Napoleon (2023)
When Ridley Scott, one of my favorite directors, announced that he would be making a movie about one of history's most influential individuals, I was beyond excited. Despite seeing some negative reviews I marched into the cinema full of positivity but in the end, I walked out with a heavy degree of disappointment. I can understand a film having historical inaccuracies but here, it takes a back seat compared to the poor portrayal of the titular character and the choppy crash course nature this film decided to take.
Napoleon was an educated military genius who has done monumental things in his life after rapidly advancing through military ranks. The first 40 minutes of the film felt like a poorly made PowerPoint presentation that skipped from one year to the next dedicating a couple of minutes to each life episode. By the time he got to Russia, the movie sort of stabilized its haphazard pacing by relying on excellent battle sequences to carry the weight.
Josephine was an important part of his life and certainly deserved some screen time but was the film called Bonaparte family affairs? For some reason it was decided to cram Napoleon's entire life into 2.5 hours. However, instead of developing his personality or dedicating time to actually important events, it wasted time on dreary dialogues in gloomy French mansions and oinking under the table.
Ironically, it's Vanessa Kirby who delivered an enjoyable performance and not Joaquin Phoenix who looked too slow and too old to play the Napoleon. He remained unchanged for decades of his life while having a constantly depressed look. Moreover, he was often made to look weak, stupid and out-of-touch instead of someone who set up order in France while garnering admiration and respect.
Cinematography, costumes and battles were exceptional, as expected of Ridley Scott. Nevertheless, instead of displaying strategical prowess, it often felt like Napoleon was simply attending battles instead of passionately commanding them. It's as if 1 hour of the film was forcibly cut out by the studio interference... much like The Kingdom of Heaven, so I will be expecting the director's cut to fix some problems.
Movieswithoutshmovies on Instagram for honest movie and TV reviews.
When Ridley Scott, one of my favorite directors, announced that he would be making a movie about one of history's most influential individuals, I was beyond excited. Despite seeing some negative reviews I marched into the cinema full of positivity but in the end, I walked out with a heavy degree of disappointment. I can understand a film having historical inaccuracies but here, it takes a back seat compared to the poor portrayal of the titular character and the choppy crash course nature this film decided to take.
Napoleon was an educated military genius who has done monumental things in his life after rapidly advancing through military ranks. The first 40 minutes of the film felt like a poorly made PowerPoint presentation that skipped from one year to the next dedicating a couple of minutes to each life episode. By the time he got to Russia, the movie sort of stabilized its haphazard pacing by relying on excellent battle sequences to carry the weight.
Josephine was an important part of his life and certainly deserved some screen time but was the film called Bonaparte family affairs? For some reason it was decided to cram Napoleon's entire life into 2.5 hours. However, instead of developing his personality or dedicating time to actually important events, it wasted time on dreary dialogues in gloomy French mansions and oinking under the table.
Ironically, it's Vanessa Kirby who delivered an enjoyable performance and not Joaquin Phoenix who looked too slow and too old to play the Napoleon. He remained unchanged for decades of his life while having a constantly depressed look. Moreover, he was often made to look weak, stupid and out-of-touch instead of someone who set up order in France while garnering admiration and respect.
Cinematography, costumes and battles were exceptional, as expected of Ridley Scott. Nevertheless, instead of displaying strategical prowess, it often felt like Napoleon was simply attending battles instead of passionately commanding them. It's as if 1 hour of the film was forcibly cut out by the studio interference... much like The Kingdom of Heaven, so I will be expecting the director's cut to fix some problems.
Movieswithoutshmovies on Instagram for honest movie and TV reviews.