Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Napoleon 

This film was terrible! Now I had such high hopes for this film as I thought from the marketing and the trailers really selling me on the fact that it looked really solid. On top of two great actors anchoring the film Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby I was excited and genuinely curious to see how Ridley Scott was going to cover this famous person of history. I’ll go more in depth in my positives but the only saving grace of this film was the performances from its two lead actors and the visual elements of the film but in terms of the story it fell flat. The film had so much potential to be amazing but instead resulted in a mediocre film with truly better performances than the film deserves. 

Firstly, let’s talk about the positives as this film has not many but a few so I’ll give it that.  The performances are amazing from its central actors. Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby give amazing performances that are top notch. Now do I think hearing Joaquin speak in his normal American accident while playing a French leader is an interesting choice yeah I do. That being said it dose not take away from the solid turn he gives in the film it’s just unfortunate he isn’t given great material to really flourish with his arc as this complicated individual. Then you have Vanessa Kirby who In the first half of the film seemed very interesting but then as the film progresses they make her a stereotypical wife who just does whatever her husband asks of her and she’s very much painted in a negative light that has very few redeeming qualities. I would of liked to have seen who she was as a person and not just as an object and sexualized as I found that to be offensive towards the open she’s playing and to Vanessa Kirby herself as she’s a great actress and you can tell she’s giving a good performance it’s just due to the poor writing she’s restricted to really get to explore who this woman really was like. Then for the sets and costume designs I thought were amazing Ridley Scott has always done well at showing big spectacle filmmaking in terms of set decoration and immersing the audience in the world the film is set in. Here the battle scenes are shot in which a gripping way with great swooping shots and fantastic music so in terms of the technical aspect the film does a fantastic job at that it’s just if the narrative matched the great visuals of it this film would of really done better. Unfortunately that’s where the positives end for me in terms of what is good about this film. 

Secondly, the problems  I have with this film is overwhelming! The first thing is this film needed to be so much longer so it makes me somewhat feel better that Ridley Scott said the directors cut of 4 hours of how he envisioned the film will be released at some point in the future. Which I am very happy about because this film feels like a half painted picture due to how much history is attached to the story of Napoleon’s battles and personal life 2 hours and a half is not nearly long enough to properly flesh out the story because you can tell how rushed the story became in order to come to some sort of conclusive ending which I hated because if the film took its time in telling the events in a more detailed way I would of understood much more of what was going on instead of it feeling like a rushed summery of what happened within five minutes. You can also tell what they chose to keep in and get rid of which is annoying as their are so many scenes that are unnecessary to the plot that they kept and key moments they should of fleshed out on that they trimmed. For example they focus so much of the film on the sexual drive of Napoleon and if you want to explore his relationship with woman fine but don’t make that be one of the biggest focuses of the film because he was more then just his relationships and for half of the film we see him go back and forth about having kids, his wife being unfaithful to him and seeing him as a sex craved man. It felt inappropriate to a extent because we the audience barley scratch the surface of who he was expect that he loved sex and was a amazing man in combat but we barley learn about his highs and lows that much for the most part it made it seem he was only driven due to the relationships in his life. So having the focus on just one element of his life I thought was very odd as I didn’t mind it if it explored everything along with it which it didn’t so I was disappointed in its depiction of him. Also I’m sorry but Ridley Scott sometimes can make the pacing in his films feel painfully slow as theirs moments where the story picks up and your really into what’s going on onscreen and then it’ll come to a screeching halt of seeing Napoleon crawling under a table with his wife the tone was all over the place. Tone wise it’s a mess, runtime wise I think the longer cut of this film will be the stronger version of the film so we can can a full picture instead of the rushed angle we got and the sheer focus on the man was so wrong. 

Lastly, Napoleon was a missed opportunity at something that could have been great instead of just okay. The only reason I would at all recommend people to see this film is due to the strong performances from its two leads that give it their all in their roles. Aside from that Napoleon is a mediocre film that fails to capture the greatness of who Napoleon was at one moment in history. 

This film centres about Napoleon and his thirst for power to overtake all of Europe

Rated R : Sexual Content|Brief Language|Some Grisly Images|Strong Violence

Joaquin Phoenix : Joaquin never phones in a performance so I am not in the slightest surprised he gave a strong performance as Napoleon. He’s one of those actors that even if the film itself is not the greatest he’s the best part of it because he has such a commanding presence onscreen that can’t be ignored. Here he plays one of the most powerful men in history and at one point ruled a good portion of the world. The writing he’s given makes him out to be a sex filled pig who isn’t at all who the man was but you can see Joaquin doing his best to find the truth of who this man was underneath the terrible writing. You can see he’s trying to carry this film on his shoulders by exploring what is not written on the page of a man who was so alone and so he felt the need to find multiple relationships to fill the void in his heart. Phoenix taps into that sadness in such a fantastically real way that you can see the heartache in his eyes and his voice. He will abandon all his military strength when he found out a loved one was sick or unfaithful as he felt things very deeply despite making himself appear like nothing could hurt him and he was on top of the world the simplest thing of being unloved devastated him. Those insecurities of his personality is amazingly brought to light by Joaquin Phoenix. He is very much a man who has a mission to succeed at all costs if it’s on the battlefield and in his personal life he’s not one to take failure well. You can see him being away from his wife and his home really had a effect on him as much as he loved being the leader of France nothing gave him more happiness then being with his loved ones and you can see that in his interactions with his kids and his wife as he’s more soft spoken and Joaquin explores that tender side of him and your heart goes out to him that what he wants he cannot have because his country needs him and he puts his career ahead of his personal life at times and he punishes himself for doing that because he feels in the moment it’s right in the long run but he’s being deprived of time with his family due to putting the hearts of the people first. Phoenix really shows the commitment to his country and his men with great grand bold leadership but also shows the tortured person who just wanted to be loved and it’s a performance that both is big and bombastic with emotion but he also can be subtle in the smaller moments as well telling so much by saying so little. Phoenix delivers a solid turn as the man himself Napoleon and even tho the writing didn’t go that deep you can tell he went to the root of who this man was to find the truth of his heart and it shows onscreen as Joaquin Phoenix soars in another terrific performance. 

Vanessa Kirby : Kirby does the best with what she’s given as well! This actress has proven time and time again that she’s a solid actor working in the industry whose talents aren’t appreciated nearly enough as it should be. How they paint her character isn’t not exactly shown in the most positive light because it made her just seem like a sleazy woman who was ungrateful. Now you can see Vanessa Kirby trying her best as she’s a woman who sure could seem financially driven and power hungry to a extent to be secure in life and Kirby brings that to the screen in such a gripping and entertaining way that you can’t take your eyes off of her. I thought she would have a greater screen presence but not as much as I thought she does though in many ways act as the heart of the film because she’s the driving force of Napoleon not falling apart as even when their far apart from one another he can’t stop writing to her or thinking of her. Showing how much of a impression her time with him had on the man and Kirby brings a flirtatious and playful aspect to the character while also showing that she knows her worth and that Napoleon is nothing without her love which in many ways rang true. Kirby brings a fierce by playfulness to her performance that burns through the screen and she can tell so much with just a soul crushing look in her eye or very few words she goes toe to toe with Joaquin in a performance that is astonishing. She isn’t given the space to explore a ton of who this woman was but for what she has she does a a terrific job. 

Ridley Scott : Scott you could have done so much better! Now I know you can direct a film well I’ve seen gladiator and alien you can even throw Thelma and Louise in their so I know he can direct a film very well when he wants to. The unfortunate nature of his more recent films is he’s very unpredictable if the film is a hit or miss with his later projects. Because he last truly great film was in 2015 with the Martian and then ever since its been a mixed bag you’ve had films like the consular, all the money in the world,House Of Gucci he’s never had a consistent string of movies for a long time. And with Napoleon I thought due to his time on past period piece films like Gladiator he could accomplish something solid with his take on this person. Now I’ll say his attention to detail with the sets, costumes, cinematography and visual aspect of it is absolutely amazing that I can’t knock because he really shines in that department with this film. As the film is a jumbled mess narratively as their are parts that are taken out of the film that should of been here and scenes that should of been expanded on that’s very brief for the sake of runtime. Now I don’t know how much was up to Ridley Scott and to what extent was the studio telling him to cut stuff out but with how the film is pieced together does not give a good depiction of the man he set out to show to the world on the big screen. As the film barley scratches the surface of who Napoleon was and we learn about his love life great but what about his military life aside from battle scenes I would of loved to have seen his relationship with his brother more and so much more fleshed out than what we got. The film felt long but also felt rushed if that made sense I felt this film should of been paced better and the runtime extended but Ridley Scott unfortunately did not accomplish what I thought he would do which is give a accurate depiction of this bigger then life personality. Instead he chose to focus on his love life and one aspect of him when he had the opportunity to take on everything and make this a big scale epic. The tone was all over the place and never felt even when the directors cut is released I’ll revisit this film and see if that’s the better vision Ridley had for the film but as it stands this film is definitely not Ridley at his strongest or best work. It’s a okay directed film that could have been his return to form but instead feels more like a misfire.