Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
Marie Antoinette has just been beheaded in the town square for all to witness, including a young man named Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix). In just a few short years, he will go from nobody to the Emperor of France, with an incredible battle record to boot.
Director Ridley Scott chronicles the rise and fall of this legendary ruler and military genius alongside the relationship he shared with his future wife, Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby). While he does not shy away from the controversies Napoleon found himself in the middle of, Scott hones-in specifically on a small number of battles this larger-than-life character had instrumental involvement in.
And historical accuracy be damned, if that sounds like a good time at the movies, then stop reading and rush out to watch NAPOLEON. It is the kind of epic that only a madman like Scott could create and has some of the most incredibly staged and brutally violent battle scenes I have seen in a very, very long time. A scene teased in the trailers involving Napoleon‘s men having the high ground on an army who fail to notice the icy ground beneath them is absolutely magnificent to watch. The look and feel of the ensuing chaos are among some of the finest sequences Scott has gifted us in his nearly six decades of crafting motion pictures. The spectacular Sound Design practically explodes out of the speakers and is likely why my ears are still ringing nearly a week after watching.
Outside of these awesome battle scenes however, NAPOLEON is a bit of a boring and dragged-out mess. It hits the ground running and never lets up, introducing ideas and characters recklessly or falling into them with no frame of reference whatsoever. Worse, it moves on from many of these scenes all too quickly, leaving anyone with minimal background in all things Napoleon and 19th century French politics confused and bewildered. It feels genuinely choppy at many points and rather sloppy in comparison to the laser-like precision of the battle scenes, How this could happen when the Film is so long already is a bit of a mystery, until you hear that Scott has prepped a 4.5-hour version he plans to release once the Film hits AppleTV+. While NAPOLEON getting a Director’s Cut is completely unsurprising given Scott’s track record, it seems especially egregious in this case as it feels like he excised entire relevant sections of the Movie just so he could hit an arbitrary runtime.
Which is a real shame because both Phoenix and Kirby are terrific in their roles and have solid chemistry. That goodwill is nearly meaningless though once you notice their bad habit of coming off as completely bipolar and/or enigmatic in many of their actions and reactions. Joséphine specifically chastises Napoleon for his relationship with his mother, yet we never really see why. An entire Subplot involving Joséphine‘s affair with a younger man goes practically unresolved, even though it is plainly obvious there are missing scenes that would have better elaborated on it. Knowing that many of these issues and more will be resolved when the Director’s Cut drops is nice and all, but if your movie already feels too long and chopped to ribbons at 157 minutes, I cannot imagine adding two extra hours on top of that is really that exciting a prospect.
Sir Ridley Scott turns 86 in just over a week and the audacity and verve of making a flawed historical epic like NAPOLEON at his tenure is still worth celebrating. Just temper your expectations when it comes to anything that is not one of the outstanding battle scenes.
Sony Pictures Canada and Apple Original Films release NAPOLEON in theatres on Wednesday, November 22, 2023.
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