Napoleon 2023 (Ridley Scott)

In the context of a night out in the city with food, probably yes, but don't count on it for greatness. It wasn't quite as good as my pizza.

Yes. It's gorgeous. The impact of its battles won't be the same on a small screen.

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Yeah, battle scenes look great in trailer.

Saw this earlier today with my buddy Pete (Piledriver here on MoFo). Going in, I figured Phoenix would be the strongest aspect of the film, as he is pretty much money in anything he is in. Oddly, he was probably the weakest link; it was typical Phoenix doing his thing. This film was good, but not great overall. The odd comedic elements made me think that perhaps Ridley drank a bottle of absinthe one night and watched The Favorite four times in a row, afterward glancing around the room all bleary-eyed exclaiming "Say, I can do this!"

While that film was a study in riding the lines between genres, Scott's latest seemed like a director throwing darts at a board in the dark. The dialogue was laugh-out-loud at times, but I wondered if that was the intention or if it was just plain bad. I also agree that the pacing was not great. I was never bored, so it never slowed to a crawl or died off, but for a film that was supposed to be a study of Napolean, I left thinking I still didn't know a ton about the guy. Unclear what Scott was really going for here.

The battles were really well done, especially the infamous drubbing he gave Austria on an icy battlefield. The sets and costumes were all great, but I wondered a few times if perhaps the choice in lighting design was misguided. The film was quite dark. Authentic and convincing lighting for the era was the aim, but man, key lights exist for a reason! Some of the scenes were just too dark, especially in the first act.

Anyway, I was entertained, but I don't see this winning many awards and I doubt I would watch it again.

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I saw Napoleon yesterday and was going to write a review but Sedai has said pretty much everything I was going to say!


It is choppy, sometimes like scenes from the life of Napoleon rather than a continuous story. It felt like it had been cut down from a much longer film. Lots seemed to be missing, people and relationships not shown. Napoleon having a son and heir is such a big deal and then he's never mentioned again, for example.


The tone was odd - not quite a straight, serious drama, but never quite going far enough or fully embracing the possibility for full-on The Favorite craziness either. Part of this is down to Phoenix. I used to like him as an actor very much, but it does feel like he is playing the same quirky oddball manchild with mummy issues and a temper in most of his films recently.


The battle scenes are very well done, everything about the production from the locations to the props to the costumes is well done. I enjoyed Rupert Everett as the Duke of Wellington.


Entertaining but incomplete.

Starts streaming March 1st on AppleTV+

I liked it. Quite a bit actually. The battle scenes were well done. Kirby is also good in this. Probably should have had an Oscar nomination.

There's something wrong with the story, transition from scene to scene, and characterization of Napoleon. I think one flaw involved attempting to cram his whole story into one film.


2 out of 4 stars

Great review @Sedai especially the part about the lighting spot on!


Just read it was cut from 4,5 hours to 2,5 so that explains a lot. Whoever did the cutting is responsible for the uneven flow and structure of the story. That being said there was still enough left to make this an entertaining watch. The cinematography, battle scene choreography, acting, score and production/costume design were all impressive. I'll have to look up my Waterloo (1970) rating before I give this a fair rating.

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