He’s the subject of countless books (more than 60,000 apparently), academic papers, military courses and films, yet he’s also been the object of parody. His first name has been given to a dessert and a brand of cognac, and it’s often given as well to pet bulldogs and rottweilers. Two hundred years after his death, Napoleon Bonaparte remains an enigmatic figure whose military exploits helped shape not just modern France but most of continental Europe too. Four-time Oscar nominated director Ridley Scott (THE LAST DUEL; ALIEN: COVENANT; THE MARTIAN), who is no stranger to creating historical epics on film, has now turned his lens onto the diminutive Corsican in a cannons-and-bicornes retelling of the man, his military campaigns and his complicated relationship to his great love, Josephine.

Even with the overthrowing of the monarchy following the French Revolution in 1793, all is still not well in the land of liberté, egalité, [et] fraternité. Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix, JOKER; YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE), an artillery officer in the French army, convinces Revolutionary leader Paul Barras (Tahar Rahim, THE MAURITANIAN; MARY MAGDALENE), that he can end the British army’s presence in Toulon by capturing the fort and turning the British cannons onto their own ships. When he succeeds in doing just that, Napoleon gets a well-deserved promotion. With continued military successes, Napoleon moves up the ranks, quickly becoming a general. Along the way, he meets the widow Marie Josèphe Rose de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby, THE SON; PIECES OF A WOMAN), whom he calls Josephine, following her release from prison and the pair soon wed. Their marriage, however, is far from perfect with Napoleon often far away for months at a time fighting wars and Josephine taking on various lovers. Their emotional bond remains inexplicably strong though, but after he becomes the emperor of France, Napoleon is pressured into annulling their marriage so that he may produce an heir, which is something that he isn’t able to do with Josephine.

NAPOLEON is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the battle scenes, and there are many, are spectacularly staged and meticulously shot with the Battle of Austerlitz being at the top of the list, giving audiences everything they love about Ridley Scott and his movies. On the other hand, though, outside of those battle scenes, NAPOLEON is as bland as yesterday’s croissant. While Napoleon and Josephine acknowledge to each other that they have a unique relationship, screenwriter David Scarpa (ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD) doesn’t give audiences much evidence of it. One would expect with people as ambitious, power-hungry and popular (for a time, at any rate) as these two were, there might be some fireworks, mind games or even a bit of debauchery between them but very little of that is to be seen here. As a result, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to come away from watching this film understanding their relationship any better than before. Certainly, Scott and Scarpa cover a lot of ground here – 22 years but what tumultuous years they were for Europe – and perhaps that amount of history was just too much to be crammed into 2-1/2 hours to allow for any reasonable amount of time to be spent on that relationship. It may very well be that much of the heady stuff between Napoleon and Josephine ended up on the cutting room floor. Fortunately, it’s been widely reported that a four-hourlong director’s cut is coming soon. The theatrical version, unfortunately, lacks clarity of purpose.

NAPOLEON is playing now both in Hong Kong and around the world. Go see it in the cinema to get the big screen experience but don’t expect to be overwhelmed by it. That will hopefully come when Apple TV+ streams the director’s cut, which is rumoured to start in January 2024. Meanwhile, a restored, seven-hour version of Abel Gance’s 1927 silent classic of the same name is scheduled to be released next year too. Now that’s something I’d like to see!

Thanks for reading but don’t be a lurker! If you liked what you just read, here are some suggestions:

Sign up to receive my movie reviews in your inbox automatically
Share this review on your Facebook page
Leave me a message telling me what you thought of my review or the film
Bookmark the site and visit often
Like my Howard For Film Facebook page
Watch my reviews on my YouTube page
Check out my Howard For Film magazine on Flipboard
Tell your friends about the site