Westside Steve Posted December 8, 2023 Report Share Posted December 8, 2023 Napoleon Columbia/Apple R. 157 min Okay gang, a few thoughts just off the top of my head. I will pretty much go to see anything starring Joaquin Phoenix. Since 1993 he's gone from being the younger brother of River Phoenix who died of a drug overdose to one of the best actors in the business and regardless of the quality of the film you can [usually] bet that his role will be outstanding. Well hopefully you read this before you make your way to the betting parlor with your life savings because this is absolutely the worst performance Phoenix has turned in, and that shocked me. Director Ridley Scott who does have some talent and a lot of influence is perfectly capable of releasing two or three hours of crap and Napoleon is one of the weakest to snag a holiday opening. First of all I didn't go to this one for a history lesson and I figured if there were some inconsistencies with facts, well what the heck? Quentin Tarantino is famous for completely ignoing it as in INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS and ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD so I can overlook a little artistic license. Sure some of the BS didn't matter to the story, but it was stupid and unnecessary in most cases, for instance Napoleon was nowhere near the beheading of Marie Antoinette nor did she have a giant shock of white hair. He also never fired on the pyramids while on a campaign to Egypt nor is the tagline “he came from nowhere to conquer everything.” From an upper class Corsican family he never actually did conquer everything. Including England thanks to the Grand Old Duke of Wellington. But those aren’t really the problems with the movie; it’s events that may or may not have happened (who knows) but made one of history's all-time great personalities seem like a dimwit. Most of the film dwells on his relationship with Josephine (Vanessa Kirby) who has been accused of infidelity in the past but here is portrayed as a full-blown sh*t house whore who jumps in the sack with every Tom Dick and Pierre the minute is back is turned. Also, Josephine was six years older than Napoleon which led to at least one of the conflicts in their relationship; her inability to bear him an heir. Kirby, on the other hand, is 15 years younger than her co-star who is as the film begins, almost the same age as Napoleon was when he died. Phoenix doesn't even bother to give the character a commanding voice or dialect but chooses to play one of the world's most dynamic personalities like Rainman on Thorazine. As for Scott he doesn't bother to give any of the characters a proper accent making the British, Russians, Prussians, French and Austrians all sound pretty much the same. The rest of the story, I'm assuming, is fairly accurate, i.e. his military and personal successes, failures, promotions and demotions with periods of exile in between. The battle scenes were big and sprawling and just a little bit dull considering the amount of money spent. At least they got the British and the allies correct when they were fighting in a square. Plus, since almost everything was shot in the rain or in the snow or in a gray stone castle, the cinematography was almost consistently drab. The costuming was pretty extravagant but come on, who goes to a movie for that? In the words of Alexander Dumas , ‘Ce film est l'une des plus grosses morseau de merde de l'année.’ D WSS PS Phoenix reportedly walked out of the Paris premier without doing any interviews or posing for any photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted December 8, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2023 https://movieweb.com/ridley-scott-napoleon-historical-inaccuracies/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickers Posted December 23, 2023 Report Share Posted December 23, 2023 Ive been looking forward to this as well.. I also heard Maestro is a disappointment from mutual friends of ours... But ,I'll let you decide that for yourself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted December 24, 2023 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2023 On 12/23/2023 at 4:14 AM, nickers said: Ive been looking forward to this as well.. I also heard Maestro is a disappointment from mutual friends of ours... But ,I'll let you decide that for yourself According to Dennis Lewin but I will still find a way to get up to the cedar Lee. WSS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Browns57 Posted January 1 Report Share Posted January 1 On 12/8/2023 at 6:22 AM, Westside Steve said: Napoleon Columbia/Apple R. 157 min Okay gang, a few thoughts just off the top of my head. I will pretty much go to see anything starring Joaquin Phoenix. Since 1993 he's gone from being the younger brother of River Phoenix who died of a drug overdose to one of the best actors in the business and regardless of the quality of the film you can [usually] bet that his role will be outstanding. Well hopefully you read this before you make your way to the betting parlor with your life savings because this is absolutely the worst performance Phoenix has turned in, and that shocked me. Director Ridley Scott who does have some talent and a lot of influence is perfectly capable of releasing two or three hours of crap and Napoleon is one of the weakest to snag a holiday opening. First of all I didn't go to this one for a history lesson and I figured if there were some inconsistencies with facts, well what the heck? Quentin Tarantino is famous for completely ignoing it as in INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS and ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD so I can overlook a little artistic license. Sure some of the BS didn't matter to the story, but it was stupid and unnecessary in most cases, for instance Napoleon was nowhere near the beheading of Marie Antoinette nor did she have a giant shock of white hair. He also never fired on the pyramids while on a campaign to Egypt nor is the tagline “he came from nowhere to conquer everything.” From an upper class Corsican family he never actually did conquer everything. Including England thanks to the Grand Old Duke of Wellington. But those aren’t really the problems with the movie; it’s events that may or may not have happened (who knows) but made one of history's all-time great personalities seem like a dimwit. Most of the film dwells on his relationship with Josephine (Vanessa Kirby) who has been accused of infidelity in the past but here is portrayed as a full-blown sh*t house whore who jumps in the sack with every Tom Dick and Pierre the minute is back is turned. Also, Josephine was six years older than Napoleon which led to at least one of the conflicts in their relationship; her inability to bear him an heir. Kirby, on the other hand, is 15 years younger than her co-star who is as the film begins, almost the same age as Napoleon was when he died. Phoenix doesn't even bother to give the character a commanding voice or dialect but chooses to play one of the world's most dynamic personalities like Rainman on Thorazine. As for Scott he doesn't bother to give any of the characters a proper accent making the British, Russians, Prussians, French and Austrians all sound pretty much the same. The rest of the story, I'm assuming, is fairly accurate, i.e. his military and personal successes, failures, promotions and demotions with periods of exile in between. The battle scenes were big and sprawling and just a little bit dull considering the amount of money spent. At least they got the British and the allies correct when they were fighting in a square. Plus, since almost everything was shot in the rain or in the snow or in a gray stone castle, the cinematography was almost consistently drab. The costuming was pretty extravagant but come on, who goes to a movie for that? In the words of Alexander Dumas , ‘Ce film est l'une des plus grosses morseau de merde de l'année.’ D WSS PS Phoenix reportedly walked out of the Paris premier without doing any interviews or posing for any photos. I cannot read your full review because I haven't seen the movie yet. But I agree about Joaquin Phoenix. Anything he is in I will watch. He is such a great actor. I look forward to reading your full review after I watch the movie. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted January 6 Author Report Share Posted January 6 On 1/1/2024 at 6:54 PM, Browns57 said: I cannot read your full review because I haven't seen the movie yet. But I agree about Joaquin Phoenix. Anything he is in I will watch. He is such a great actor. I look forward to reading your full review after I watch the movie. I respect you for not reading reviews before you see any movie! Let me know when you do. WSS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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