Napoleon – A Rock Solid Historical Epic

Napoleon is the newest historical epic from acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott and his 28^th feature film as a director in a career spanning over 40 years. Napoleon follows the checkered rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (Phoenix) and his relentless journey to power through his addictive, volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine (Kirby). Scott is one of the greatest directors of all time and a new film from him always feels like an event. He’s become a little more hit or miss over the past few decades, but his batting average is still reasonably strong, and the film arguably delivers some of his most entertaining and surprisingly funniest work in years. It is a rock-solid historical epic that audiences rarely see made anymore and one that hopefully performs well enough financially to warrant studios greenlighting more epics of its kind.

Its battle sequences are worth the price of admission alone and each one is a gripping experience. These sequences are epic to watch and each one is more massive and visceral than the last. While Scott fully immerses audiences into these battles, he also doesn’t hold back on the brutality of the time period whatsoever. As brilliantly-staged as the action is, learning about Napoleon as a person and seeing more of his personal life outside of the many battles he fought is just as fascinating and engaging, especially his marriage to Josephine which was arguably the strongest aspect of the film and should’ve had more screen time devoted to it. That being said, it covers a lot of ground in its near 3-hour runtime and while some sections and plotlines are better than others, as a whole, is always at the very least entertaining and interesting to watch.

Meanwhile, it’s nice to see its large budget put to really good use. Like all of Scott’s past epics, it features exceptional technical work to bring the time period to life and make it that much more memorable. The visual effects are also good and not nearly as noticeable as one would think. Phoenix is one of the most fascinating and best working actors in Hollywood, and he delivers another strong performance as Napoleon. His portrayal of the character is a lot different than what audiences may expect based on the trailers as he is surprisingly very funny plays perfectly into everything the character requires. Though as great as Pheonix is, Kirby as Josephine is the real standout of the film. She makes Josephine even more compelling and layered than what’s on the page and shares terrific chemistry with Phoenix. Every scene they share are among the best in the film, especially when they go head-to-head. The film just needed more of that dynamic and Kirby in general.

As solid as it is, there are some considerable flaws with it that hold it back from being in the same league as some of Scott’s past work. The biggest issue is how it feels like a collection of scenes and events without much connective tissue tying them together. While this gives the film an episodic feel and structure, scenes don’t flow into each other or connect as well as they should. It also causes time jumps that can come off as a little jarring. Like a lot of recent lengthy titles, it suffers from some second half pacing issues. However, Scott’s announced 4-hour long director’s cut would likely clear up a lot of these issues, but some major events in the film aren’t given enough focus or attention despite their large impact on the story while others could have been removed altogether. As mentioned, the film is surprisingly funny for a historical epic which is more than welcome but that can sometimes distract from the serious tone the film is going for. It’s also already been pointed out that this film contains numerous historical inaccuracies so for those who are easily bothered by that, they might want to go into this with caution.

In the end, Napoleon isn’t quite the homerun it could’ve been but is still a worthwhile and very well-crafted effort from Ridley Scott and further proof he’s still got the goods at age 85. It may be far from his best or most iconic film in his long career but it is one of his most accessible and audience-friendly efforts in close to a decade and is definitely worth a watch.

still courtesy of Apple

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/