Yeah, Ridley Scott really is a massive hit or horrific miss director. The new Napoleon movie from Ridley Scott has really ended up being one of his more questionable historical epics despite its relative box office success.
Well, I guess onto the next Ridley Scott film.
Despite having a lot of hype, huge talent both on screen and behind the camera, and massive historical potential to draw from, Ridley’s Scott latest historical epic, Napoleon, has been a pretty massive let down as the film really has done the impossible by making the great emperor’s life story BORING. And, I hate to say it, but this might be one of Scott’s worst epics.
Now, I don’t want to completely crap on the movie and say it’s a total disaster as that’s not totally accurate. I’m going to stand by saying that the cinematography, costumes, and set designs were top notch and perhaps some of the best of any Ridley Scott film. Seriously, everyone costumes, from the elegant robes and garbs of Napoleon and Josephine to the lowly peasant rags of the background actors, everyone dressed in how you’d expect an 1800’s Frenchmen to look.
Oh, and I will also say that Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon and Vanessa Kirby as Josephine were really good and probably the two best actors out of the entire cast…which isn’t surprising given their status as the leads, but they were still very good. And…that’s about it. The rest of the film is pretty useless.
I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty of the details and weaving plots of the film as it’s still a little too early to have a spoilers discussion, but this film is essentially just the CliffsNotes version of Napoleon’s life put onto the big screen with a $200M budget. Massive events in Napoleon’s life, such as his rise from being a minor Tuscan noble’s son, his rise up the ranks of the French Revolutionary Army, his epic campaign in Italy, most of his conquest of Prussia, Austria, and the Holy Roman Empire, his battles in Spain and Portugal, and his attempts to thwart off the British were cut from the film completely.
I mean, this film goes from one MAJOR historical event, such as Napoleon becoming the commander of the Army of Italy and eventually the First Console of France, him becoming Emperor, and even his invasion of Russia were so condensed and shoved into minor little 3-minute scenes that they might as weel have expected the average movie goer to be a Napoleon expert to understand what was going on.
Literally, if you had no idea who Napoleon was or how he rose to becoming one of the greatest conquerors ever, you’d think Napoleon bought a “free ride to the top of French politics” pass given how QUICKLY this movie jumped ahead decades at a time. And, for those of you wondering why in the hell Ridley Scott made such a horrific narrative sequencing choice, the answer is quite simple: he made this historical epic into a dreadful romance movie.
Yes, as you probably expected given Vanessa Kirby’s massive push as the co-star to Joaquin Phoenix, Josephine was essentially the main character of the movie as her love story with Napoleon took center and really only stage to all other events.
(Sony/Columbia/Apple TV-Napoleon-Final Trailer)
You wanted a cool story about Napoleon’s conquest of Italy or Spain? No, you get Josephine telling Napoleon she’s a player and will be cheating on him whether he likes it or not. You want to see Napoleon duel the greatest tactical minds of his day? No, you get to see Josephine tell Napoleon that he would be nothing without her. Oh, you wanted to see how Napoleon pulled off some of the greatest victories in human history? No, you get to see Napoleon and Josephine whine and fight for 2 hours.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Vanessa Kirby is a brilliant actress, and she did a great job portraying Josephine. Like I said, she was one of the best aspects of the film and is deserving of the praise she has been receiving, but this is a film about Napoleon. You know, arguably the greatest conqueror in human history!?!?!?
Perhaps I’m speaking out of turn, but I really doubt people like me went into this film and wanted to see a 2-hour romance film about two people that probably never acted like they did, said the things they said, and most definitely did not have the same conclusion to their marriage and lives as the movie indicated. I mean, this film had Napoleon freaking about a dying Josephine, who was already long dead before this event happened in real life on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo!
This film is an okay picture if you’re one of the champagne-sipping movie critics, but it’s pretty pathetic for the rest of us. I’m giving it a 5.5/10.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Sony/Columbia/Apple TV) (NAPOLEON – Final Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Sony/Columbia/Apple TV) (NAPOLEON – Final Trailer – YouTube)
