REVIEW #329 Napoleon (2023)

The story of the French military commanders origins and his swift rise to Emperor, viewed through the prism of his complicated relationship with his one true love, Josephine.

Unfortunately Napoleon is one of the few historical films that failed to hook my interest with its depiction of history, where usually I’d be deep in research when a film like this reached its conclusion, this time round I had no interest at all. It’s not that the military commanders rise to power wasn’t a captivating one, I just felt that it got caught up in the drama of love way to much to the point where it became comical. Often I wondered if it was Ridley Scott’s intention to make his lead character the but of the joke, which happened on numerous occasions and if he did, I don’t think it served it’s purpose. I do respect the approach to view his story from the perspective of the volatile relationship with Josephine, but a consequence of that was it rushed past a lot of the key historical moments that would have focused on his aptitude for strategy and combat. We did witness a few moments where this trait was explored but unfortunately it wasn’t enough in my opinion. However, the final part of the film reveals Napoleons final words and Josephine was the last, this does fit the narrative Ridley Scott was exploring perfectly and it certainly justifies his approach.

Overall the film was still entertaining, highlighting key battles and milestones in the former Emperors life and even if it did rush past those events, it was still worth watching. I wish they had adopted French accents for the movie, actors are consistently taking on new accents and by doing so it would have avoided the constant confusion between nations. It got to the point where the supposedly French characters sounded more British than the actual British characters. You also had Napoleon with an American accent, Josephine with a British accent and a few random ‘Madame’s’ chucked in to try and cover the cracks! That was probably my biggest criticism because it ruined the authenticity of the film. Now although I have mentioned a lot of negatives, Napoleon is still a film I’m glad I went to see, it has pretty good production value, the cinematography is strong and although it didn’t hook my interest as much as it could have, there is a few things you can take away from it, even if the historians have ripped the film to shreds! 

Overall (6/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan