Immersive action, stellar costume design and lavish practical sets. All thwarted by a combination of wacky/ignorant directorial decisions.
I introduce to you, Napoleon. Ridley Scott’s second historical foray within the space of 3 years! (The Last Duel)
Scott is at his unapologetic peak, composing a biopic about one of the most infamous figures throughout history, one littered with overly dramatised, factually inaccurate and downright laughable depictions of recorded events. Instead his portrayal of the French emperor chooses to focus on visceral, intense, and epic set pieces.
There is somewhat of a method to Scott’s madness, as the movie’s 2hr 38min runtime rockets by faster than a canon at Waterloo. The aforementioned ‘epic set pieces’ work in tandem with great dynamic sound design and visuals that never allow you to truly catch your breathe, creating a sense of anxiety and distrust of your surroundings, mirrored in Joaquin Phoenix' portrayal of the titular character.
Without the utilisation of a French accent, a jarring detail that has to be noted as one of Scott’s strange directorial decisions, paired with a painfully poor script and hard to decipher dialogue, Phoenix manages to develop the French emperor’s notorious inferiority complex and unrivalled arrogance, although at times, his attempt comes off as aloof or disingenuous which just reads as flat disinterest. A stark contrast to Vanessa Kirby’s Joséphine de Beauharnais. Battling against all the same problems as Phoenix, Kirby avoids the temptation to subdue her performance and instead flourishes in the role of temptress, empress and friend to Napoleon. If the lack of historical accuracy, simple fade transitions and style over substance is the butt of the movie, the beautiful bosom, of which there are many present during the Napoleonic era, is her performance.
If I was to bullet point the movie and subsequently this review, it would look something like this…
Pros - AWESOME BATTLES; GREAT INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES; BEAUTIFUL COSTUMES AND SETS…
Cons - Everything else…
All though this review may seem overly negative, it still manages to pick up the Samueltheartist recommendation, not to be confused with the seal of approval. As Napoleon, for a sit down viewing, large screen format, paired with a decent sound system and a bit of popcorn after the kids have gone to bed, is worth it for the action sequences alone. Scott even manages to sprinkle some comedy a top of realistic moments of lunacy. The film just could have been so much more…
