Napoleon (2023)

Napoleon (2023)

A biopic of epic scale and spectacle, Napoleon suffers from uneven pacing and unfocused storytelling

November 29, 2023

5 minutes

2023 Movies, Apple Tv +, Historical Drama, Joaquin Phoenix, Movie Review, Napoleon, New Releases, Reel Interpretations, Ridley Scott, Rotten Tomatoes, Vanessa Kirby

Destiny brought me here. Destiny brought me to this review and destiny brought me this lamb chop. But unfortunately, destiny didn’t cover the sale of the Louisiana Purchase. Kidding. Destiny shows off its arrogance, callousness and inability to empathize with other cultures as cannons destroy one of the seven wonders of the world while making a mockery of that cultures faith. Destiny is troublesome and insincere. Destiny is a complex named after itself.

What can be expected of a Ridley Scott directed historical drama remains constant in his newest effort Napoleon. Large breathtaking backdrops, masterfully crafted action sequences and a juxtaposition between spectacle sized scale that draws comparison to the early biblical epics with a personal and intimate touch during the quieter moments of reflection. Scott has it down to a science – bringing larger than life figures to the foreground and putting their lives under a microscope, all their flaws, insecurities, aspirations and motivations for becoming who they are.

Of course, the entire life of Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) can’t be told in 157 minutes. There’s just no way. Scott and writer David Scarpa condense the life of the complexed Bonaparte down to his adult life beginning with him as a general of the French army at the Siege of Toulon where he demonstrated his skill as a military tactician. After that, Scarpa’s screenplay introduces Napoleon’s love interest and eventual wife Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby), going back and forth between Napoleon and his many conquests, his tumultuous marriage, and his harsh tenure as Emperor of France.

Because of the constant switching of events, Napoleon never gets its footing set long enough to tell a complete story. Scarpa skips years ahead, going from conquest to conquest, from gaining allies in one scene to fierce enemies in the next without so much as an explanation for the sudden change. Momentum starts and stops giving the pacing of the film a rougher battle to go up against than what Napoleon makes his troops endure. For the 157 minutes, the length feels at least 3 times that, giving the film an unfocused and incomplete feel. We’re only seeing moments of these major events, fragmented out and edited down to make a longer film shorter than it once was.

Where the major battles shown are akin to Gladiator, epic in scope, bloody and full of triumph, the transitions halt the momentum gained and are given a narration between Napoleon and Joséphine to catch us up. But it just adds to frustration of following a story that’s 5 chapters ahead, drawing out a narrative that could have benefitted from tighter editing. A longer length doesn’t mean the film will be any better. The same stop start storytelling method is present in 2021’s The Last Duel. There Scott told the same narrative from 3 different point of views – right as the momentum gets comfortable, the film pauses and restarts from the beginning.

As the famed Emperor of France, Phoenix turns in an outstandingly layered performance of a person who saw himself above everyone else. Regardless of if there is no French being spoken and Napoleon is using an American accent. Napoleon could have benefitted from its characters speaking in the native language or a hybrid of multiple languages to give the sense of authenticity. Phoenix perfectly channels the stature of Napoleon adding nuance and dimension through the characters flaws and insecurities.

I cannot tell if it was intentional or not with the editing, but I noticed one of Napoleon’s flaws is being a hypocrite. In one scene he proclaims he’s perfect and has no faults and the very next scene he’s claiming he’s insecure. But still, leave it to Phoenix to effortlessly convey a wide range of emotions through the gaze we’re given into this human. If anything, Phoenix humanizes this conqueror, giving him a heft to sympathize with his few sincere moments.

Opposite Phoenix is a scene stealing performance from Vanessa Kirby. She makes Joséphine easily accessible, being the driving force for Napoleon to conquer the world. Majority of Kirby’s acting is done with her eyes – the looks she gives can kill and her soft speech can make an emperor quiver. Together, the two don’t quite have the natural chemistry but as the film jumps ahead decades, Phoenix and Kirby settle into their roles. Elsewhere, the supporting cast don’t offer much to write home about. It’s a revolving door of characters that are never given enough screentime to truly see them develop and the time jumps doesn’t do the supporting cast any favors either.

Napoleon misses the mark in retelling the story of a man who is deeply flawed but never saw himself as such. While the battles, their choreography and design are absolutely breathtaking, the melodramatic moments are a chore to get through. I found myself counting where the film could end before it actually does. Visually, the production design is immaculate, bringing the late 18^th century and early 19^th to life, filling the screen with as many details as possible. One of those details is the lighting the darks contrasting the natural lighting of the sky. Composer Martin Phipps’ score bellows out, perfectly complementing the man with a complete disregard for life other than his own.