After being abused by first the theatrical release of Alexander (175 minutes), then the inevitable "director's cut" (166 minutes), I approached Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut with major trepidation. Oliver Stone believes this latest version of his bloated, often unwatchable epic to be the finest one yet produced—the one truest to his original intentions—and though it's been entertaining watching Stone attempt to fully flesh out his turkey, believing that this time, for sure, people won't fail to understand its greatness, well... I only have so many hours on this planet, and 220 minutes is not something I cheerily squander.

Thankfully, Stone has taken steps to make easing into Alexander a bit easier this go around. Most notably, he's moved the battle of Gaugamela, which finds Alexander artfully dividing the enemy's army with a risky cavalry gambit, to much earlier in the picture, adding a little bang to what had been a first act of tedious windbaggery. The predictable last-rites opening and Anthony Hopkins's scenery consumption still kick things into gear, but at least now the film doesn't deflate shortly thereafter. As a fix, it's pretty obvious—the action set pieces have always been Alexander's strong suit, and Stone has amped the grisly fare now that the MPAA is out of the picture—but that's enough to keep you from reaching for the bottle of Sominex.

As for Stone's other changes, the majority of which pad and shuffle, they mostly succeed. By severely tampering with the film's structure—fewer lectures in the first act, sprinkling the spectacle throughout instead of building up to it—The Final Cut has improved over both the original and the second cut. Best of all, Alexander's casual bisexuality, cruelly excised from the first director's cut in a fit of gay panic, has been restored; since Alexander's dalliances with smooth-skinned boys was the best thing about the original, their return is definitely welcome.

Still, for all Stone's incessant tinkering, Alexander's core flaws remain, beginning with Colin Farrell, whose underwhelming presence fatally undermines the film's attempted grandeur. His voice is too timid, and the sight of him astride a horse verges on comical: Farrell comes across as unable to rouse an army to dinner, let alone into the pitch of battle (when Alexander asks his lover Hephaistion [Jared Leto] whether he is "weak or divine," Farrell's performance has already provided the answer). And Val Kilmer, as his father Philip, doesn't do him any favors, routinely out-acting—and out-classing, and surely out-bombasting—Farrell throughout his otherwise inflated cameo. Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut (please let that subtitle be true) may be the superior of the three versions, but no amount of altering can make up for a film that was doomed during the casting stages. Stone has admitted he was wrong twice now, and for that he deserves credit. Unfortunately, for all his desperation—and three cuts of any film is a definite sign of desperation—it's an error he can never fully correct.

brad@thestranger.com