Pan and Slam

Napoleon

R 2h 38m

• Director
  • Ridley Scott
• Writer
  • David Scarpa
• Stars
  • Joaquin Phoenix
  • Vanessa Kirby
  • Tahar Rahim

by Jason Koenigsberg

Ridley Scott, a master filmmaker of big budget spectacles takes on the tumultuous life of Napoleon Bonaparte in his newest film Napoleon reuniting him with Joaquin Phoenix twenty-three years after they last worked together in Gladiator. That was the film that changed both of their careers. It rejuvenated Ridley Scott’s career and launched Joaquin Phoenix into the A-list earning his first of many Academy Award nominations. Gladiator won Best Picture and Phoenix would eventually win a Best Actor trophy and now they reteam for a very different type of big budget picture. This Napoleon is probably not the historical epic most people are expecting from the talent involved. For years back in the 70’s Stanley Kubrick worked tirelessly on a Napoleon movie researching his life yet never shot a single frame. His movie would have looked nothing like this. This Napoleon feels like Ridley Scott was sick and tired of the usual tropes with the over saturation of historical biopics of recent years and added a sarcastic tone to the movie making it feel refreshing and never stale as it easily could have.

The humor laced throughout Napoleon is one of the films greatest strengths along with its lead performances from Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby as his wife Josephine. That acting with the offbeat humor elevates Napoleon into one of more unique cinematic experiences of recent years and that makes it worthy of a recommendation. The historical aspects of Napoleon may not please historians for lack of a better word. It plays like a Cliff Notes version of Napoleon Bonaparte’s military and biographical highlights and lowlights. Unlike many movies nowadays there are no fancy flashbacks. Napoleon follows a linear narrative opening with text about the sad state of France during the early years of the titular Corsican’s military career during the French Revolution. We see Marie Antoinette getting beheaded while Napoleon Bonaparte is looking on as a soldier rising up the ranks. The film shows Robespierre and his reign of terror, Napoleon’s battles at Toulon, the French invasion of Russia, and his defeat at Waterloo. The cinematography is vast and captures the sprawling landscapes with CGI that is not invasive to the eye. It looks beautiful when it needs to, and muddled and gray when the script calls for it to be. The images work thematically and compliment the story and characters. Ridley Scott can still direct great battle sequences and make the action feel right in your face. This music score by Martin Phipps does not accompany the set pieces not as powerfully as Hans Zimmer’s music in previous Ridley Scott movies.

Something that really stands out with Napoleon is the acting and the contentious relationship created between Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby. This is one of the better examples of a movie illustrating how a woman can alter history based on their actions that influence the decisions of men in power. Josephine clearly had that and was a major factor in Napoleon’s victories and failures. Their sexual inadequacies told a humorous narrative of their own and were followed by important scenes where Napoleon as a general or emperor made decisions that impacted European history. Not since The Social Network (2010) has a movie emphasized the importance of male sexual frustrations and how a man’s insecurities have inadvertently changed the world. Those that buy a ticket expecting a triumphant or tragic tale on Napoleon’s historical achievements and failures will be disappointed when they see a lot of the story focuses on his strained masculinity and how that made him the leader he was. This makes Napoleon a more interesting historical biopic than what we have been spoon-fed for recent years in this genre. Napoleon Bonaparte was a complex historical figure and deserves a complex movie based on his life. The final shot is a perfect summation of what Ridley Scott was trying to say about Napoleon mixing the offbeat comedic tones with a tragic moment involving death. I laughed and walked out smiling but as I walked out I heard other grumblings from people in the audience that said “the worst movie I ever saw” and “that it was horrible because they did not have enough history in it”. This Napoleon is clearly not for everyone but if you want to see terrific acting from Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby as well as a unique examination on the biopic about a complex historical figure and masculine insecurity then you will enjoy Ridley Scott’s Napoleon as much as I did.