Never let it be said that Ridley Scott (“Alien,” “The Last Duel”) doesn’t want to go big. Most of his films have featured massive battles of some kind or adventures on a grand scale. While he has aimed for a few smaller tales, most of the time the larger the scope or the life of the character, the better. And there have been few figures in history with impacts and egos as big as that of Scott’s latest subject, “Napoleon.”
Expectedly, the film follows the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Joaquin Pheonix (“Joker,” “Walk the Line”), from the beheading of Marie Antoinette through his military career and reign as king until his exile on the island of Saint Helena, heavily featuring his marriage, divorce, and extenuating relationship with his wife Joséphine, played by Vanessa Kirby (The Crown,” “Pieces of a Woman”).
Phoenix and Kirby definitely each bring their own approach to their characters for the film, to varying degrees of effectiveness. While they both fit the sense of what Scott has envisioned, they feel completely at odds with the tone of each other's portrayals. Phoenix plays Napoleon like a self-entitled incel, a manchild who feels entitled to everything around him in spite of his actual abilities. Meanwhile, Kirby plays Joséphine with grace and poise, slowly eroding into frustration and borderline madness due to Napoleon’s treatment of her.
That dichotomy is a great example of what is wrong with Scott’s historical epic at its core. The script from David Scarpa (“The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008),” “All the Money in the World”), and the film as a whole, feels like it has two different approaches to its story with varying degrees of effectiveness and substance. On the one hand, there’s an interesting idea in portraying one of history’s greatest commanders as a complaining manchild. Yet on the other hand, it also tries to still make him seem like a badass beloved by all and neither approach works with the other.
While the battle sequences are epic to behold, and the production design is routinely excellent, a lot of it falls flat due to the poor execution of the story on display. It just feels like a pretty way of putting on a boring story. The cinematography from Dariusz Wolski (“Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “The Martian”) does help in dressing up the film, as does the music from composer Martin Phipps (“The Aftermath,” “The Flying Scotsman”), but it often times just feels like a well put on farce given the portrayals of Napoleon and his achievements. For example, one moment when Napoleon returns to France after being exiled feels particularly silly as he encounters a barrage of French troops at gunpoint, who then break down after confessing that they miss him and then all run up to hug him. It’s fascinating but also feels wildly off from the tone the film is aiming for.
Scott is clearly trying to create a grand historical epic while also infusing it with plenty of coolness, but it's in that historical nature where the film really falters. Yes, most biopics of this kind, especially of subjects this old, do play fast and loose with the truth. However, it feels particularly egregious here given the subject. The film feels remarkably one sided, aligning with the British portrayal of Napoleon in displaying him as a brutish idiot. Yet, even besides that, there are moments that seem purely bizarre, such as watching Napoleon fire cannons on the Pyramids of Giza, structures he’s famously held in high esteem. It once again feels like Scott is simply prioritizing a cool visual moment for one that works to either strengthen the film’s historical accuracy or its depiction of Napoleon.
What you’re left with is a truly
bizarre kind of bad film. It’s gorgeous but also weirdly shallow in its attempt
to deliver a twisted and somewhat falsified portrayal of this man. Its two lead
performances make for a wild balancing act against its fantastic production
design, and it leads to a film that’s just plain messy. It’s certainly never
boring to watch, but it feels like a beast of a film from a man confused about
what exactly he wants to say. 2.5/5
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