When i first heard about Ridley Scott making a Napoleon movie with Joaquin Phoenix as lead actor, i was very excited. Little that i knew that this movie would not match the expectations set. First of all i would like to state that i didn't expect an historically accurate movie given the fact that it is not Ridley Scott strongest suite (see Kingdom of Heaven). There is a small measure of truth in all of his movies but they are not built as a documentary and they are not intended to be one. Nevertheless, this movie doesn't even come close to the vibe given by Kingdom of Heaven or other historical movies, from an historical point of view. I always look for a particular type of energy in movies, especially in historical ones but Napoleon in my opinion fails to deliver. This movie tries to much to contain all peculiarities of Napoleon's life but fails miserably. We see all and nothing. The feeling that i got was that we saw a fast forward version of his life but without any soul or essence. Even the battle scenes seemed dull and without soul. I think Ridley set the bar too high through his previous movies for this part. Regarding Joaquin's performance, there is not much to say. I think his interpretation was similar to a performance you would see in a stage theater. I don't know why but at some points in the movie, it felt like a low budget movie with very poor writing and very poor dialogue. I will wait for the extended version to see if my opinion changes for the best.
Review of Napoleon
