Ridley Scott is a legendary director who is perhaps best known, if not for 1979’s Alien, then for his sweeping historical epics such as 2000’s Gladiator and 2004’s Kingdom Of Heaven. In his latest cinematic endeavour, he tackles one of the most famous conquerors and leaders in history; Napoleon Bonaparte of France.

All’s Fair In Love And War

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is two and a half hours long. If you come into this movie expecting a straightforward historical epic, it’s surprisingly not that. The movie does follow the conventional template of historical epics featuring extraordinary historical figures, showcasing their rise and fall. However, a majority of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is devoted to the romance and relationship between Joaquin Phoenix’s Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife, Josephine (played by Vanessa Kirby). During these quiet moments between these two characters, we get to observe a softer and more vulnerable side to Napoleon.

That being said, the pacing and focus of the movie do suffer due to this. The pacing slows down to a halt during these moments and they shift the focus from the development of the titular historical figure. Because of that, it feels like the movie skips a lot when it comes to Napoleon, jumping from the biggest events in his life to the next without being able to see what led to them. Of course, this is a movie and not a documentary, so one can’t really expect every minute tactical detail and personal motivation behind Napoleon’s every decision, though more of that would have been appreciated.

Still, in terms of big action setpieces, there are several of them. Not a lot, but enough to satisfy anyone venturing into Ridley Scott’s Napoleon looking for big war sequences and men charging into each other. Memorable highlights of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon include the Battle Of Austerlitz and (I wouldn’t be a history buff if I didn’t mention this) the iconic Battle Of Waterloo.

The former, especially, features an epic battle tactic employed by Napoleon and the French army that looks gloriously re-enacted onscreen. Of course, there are a few smaller battles as well, including the Siege Of Toulon. One thing that stood out from all these action and war setpieces is that cannons are both awesome and terrifying. The sweet sound of cannons in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is music to the ears of cannon enthusiasts (if there are any, or if you’ve played Total War Empire/Napoleon, you’ll know what I mean). Oh, and the war scenes in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon are brutal and don’t skimp on the violence. The movie establishes this early on by showing a beheading during the French Revolution, and you’ll be seeing people’s body parts explode due to cannon and musket fire.

Ultimately, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is a movie divided between two halves. One of a violent historical war epic and one of a historical romance drama. We don’t really get enough of the former, and perhaps a bit too much of the latter, but that’s nothing an eventual Director’s Cut can’t potentially fix (this is one of those movies that would be improved by being longer, just like Ridley Scott’s previous movie, Kingdom Of Heaven). Most viewers probably come into this movie expecting more of a historical epic and less romance, but it’s not all bad. The development of the romantic relationship between Joaquin Phoenix’s Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife, Josephine (played by Vanessa Kirby) does lend more of an emotional punch to the movie, especially its ending.

Vive La France

Ultimately, Napoleon is worth watching for its grand spectacle and epic scale. With movies belonging to the historical epic genre being so rare and sparse these days, it’s best to appreciate when something like Napoleon comes along. This is one of Ridley Scott’s better movies in a long time, but it still might prove divisive amongst viewers who expect a more “traditional” historical epic.

Most historical epics chronicle the rise and fall of a figure, but the best way to describe this movie is that it’s the rise, fall, AND love of Napoleon Bonaparte, as uneven as it may be.

FINAL SCORE: 70/100

We attended an early screener of Napoleon courtesy of Sony Pictures Malaysia. Napoleon is slated to premiere in Malaysian cinemas on 30 November 2023 (with early screenings from 23 November 2023 onwards).