Napoleon (2023)

More than half a century ago, Marlon Brando played Napoleon in Désirée (1954), a film about Napoleon’s love affair with the title character during the earlier phase of his military career. The film was dull. Worst, Brando was dull and this was during – like Napoleon himself- early stage of his career, the same year he gave his Oscar winning performance for On The Waterfront.

Cut to almost 7 decades later, Ridley Scott made a similar film, focusing on Napoleon’s relationship with Josephine, the marriage and how it fell.

This was reason for the very depressingly slow pace, taking up more than the mid section of the film, the tracing of the trials and the tribulations of their marriage. It could have been terrible if not for Joaquin Phoenix’s wonderful portrayal of one of the greatest military tactician in history.

Ridley Scott managed to get the hit seat after the likes of Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg abandoned plans to make a biography of Napoleon Bonaparte.

His touches can be felt during the battle scenes, something he mastered after the excellent Gladiator (2000), and he pushes the mastery of the craft even further.

Unfortunately there was nothing much he could do with a dull script, filled with duller scenes, dull dialogues that can only spawn dull performances.

Well, not for Joaquin Phoenix though. He walked through it carrying the weight of the world. This is blasphemy, but he was even better, way more effective than Brando

His presence helped me through those scenes. I snoozed twice during Martin Scorsese’s Killer Of The Flower Moon, and that’s my favourite film director. But here the energy Phoenix brought with him reminded me of his performance in Gladiator. I recall hating him after watching that Russell Crowe starrer (also directed by Ridley Scott) only to realise that it was his character that I hated, and that was the power of Phoenix’s acting.

But this film is not Gladiator, doesn’t even have that glowing aura of a saintly hero, because here Napoleon is portrayed from the filter of Shakespearean tragedy. It's also made with a bit of prejudice against France, when the Brits started to control the climax. Scott is a Brit of course and I am not judging here.

The battle scenes, during the opening and before the climax were what we expected from Scott. Violent, brilliantly shot, putting us in the middle of the battlefield with the clarity of knowing who’s who, it was a triumphant filmaking. Alas, those were the best part of the film. I endured the long dull scenes because of Phoenix, and even to some extent Vanessa Kirby who also had to work from the boring pages.

The critics are overall not happy, with 58% rating at Rotten Tomato and meager 6.6 points in IMDB (Vijay films are luckier, with the latest outing getting 7.4…democracy). I have a feeling they might change their minds few years down the road, especially with the 4 hour version prepared for the streaming services.