Napoleon Bonaparte: One of the most ruthless and infamous figures in international history. With his constant battles and invasions throughout Europe’s history, Napoleon is a figure that several filmmakers have attempted to tackle in cinema.

Abel Gance’s 1927 epic, “Napoléon,” heavily influenced the filmmakers of the French New Wave film movement. Most famously, Stanley Kubrick attempted to make a biopic on the French commander throughout his life. He even enlisted the support of the Romanian People’s Army as extras for the battle sequences. With the cast of the proposed film, David Hemmings and Audrey Hepburn were attached to the project at one point, as Napoleon and Josephine, respectively. Around the same time as that project, 1970’s “Waterloo” was released, which chronicles the titular battle in which Napoleon famously surrendered to the British, starring Rod Steiger as the infamous general  — along with a supporting cast of prominent artists and legends, such as Orson Welles and Christopher Plummer. A co-production between Italy and the Soviet Union, “Waterloo” was directed by Sergey Bondarchuk (a Soviet filmmaker most famous for his 1966 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s well-known work “War and Peace”). The latest addition to the several cultural depictions of Bonaparte is Ridley Scott’s latest film, “Napoleon.”

Joaquin Phoenix stars as the titular figure, a young military officer with an eternal desire for power in the midst of the French Revolution. He soon rises in the ranks with several victorious battles. Phoenix’s performance as this egomaniac of a man is fantastic, and he is surprisingly humorous at times. 

After the Siege of Toulon, Napoleon first encounters Josephine (played by Vanessa Kirby). Kirby (who starred in a supporting role in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” earlier this year as The White Widow) is truly fantastic as this aristocrat. A showcase of Kirby’s excellent performance is during a scene in the second act of the film, where she states to Napoleon, “You’re just a tiny little brute who is nothing without me,” (after being referred to as a pig and a beast by him) and has him repeat this.

Along with the two leads, there is a terrific supporting cast of performers such as Tahar Rahim (who portrays Paul Barras) and Rupert Everett (who portrays the Duke of Wellington).

In terms of the direction of this historical epic, Ridley Scott has crafted a fascinating historical character study that is thankfully much better than his previous film, 2021’s “House of Gucci.” While this isn’t the first film that Scott has made taking place during this period of history (as his feature-length directorial debut, “The Duellists,” takes place during the Napoleonic Wars), it is his first explicitly focusing on a historical figure from this period. Scott’s casting of  Phoenix and Kirby truly elevated this film.

Photo of “Napoleon” movie poster. (Contributed/Reddit)

The film’s cinematographer, Dariusz Wolski, captures the sheer scope of these battle sequences, such as the Battle of Austerlitz (with the stark imagery of the snowy and icy landscape being captured in all of its gruesome glory) and the wide shots in the Battle of Waterloo sequence (with a plethora of extras encompassing the field).

Like other historical features, “Napoleon” is unsurprisingly rifled with historical inaccuracies, with prime examples such as the reasoning for Napoleon to abandon Egypt during the Battle of the Pyramids (along with the fact that cannons weren’t fired at the pyramids). This was most likely done for dramatic and narrative purposes. Other than that, my only other major complaint is the lighting at specific points, with scenes either being too drab or dark. 

“Napoleon” paints a portrait of an egomaniac whose thirst for power was also his downfall. Scott has directed a character study blended with the spectacle of an epic, resulting in a unique and sometimes humorous cinematic experience. While it isn’t his greatest work, Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” still features some well-made battle sequences and two fantastic leading performances (along with a decent screenplay from David Scarpa). He came from nothing, but his ego was the downfall of his conquests. 

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