I was originally going to see Ridley Scott’s new Napoleon movie this past Sunday, but after going out four days in a row, I wanted one day on my extended weekend where I could just stay in. I wasn’t necessarily in a rush. As a director, I find Scott can be very hit or miss. When he does have something great, like Alien or even the recent The Last Duel, there’s generally a part of me that thinks the movie is really good but not great. But when I reviewed his filmography, I saw a lot more forgettable works than good ones. As such, I wasn’t really in a rush to see Napoleon but figured I should anyway. I usually like Joaquin Phoenix’s work if nothing else, and decided to take in a Monday night showing.
Yeah, that was maybe not the smartest move given the run time and what the movie is actually about.
Opening with the arrest and execution of Marie Antoinette, the movie brings in Napoleon Bonaparte (Phoenix) as an ambitious man who doesn’t want to be seen as a Corsican roughian. He does manage to take a harbor fort from the British, showcasing his tactical skills and military brilliance. Not long after that, he meets Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), a woman recently released from prison after the end of the Reign of Terror. She’s a widow, her late husband being of the nobility, and has two children of her own. She quickly enchants Napoleon, and the two eventually marry.
As it is, Napoleon rises through the ranks of French society. A popular man among the people, he’s often brought into others’ schemes when he doesn’t take a suggestion or two from someone like Talleyrand (Paul Rhys in his second shifty role of the weekend considering he’s also the suspicious butler in Saltburn). None of that really matters as the one thing Napoleon really cares about more than anything else in his life is Josephine. The biggest problem there is she seems to be incapable of having a baby by him. And sometimes there’s a battle.
OK, that “sometimes there’s a battle” thing may sound flippant, but given the way this movie was advertised, it’s also pretty appropriate: most of this movie seems focused on Napoleon’s feelings for Josephine. His conquest of much of Europe isn’t depicted, and most of his battlefield tactics aren’t shown much at all. There are some big battles–particularly Waterloo–but the movie’s focus isn’t on those moments. They’re on Napoleon and Josephine. Many of the decisions Napoleon makes in the movie are because of Josephine for one reason or another, and Phoenix plays Napoleon as an insecure, mealy-mouthed man who just wants her by his side even when things become politically untenable. Did Napoleon want the crown of France? Well, I’m not 100% sure. He doesn’t say no to it. How did he develop his battlefield strategies? The movie doesn’t say. He doesn’t sleep around, his feelings for his second wife are never looked at beyond the pragmatic, and the movie itself isn’t all that exciting.
Then there’s Vanessa Kirby. Does her Josephine love Napoleon or is she afraid she might lose her position or something? I’m not sure there either. Her performance doesn’t really suggest what feelings she has for the emperor one way or the other many times, and even when her character voices the idea that she does, I never quite believed it. It’s not a bad performance, but the movie itself has problems. For example, I did mention Josephine had two children by her first marriage before she even met Napoleon. It wasn’t until late in the movie that I realized two adult characters hanging around in the background and often saying nothing we supposed to be children grown up because they have no real impact on the movie. I’ve seen that Ridley Scott doesn’t care if historians call his movie historically inaccurate, and that’s fine. It’s a work of fiction, and he can use it to explore the characters however he chooses. I just found the movie itself only sporadically engaging as a result of what he did do.
Grade: C+
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