The Little Corperal’s Mess
Director Ridley Scott’s latest historical drama (released November 28 2023) focuses on Napoleon Bonaparte’s dramatic rise to power and with his relationship with his first wife Josephine. The movie stars Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon, Vanessa Kirby as Josephine and Mathew Needham as Lucien Bonaparte. The movie is Ridley Scott’s third major historical drama after Gladiator (which also had Joaquin Phoenix) and Kingdom of Heaven, and has many of the same problems of the latter.
The movie begins with the siege of Toulon and focuses on Historical events throughout the revolutionary wars as well as Napoleon’s Personal life. Going through nearly 20 years of history with the exact same actors is a major issue of the movie as the believability of a 50 year old man portraying a young napoleon ruins the immersion of the movie; not to mention that the events of the french revolution and revolutionary wars are skimmed through at a breakneck pace that doesn't allow for any explanation or impact. Many major historical events such as the Peninsular war, the battle of Leipzig and the Battle of Jena are omitted entirely, while the battle of Borodino (the bloodiest battle of Napoleon’s life) is given only a single scene. That being said, the battles of Toulon and Austerlitz are presented with a lot of vigour and accuracy.
The costumes, the set design and the sound design were all excellent and added to the immersion of the movie as the sets and costumes were all accurate to the time period and all looked like they were well worn and not just like someone cosplaying a 19th century noble with store bought clothes. The cinematography and action choreography were a sight to behold and a testament to Ridley Scott’s ability to direct action sequences.
The acting ,however, is a point of weakness in the movie: Joaquin’s performance is mostly flat and uninspiring and not how I imagine a great leader such as The great french emperor would act. A man like Napoleon would have been inspirational in battle, charismatic, commanding and endearing, but Joaquin comes across like a temperamental child. Vanessa Kirby’s performance is a lot deeper than what the script needs, which may be both a good and a bad thing, but it does truly add a depth to the character of Josephine. What is sad about the movie is that there are hardly any other characters; none of Napoleon’s Marshals play an important role, and neither do his siblings aside from two scenes. It’s a lot harder to immerse yourself in a movie when there are only really two characters you care about. Another issue is the colour tone of the movie, the colours are always off. Indoors, it is too dark, Outdoors it is too saturated and at night it is too desaturated.
While the issues of length and cutting out major events can be blamed on studio interference (like in Kingdom of Heaven), the issues of colour, acting and character direction are all on the director. The movie is extremely disappointing; as a fan of the movies Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator, I know that Ridley Scott is capable of making masterpieces, but this movie is held back by many years of unexplained history and a lazy lead actor; perhaps the director’s cut would save a lot of the movie’s issues, like how it helped Troy or Kingdom of Heaven, but the movie would still be very imperfect, although it’s still a worthwhile watch for history buffs.
Rating: 5/10