_{By: Amanda Guarragi}

In recent years, Sir Ridley Scott has reached a level of inconsistency with his storytelling. He was once a filmmaker who broke boundaries and knew how to create the perfect heroic story. From Alien to Blade Runner to Gladiator, he was a director people were excited to watch. However, in the 2010s, Scott’s direction for his films began to change and lacked the same precision as the films before. There are some exceptions, like The Martian and Prometheus, but nothing came close to the quality of his earlier films. It’s hard to even follow up on those iconic three films. It’s not like Scott isn’t trying to find his footing again because The Last Duel does exist. However, films like House of Gucci and now Napoleon are examples of passionless filmmaking that is unlike him. When Scott believes in an idea, the results are extraordinary. And for some reason, the films he chooses to work on don’t have that sense of urgency. There was such excitement for Napoleon because he was making a historical epic that we have seen from him before. Sadly, there was nothing epic about Napoleon. 

The film is about the rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix). Scott hits the cliff notes of his rise to power that spans almost two decades. There is an attempt to highlight the character traits of Napoleon as Phoenix has a sour, uninterested face for the entire film, but there is still no sense of who he is other than what the textbooks tell us. The character of Napoleon was one-dimensional and didn’t go past the surface level. What drives Napoleon? He was a general in the French army before British members of Parliament upset him with their words about France, but why did he care? He cared about his country and wanted to go to war with everyone who looked down upon them. Scott’s vision for battle sequences did shine through. Those moments were probably the most rewarding from the two-hour and thirty-eight-minute runtime. Even though the battles were executed well, with aerial shots and historically accurate formations, the colour grading for the film was bland. Instead of a vibrant, rich palette for the Emperor of France, everything was grey, and the colours were muted. 

Once Napoleon meets Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), the focus shifts to their volatile relationship. Scott attempts to balance the love Napoleon has for Josephine and his country. The chemistry between Phoenix and Kirby wasn’t the strongest. But, individually, they both gave strong performances. Kirby did outshine Phoenix because Josephine became the force that broke Napoleon to pieces. Napoleon wanted a wife who loved him unconditionally and would hang on to his every word. Josephine wasn’t that woman and fulfilled her own needs whenever Napoleon was away. They were both alike and were advantageous, which caused them to hurt each other. Writer David Scarpa focused on writing Napoleon as a whiny little man who did not want to appear small or inadequate. So when someone made him look foolish, he would destroy them. Scarpa and Phoenix did explore Napoleon through satire, but it wasn’t enough. The film took itself too seriously that when the moments of Napoleon complaining about not getting his way were presented, it felt out of place. 

Napoleon did not give the full scope of who he was as a French Emperor. The film was episodic, and Scott chose to bookmark the wars Napoleon fought to show his progression as an Emperor. And ultimately, his exile. The relationship between Josephine and Napoleon was challenging to get through. The letters they wrote to each other had dull voice-overs that did nothing to strengthen the relationship between them for the audience. Once Napoleon is in exile, he slowly wastes away thinking about Josephine and how his life turned out. There is not one ounce of reflection for Napoleon, but he’s just existing. The downfall of this film is feeling indifferent towards Napoleon. There’s no engagement with any feeling towards him whatsoever, no hate, no love, nothing. There are funny line deliveries, thanks to Phoenix, and it would have been something to expand on to help develop the character more. If Scarpa had added more humour and mocked Napoleon as a tyrant, it would have made for a unique film. It’s a lengthy film filled with a whole lot of nothing for its characters.