Grand in scope, but a futile attempt at character study Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Ben Miles, John Hollingworth, Y...
Grand in scope, but a futile attempt at character study
Cast:
Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Ben Miles, John Hollingworth,
Youssef Kerkour, David Tucci
Rating:
2/5
Napoleon is Ridley
Scott’s personal look at the French military leader’s origins and swift,
ruthless climb to power as emperor, viewed through the prism of Napoleon’s
addictive, volatile relationship with his wife and one true
love, Josephine.
Now
Scott does just the bare minimum of what a biopic should do: inform the
audience about the various events that took place in the person’s life, but fails
to add depth to the character or to make it more than just a
biopic. Scott just gives us a superficial look at the character, never really
getting into the psyche of Napoleon.
The
result is a bland, boring, frustrating, and unintentionally hilarious generic
historical film.
Not just as a character study Napoleon fails as a love story as well. In fact, the
love story arc is far from convincing and not even very interesting. The only
thing worth remembering in Napoleon is the violent battle sequences, which are
shot well.
The
actors were not the actors for the film: Joaquin Phoenix still
thinks that he is in Joker and goes along that tangent. He looks as if he were
disinterested, and as if he weren’t even trying. Vanessa Kirby does what she can
with the little that she gets to do.
A disappointing
fare.
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