Wait...Is 'Napoleon' Good?

BUSINESS INQUIRES:

Thank you for watching! :)

[chrisianlewis]

I’m in this. Played a soldier for 3 months. Scott really didn’t give a shit about the safety of the soldiers during battles scenes. Many injuries on set. Enjoy our pain.

[joaquinwaters]

The bit where Phoenix goes “nom nom nom” while slowly sliding back in his chair is destined to be a meme

[antonydharwood]

I was an extra on set for this and can confirm, there were hundreds and hundreds of people making up the battle sequences. It genuinely felt like going into a war at times (while still obviously being a movie set)

[ACDCdude]

I saw it on Wednesday and honestly wasn't that blown away by it. I think the beginning was good and the battle scenes were great, but everything else seemed rushed and I was a bit bored during it

[dasmysteryman]

Full disclosure: I am a historian in training whose master's thesis is basically set in the last third of this film. But what I look for in historical films is not accuracy but whether they portray their subject well. The main set pieces of the film are incredibly spectacular, this is my first Ridley Scott historical film, and I understand now why. Vanessa Kirby is a gem. But for me, the film is so messy, uneven and frazzled that I don't see how it developed its theme of men who have too much power doing crazy things.

And, incredibly hot take: Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette is far more superior than this, I don't care.

[Emlizardo]

"Not as completely pointless as people make it out to be." That's quite the endorsement.

[officialmasqq_]

I didn't quite understand why they set the prequel to Napoleon Dynamite in the 1800s or what this had to do with that movie in general but overall I also enjoyed this film

[jefflowes]

The Last Duel goes hard and feels totally of the moment imo

[Naked_snake_]

Can we all agree that The frozen lake battle is the best part of the whole movie I mean come on!

[Itsme-qole]

I thought the art direction was wonderful, I for one loved the desaturated look.

But! One thing I can't get over:
Sure not everyone is interested in the history of Napoleon, though the disrespectful comments towards historians from Ridley Scott were bad enough on their own. And to see him butchering most of the historical aspects of the movie in the name of storytelling is just... confusing. Especially when you realise how tragic the reality was. And how easily you could convert that to a moviescreen. (I'll write about that in the answers.) Why so utterly butchering that.
If Scott were a bonapartist, while it would make him an arsehole, bending the story would make sense. But he isn't, so it makes even less sense.

You want to tell a story about a powerful egomaniac and his romantic life, don't try and tell it in the same breath with the story of one of the most dramatic and influential figures in history. Make someone up, would be my solution.

The worst part is, that the movie paints itself as a historically accurate biopic. Caring about accuracy in movies or not, it's untruthful and should be criticised as such. There is just an undeniable responsibility you have as a filmmaker of this calibre.

[samidayal]

I’m sorry, I really did not like this movie, it felt way too misguided in terms of how it presented it story, and honestly going into the movie I never felt like I knew more about napoleon as a person or how he rose to power, the decision to have it centre around napoleons weird relationship with his wife felt odd because when they did cover his rise to power it was interesting but they really did it

I couldn’t help but feel bored from this movie because the thing I wanted to see being napoleon himself just felt half baked, they expect everyone to just know who napoleon is right out the gate without ever giving us a reason to care, so in my opinion it just felt like Oscar bait rather then a engaging story about such a interesting individual

[annikalarson]

I haven’t seen it yet but I’m doubtful I’ll like how the Josephine/Napoleon dynamic is portrayed. In real life she was significantly older than him but Vanessa Kirby is 20 some years younger than her counterpart. It definitely was part of what made her a controversial figure to the French public and they just chose not to tackle that at all by creating a new reality.

[JoJoJoker]

“I don’t like or care about history, but I liked Napoleon 2023.”
That’s the worst review we could possibly get for this movie.

[SteveDCM]

Napoleon is one of the works of all time

[DasherInkYT]

Saw this earlier today. I was pretty surprised by how engrossed I was in the film, especially after seeing the lukewarm reaction many people have had to it. Definitely a worthy watch.

[starkingbiker]

bro I can’t relate- I thought this was an utter slog. So blatantly flavorless and absolutely not thrilling except for some scenes. And the problem is the editing, it feels very fragmented and not like there’s any progression. I didn’t feel like any time passed in the film and then suddenly 15 years passed? I don’t know, very underwhelmed and bored by it.

[korosuke]

If you liked that garbage it's because you didn't see Waterloo.

[winterywillow.]

At first, I was puzzled with what is going on in the film because the trailer had me thinking that it was going to be a terrifying, historical piece - and the very first scene of the film delivers that. But then there is a shift in the tone and I did not mind it much.

The satrical nature of the film is depicted well with how the wars are handled, and Joaquin's portrayal of Napoleon, a powerful man who is egoistic and needs external validation from everyone around him.

Some of the scenes are lovely, but other than that, I did not care about the battle scenes at all because of the time jumps. This film was underwhelming, but I enjoyed the humorous elements. I hope we get a more historically accurate film or series on Napoleon in near future.

[samuelbarber]

I don’t really like Ridley Scott is my problem. Not as a Director, but as a person. I find comments of his like telling a historian who commented on the inaccuracies in the film to: “Get a life.” It just makes it hard to make me want to watch this film.

[BrianJosephMorgan]

I thought it dreadful, with Josephine straight from 2021.