Napoleon 2023
Napoleon has been getting decent, but not great, reviews, but seemed like it was worth a look while it is in theaters. It is two and half hours long (an hour shorter than Killers of the Flower Moon) and is almost like two movies cut into one. One is about an hour and half overview of the life of Napoleon and the other is an hour about Napoleon and Josephine's relationship. The overview doesn't go into enough detail and the romance goes into too much. Neither seems to really tell you who Napoleon is. We meet him when he is already in the army, watching the execution of Marie Antoinette (he wasn't actually there; it just gives you an idea of the time period in France's very confusing politics of the era) and then planning his first big military operation where he is promoted from captain to general. He never seems like a psychopath or visionary, just power hungry. While he gains absolute power in France as its emperor, he is mostly involved in war planning, not politics. Despite this, other than his first operation, we don't get much insight into how he planned battles or why he was able to excel in the military. So you end up seeing him on screen for a long time and never feeling like you know much about him. One article I read said maybe he just wasn't that exciting. The movie is still a good introduction to this key figure in history and maybe a decent jumping off point for more research. Joaquin Phoenix seems like an odd choice for the role and sometimes it doesn't seem like a good fit, but again some of that may be how Ridley Scott wanted to present Napoleon. They get the hair and costumes right, so generally he does look like Napoleon.
Written: 28 Nov 2023