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Tripwire Reviews Ridley Scott’s Napoleon
Napoleon Solo
Tripwire’s senior editor Andrew Colman casts a critical eye over Ridley Scott’s Napoleon out in cinemas from tomorrow…
Napoleon
Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Rupert Everett, Mark Bonnar
Ridley Scott’s glossy bombastic epic about the celebrated General Bonaparte is a magisterial feast for the eyes, containing as it does some of the most painterly, beautifully framed cinematography I’ve ever seen. Yet it’s a Ridley Scott movie, so what we have to contend with for 157 minutes is a very traditional historical piece with lavish production values, that barely scrape the surface of what it would’ve been like to have endured the military genius’s reign. This is not about the French Post-Revolution experience, but about widescreen battles, and how they were won, interspersed with the odd contextual device, and not a great deal more.
Joaquin Phoenix’s turn as the budding overlord is strangely at odds with the film’s procession of pomp, ceremony, and internecine warfare. Soon after he witnesses the execution of Marie Antoinette, we learn of his inferior status as a Corsican, who nevertheless has an arrogant, almost spectrum-level understanding of battle tactics, and it is in these early scenes that Phoenix’s pared-down performance works. Once he’s promoted to General however, Phoenix slowly morphs into a bumbling, lovesick oaf, an outsider that wins on the battlefield but fails domestically. This is about as much depth as we get from Scott regarding the dictator in waiting – a socially awkward man-child megalomaniac whose motivation for triumphing in war is never sufficiently explained. Yes, he’s the master strategist who blankly treats his troops like pawns in chess, but that is all.
Vanessa Kirby’s Josephine is the only other developed character in the movie, an ambitious yet put-upon woman whose prime motivation is survival. However, the scenes between her and old Boney gradually get tiresome and repetitive, and there’s the rub – Scott’s need to cram so much history into two and a half hours means that everything that is pertinent to Napoleon’s trajectory is present throughout, and as a result there’s not enough time to flesh out any of the other players, who end up being little more than plot devices.
Where Scott shines of course, is the battle scenes – immersive reportage on a massive scale, handled with supreme deftness. You are inside the action, the direction conversant with how events unfold, allowing the audience an insight into the General’s mind. Some of the battle sections manage to trump other movies about Napoleon even while stylistically borrowing from them. The Battle of Austerlitz for example is superbly cinematic, despite the bleakness and carnage on show.
Overall it is Scott’s attitude towards his subject matter that is responsible for such an uneven movie. He clearly has contempt for the character and icon that is Napoleon, even if at times his mischief works, such as when we still see him in his full regalia while he is in exile, firstly in Elba and then St. Helena, cutting a wretchedly sad figure. It is somewhat understandable that French audiences haven’t taken to Phoenix’s portrayal – a Gallic director would’ve at the very least traced the underlying nuance in Napoleon’s relationship with his court and lieutenants, but then Scott generally doesn’t do nuance. Nor does he seem all that bothered with authenticity when it comes to French culture, leaving aside the absence of French accents.
Despite all the carping, this is still an entertaining old-school flick, brimming with some unsurpassed set pieces. At times it threatens to spring into life, such as the Marie Antoinette scene, suffused with bawdy atmosphere and period detail, or the coup d’état that leads to Napoleon being made First Consul (a rare moment of vulnerability for him). Yet with everything ratcheted up to eleven the movie manifestly lacks drama. As a ghost tour it plays, but too often it’s like running through a museum depicting every chapter of Napoleon’s life via paintings from the grand masters. Yes, it looks that good.
I have to mention Rupert Everett’s hilariously grizzled, haughty Duke of Wellington – a pukka pantomime villain who sees off the Corsican vagabond at Waterloo with nary an effort. A shame the movie couldn’t have focused on him more, but he’s only around for the final reel. In the end the film never tries to be a serious exploration of the mind of a controversial figure, and just settles on the empty concoction of endless spectacle.
Looks great, but it ain’t filling.
Napoleon is out in UK cinemas from tomorrow 22 November 2023
Here’s the film’s trailer
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