Man, man, man... what a year for Joaquin Phoenix... "Beau is Afraid", despite him doing a great performance, is the most disappointing movie of the year for me, and Napoleon managed to be worse. As I'm not a historian, I won't analyze or criticize any historical inaccuracies here, only the film on its own.
The beginning, where the film fastly tells the audience about the years of horror and the guillotine are genuinely good, the sound job is astonishing, and the battle scenes, from the start to the end, are absolutely epic. But unfortunately my praises about the movie end right now.
Joaquin Phoenix is my favourite actor nowadays, but he's not good as Napoleon. I never saw a great leader on his performance, but a child in a soldier's body. He never passed any sense of grandiosity and leadership that his role requires. And Vanessa Kirby as Empress Josephine is disappointingly uninteresting. Napoleon's second wife (whose name I genuinely forgot) has only one scene and her only functions are marry him and give him his child. The main focus of the film is the romance between Napoleon and Josephine, and it's probably the most boring romance of the year, alongside with Foe.
Ridley Scott's direction here is as childish as Joaquin's performance. The sex scenes are hilarious, this film has the stupid redemption scene I've ever seen in my life, and he seems to treat Napoleon's life like a big theater, like a big circus, where his protagonist is the clown. The cinematography is not bad essentially, but some filter choices would fit a lot better if the director was Wes Anderson. Actually, if the frames were more symmetrical, I could easily say that this was a Napoleon Bonapart satire directed by Wes Anderson, but it's not.
Some people said this film is anti-France, which I strongly disagree, but a movie critic I watch said "probably Ridley Scott used as the base for this story the kids version of the British Encyclopedia articles about Napoleon Bonaparte". And honestly, it's hard to not believe. There are few things as disappointing as watching a 2h40min long biography about someone and feel you learned nothing about the person portrayed. I learned a lot about William Wallace watching Braveheart, I learned a lot about J. Robert Oppenheimer watching Oppenheimer, I even learned about Barbie watching Barbie!
And to finish this review and completely bury this film, were we really in France? I watched Napoleon in a cinema with my uncle, and when we were leaving the session, a man in front of us said "this movie could be in French". He was absolutely correct, this was the most american France I've ever seen. France uses the metric system, nobody adopts a French accent, Napoleon is American and Josephine is British! And it's strange saying this as Ridley Scott 2 years ago directed a masterpiece called The Last Duel, that also takes place in France, but I never felt I was in America. Maybe these feelings in Napoleon happened because Great Britain is a character in the movie as well.
I can't remember when was the last time a movie made me this sad. I think it was when I watched the previously mentioned "Beau is Afraid".
The beginning, where the film fastly tells the audience about the years of horror and the guillotine are genuinely good, the sound job is astonishing, and the battle scenes, from the start to the end, are absolutely epic. But unfortunately my praises about the movie end right now.
Joaquin Phoenix is my favourite actor nowadays, but he's not good as Napoleon. I never saw a great leader on his performance, but a child in a soldier's body. He never passed any sense of grandiosity and leadership that his role requires. And Vanessa Kirby as Empress Josephine is disappointingly uninteresting. Napoleon's second wife (whose name I genuinely forgot) has only one scene and her only functions are marry him and give him his child. The main focus of the film is the romance between Napoleon and Josephine, and it's probably the most boring romance of the year, alongside with Foe.
Ridley Scott's direction here is as childish as Joaquin's performance. The sex scenes are hilarious, this film has the stupid redemption scene I've ever seen in my life, and he seems to treat Napoleon's life like a big theater, like a big circus, where his protagonist is the clown. The cinematography is not bad essentially, but some filter choices would fit a lot better if the director was Wes Anderson. Actually, if the frames were more symmetrical, I could easily say that this was a Napoleon Bonapart satire directed by Wes Anderson, but it's not.
Some people said this film is anti-France, which I strongly disagree, but a movie critic I watch said "probably Ridley Scott used as the base for this story the kids version of the British Encyclopedia articles about Napoleon Bonaparte". And honestly, it's hard to not believe. There are few things as disappointing as watching a 2h40min long biography about someone and feel you learned nothing about the person portrayed. I learned a lot about William Wallace watching Braveheart, I learned a lot about J. Robert Oppenheimer watching Oppenheimer, I even learned about Barbie watching Barbie!
And to finish this review and completely bury this film, were we really in France? I watched Napoleon in a cinema with my uncle, and when we were leaving the session, a man in front of us said "this movie could be in French". He was absolutely correct, this was the most american France I've ever seen. France uses the metric system, nobody adopts a French accent, Napoleon is American and Josephine is British! And it's strange saying this as Ridley Scott 2 years ago directed a masterpiece called The Last Duel, that also takes place in France, but I never felt I was in America. Maybe these feelings in Napoleon happened because Great Britain is a character in the movie as well.
I can't remember when was the last time a movie made me this sad. I think it was when I watched the previously mentioned "Beau is Afraid".
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