Though I do not know that much about Napoleon Bonaparte and his history, I only know certain bits and pieces of his story, along with me not being that into historical films but willing to give this film a chance; also, what got me at least interested in the movie was seeing how director Ridley Scott would portray or show this story on this person's rise to power and becoming a French emperor. The Ridley Scott historical movie Napoleon (2023) was ok, it had good performances with nice cinematography and entertaining battles, but the movie's pacing is slow with it all together being a mess on how scenes are put together and the movie feels longer than it is; there are interesting scenes with there being less focus on the battles, and there is more focus on Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine, which can be disappointing if you just came to see how the battles will be portrayed.
Joaquin Phoenix gives a satisfactory performance as Napoleon Bonaparte, seeing him have this kind of whiny authority when he is either talking to his wife, talking to any other person, or when leading his soldiers into battle that could get annoying, but you get used to it and deal with how he is supposed to act; we see him go into battle occasionally, which can be cool to see, but we mostly see him with his wife and making himself emperor. Vanessa Kirby also gives a satisfactory performance as Napoleon's wife Josephine Bonaparte, her and Napoleon were shown with chemistry, and you can tell that they have some connection in some way after many occasions of big events taking place; also, she is focused on in the movie more than the battles, which is fine, but it should have been evenly balanced with battles and his relationship with his wife. Lastly, there is a side plot involving Napoleon wanting/trying to find a child/an heir that is started in the second act being made a big deal, but by the third act, this side plot is not referenced or mentioned again; which makes it pointless, or they did not have enough time to develop it in any way.
The pacing in this movie is slow making the movie feel longer than it is, with it being a mess when it comes to putting scenes together, going back and forth between a battle sequence and dialogue scenes involving him and his wife or him becoming emperor in some way; it also cuts during scenes to another scene making it a bit difficult to tell what is happening, other than having random slow moments that are drawn out. The cinematography for the movie, mostly in the battle sequences when they occur, makes these scenes feel big and look good on how they show each army and how Napoleon leads them to battle; the movie felt longer than it is, but also, it felt like it needed to be longer just to tell more of this story and get more details on what happened, instead of going from scene to scene without much of a reason or main focus to know what is happening to both Napoleon and the soldiers in the many battles they go through.
Napoleon (2023) was ok, it had good performances with nice cinematography and entertaining battles, but the slow pacing made the movie feel boring, with it just being a mess on how scenes are put together and that the movie feels longer than it is; I am not big on historical films, but this movie is not bad, if you like Ridley Scott and are interested in knowing the story of Napoleon Bonaparte, then this movie will be for you. Lastly, I will say, this movie could have been better, but it was not that bad, I just will not watch this movie again anytime soon because of how long it is and how slow it feels when watching it; not one of Ridley Scott's best movies, but it is good enough.
Joaquin Phoenix gives a satisfactory performance as Napoleon Bonaparte, seeing him have this kind of whiny authority when he is either talking to his wife, talking to any other person, or when leading his soldiers into battle that could get annoying, but you get used to it and deal with how he is supposed to act; we see him go into battle occasionally, which can be cool to see, but we mostly see him with his wife and making himself emperor. Vanessa Kirby also gives a satisfactory performance as Napoleon's wife Josephine Bonaparte, her and Napoleon were shown with chemistry, and you can tell that they have some connection in some way after many occasions of big events taking place; also, she is focused on in the movie more than the battles, which is fine, but it should have been evenly balanced with battles and his relationship with his wife. Lastly, there is a side plot involving Napoleon wanting/trying to find a child/an heir that is started in the second act being made a big deal, but by the third act, this side plot is not referenced or mentioned again; which makes it pointless, or they did not have enough time to develop it in any way.
The pacing in this movie is slow making the movie feel longer than it is, with it being a mess when it comes to putting scenes together, going back and forth between a battle sequence and dialogue scenes involving him and his wife or him becoming emperor in some way; it also cuts during scenes to another scene making it a bit difficult to tell what is happening, other than having random slow moments that are drawn out. The cinematography for the movie, mostly in the battle sequences when they occur, makes these scenes feel big and look good on how they show each army and how Napoleon leads them to battle; the movie felt longer than it is, but also, it felt like it needed to be longer just to tell more of this story and get more details on what happened, instead of going from scene to scene without much of a reason or main focus to know what is happening to both Napoleon and the soldiers in the many battles they go through.
Napoleon (2023) was ok, it had good performances with nice cinematography and entertaining battles, but the slow pacing made the movie feel boring, with it just being a mess on how scenes are put together and that the movie feels longer than it is; I am not big on historical films, but this movie is not bad, if you like Ridley Scott and are interested in knowing the story of Napoleon Bonaparte, then this movie will be for you. Lastly, I will say, this movie could have been better, but it was not that bad, I just will not watch this movie again anytime soon because of how long it is and how slow it feels when watching it; not one of Ridley Scott's best movies, but it is good enough.