Ridley Scott returns to the big screen after a two-year gap from his last two pictures – The Last Duel and House of Gucci. Both of them were released without too much fanfare and certainly had their flaws upon release. Looking back, House of Gucci is definitely my favorite of the two, but Napoleon failed to capture even half as much goodwill from the audience. The lack of historical accuracy has been consistently cited as the main detractor for this movie but there are several other glaring issues throughout its 2-hour and 38-minute runtime.
Scott has never been concerned with historical accuracy at the cost of telling (what he believes to be) a good story. Look at Gladiator for example. It’s nowhere near historically accurate either – it borrows a couple of cool names and locations, but it’s largely fiction. But Scott weaves these names and locations together in front of the lens to create a compelling and entertaining story. The same is true about Kingdom of Heaven. And The Last Duel. And a dozen other historical dramas from other directors. Why this has become such a point of contention for Napoleon is beyond me.
…it’s largely fiction.
Putting historical accuracy aside, Scott attempted to use the same template with Napoleon. Only this time, the result is a total bait and switch. The focus of the story is not Napoleon’s charismatic rise to fame and fortune in Revolutionary France. Nor is it about his prowess on the battlefield as a commander. If you watched any of the marketing material available, you’d be forgiven for thinking it would be either of those two things.
It’s about how his feelings got hurt when Josephine was sleeping around with other nobles while he was away and couldn’t ever let it go. It’s important to who he was as a person, there’s no denying that. But while that can be an interesting story with different historical figures or even purely fictional ones, it’s the least interesting part about Napoleon’s whole life. I don’t know who to blame – the marketing machine for cutting the misleading trailers or Ridley Scott himself for focusing on the wrong aspects of Napoleon’s life to make a movie about.
…it’s the least interesting part.
The problem I have is that Napoleon’s fascination with Josephine IS interesting. It is dramatic. But it’s not interesting enough to put it center stage in a movie this long. And I sure as hell am not going to waste my time with another director’s cut. Especially one that’s paywalled behind yet another streaming service that I’m not interested in.
The worst part is that Scott still sprinkled in bits and pieces of epic dramatized history. The pieces that were included were excellent – scale and spectacle are Scott’s best filmmaking strengths. There just wasn’t nearly enough of it. If somebody else was at the helm of this movie, I bet we would have gotten a sub-2-hour movie about the courting and backstabbing between on-again off-again monarchs and their court.
Scott’s baffling decisions continue by directing Joaquin Phoenix to portray the titular character as a sex-crazed maniac. There are multiple scenes where Phoenix makes animal noises and rattles off several strange remarks that are the farthest thing from sexy, by modern or revolutionary standards. It’s like nobody could make up their minds about what this movie should be. It just comes off as weird and offputting. There are also several sex scenes that made me and I assume the rest of the audience uncomfortable.
Phoenix’s performance is well below his standard and Vanessa Kirby is just OK. Neither of them would have been my first choice for their respective roles but I don’t blame them entirely for the end result. I think both were hamstrung by the writing and direction provided by people sitting behind the camera. The supporting cast is shockingly weak, with zero notable performances.
It just comes off as weird and offputting.
The only saving grace for this movie is that it was financed by Apple Studios and they essentially gave Ridley Scott a blank check. The cinematography was visually stunning, with impressive transitions and excellent colors. I loved how Napoleon looked. But that’s about the only nice thing I can say.
Napoleon is just not what I was hoping for as a fan of history. I can accept historically inaccurate when the drama is well-written and compelling but this was neither. As a result, it enters the realm of mediocrity where it will reside forever because I doubt I’ll ever watch it again.
Score: 64/100
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Released: 2023
Studio: Apple Studios
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby