The reviews, the trailer, the anti-hype, and Scott's old man cloud rants made me expect something stupid and cool-looking. I can happily say that this film met all my expectations.
This is not the Scott of The Last Duel and Alien, but the Scott of Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. The latter two are so near this film in energy, that I would recommend this film to anyone who liked them and recommend those two to anyone who likes this. My mother, who candidly has no interest in the history, said she loved Napoleon, but probably won't watch or think about it again.
The overarching story is essentially a Visual Orgasm Fast Forward of his life. There is little-to-no rising or falling tension. A couple lines of dialogue, cue set-piece, voiceover letter to Josephine, "freedom something treaty Austria something", cue Austerlitz. The Battle of Borodino, IIRC, is a single cavalry charge. Napoleon rides a horse into a Moscow courtyard, overcast day and grim music. "Gone? Three hundred thousand souls! This cannot be!" Cut to Moscow on fire: "They set this? They're mad! Let's invade St. Petersburg! What? Winter!? (pulls down hat and screams)" Cut to him sent to Elba. A few minutes later he sets off the Hundred Days because he learns Josephine is banging some who-gives-a-shit.
Against this, the first half of the film involves his fanfic-level romance with Josephine. This is supposed to be a "torrid romance", but these two behave like caricatures of hormonal teenagers. I think there is one scene where he screams (in front of a dozen people) at Josephine that she'll conceive a child that night or he'll divorce her, and she screams back that he's fat. Then they throw food at each other. Their relation-shit was the only part of the film I actively disliked. But they divorce, and we get back to the explosions.
Needless to say, True Art lovers won't find much here. The dialogue is overwrought— you would think a man with fifty years' experience in film might see a problem when the script has Napoleon Bonaparte scream at a British Ambassador "You people think you're sooo great, JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE BOATS!" Scott is somehow even more indifferent to accuracy than usual. Characterization is basic. Other than Snooty Wellington, the two characters are Josephine and Napoleon. The latter is a boorish manchild who barely changes over twenty years. There is no indication that this guy oversaw massive legal changes, we're mostly just informed that he was a great general (he pulls a clever tactic once, but usually he leads assaults), and there is no sense that he had any charisma. A historian on a podcast commented that, during The Hundred Days scenes, another historian at the screening wondered aloud why anyone would still follow this whiny little bitch.
All in all, I found it entertaining, pretty, amusingly stupid, and forgettable.
Film Scott At His Pop-iest.
The reviews, the trailer, the anti-hype, and Scott's old man cloud rants made me expect something stupid and cool-looking. I can happily say that this film met all my expectations.
This is not the Scott of The Last Duel and Alien, but the Scott of Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. The latter two are so near this film in energy, that I would recommend this film to anyone who liked them and recommend those two to anyone who likes this. My mother, who candidly has no interest in the history, said she loved Napoleon, but probably won't watch or think about it again.
The overarching story is essentially a Visual Orgasm Fast Forward of his life. There is little-to-no rising or falling tension. A couple lines of dialogue, cue set-piece, voiceover letter to Josephine, "freedom something treaty Austria something", cue Austerlitz. The Battle of Borodino, IIRC, is a single cavalry charge. Napoleon rides a horse into a Moscow courtyard, overcast day and grim music. "Gone? Three hundred thousand souls! This cannot be!" Cut to Moscow on fire: "They set this? They're mad! Let's invade St. Petersburg! What? Winter!? (pulls down hat and screams)" Cut to him sent to Elba. A few minutes later he sets off the Hundred Days because he learns Josephine is banging some who-gives-a-shit.
Against this, the first half of the film involves his fanfic-level romance with Josephine. This is supposed to be a "torrid romance", but these two behave like caricatures of hormonal teenagers. I think there is one scene where he screams (in front of a dozen people) at Josephine that she'll conceive a child that night or he'll divorce her, and she screams back that he's fat. Then they throw food at each other. Their relation-shit was the only part of the film I actively disliked. But they divorce, and we get back to the explosions.
Needless to say, True Art lovers won't find much here. The dialogue is overwrought— you would think a man with fifty years' experience in film might see a problem when the script has Napoleon Bonaparte scream at a British Ambassador "You people think you're sooo great, JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE BOATS!" Scott is somehow even more indifferent to accuracy than usual. Characterization is basic. Other than Snooty Wellington, the two characters are Josephine and Napoleon. The latter is a boorish manchild who barely changes over twenty years. There is no indication that this guy oversaw massive legal changes, we're mostly just informed that he was a great general (he pulls a clever tactic once, but usually he leads assaults), and there is no sense that he had any charisma. A historian on a podcast commented that, during The Hundred Days scenes, another historian at the screening wondered aloud why anyone would still follow this whiny little bitch.
All in all, I found it entertaining, pretty, amusingly stupid, and forgettable.