#MovieReview: Napoleon is jumbled but fun [Watch]
The French emperor is played by Joaquin Phoenix as a petulant leader whose desperation for power is cause for mockery among the European elite in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Napoleon is less an historical epic than a comedic portrait of a marriage punctuated by occasional battle scenes.
This latest film from Ridley Scott – the king of large scale warfare on screen – is more The House of Gucci than Gladiator in tone.
It has little in common with the ‘great man’ biopics which were once so common in Hollywood, instead making fun of Napoleon and his tendency for warmongering.
The French emperor is played by Joaquin Phoenix as a petulant leader whose desperation for power is cause for mockery among the European elite in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Boastful in public but subservient to his first wife Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby) in private, this version of Napoleon is a small man whose ambition outweighs his grasp.
Considering Napoleon’s global impact and meteoric rise through French military ranks, it is an initially odd tone to set.
But once you click with the satire, it serves up some hilarious moments, made all the more funny by Phoenix’s earnest ‘not in on the joke’ performance.
One gets the feeling that were it not for his indisputable battlefield prowess, Napoleon would be the forgotten child on the playground struggling to fit in.
And although it is not an all-out historical epic, Scott does deliver on his trademark ability to film battles.
The film tracks Napoleon from the French Revolution until his death, a timeline which includes some of history’s most famous conflicts.
Austerlitz is rendered beautifully and Scott puts you in amongst the soldiers with expert coverage that makes you feel the terror first-hand.
Waterloo is similarly excellent and gives the viewer a real feeling of what it was like when warfare was fought in close proximity with bayonets, rather than missiles at the press of a button.
There are clear moments of mastery throughout Napoleon amid some genuine comedy between the two leads.
But it feels too much like two different films to be considered great.
A four-hour cut will be released on a streaming service later this year and may clear up some tonal confusion, but the version that made cinemas is jumbled.
Watch it for a few laughs and to marvel at the battles, but don’t expect a history lesson or to be blown away.
Rated 16 for Language, Violence and Sex.
3/5.
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