Revisited, please don't judge Stone's movie till you've seen this final 3and a half hour version for yourself.I hope you'll enjoy it this time around.