“Napoleon,” directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa, runs over two and a half hours, but even then skims through the history of its era.
It begins promising blood and thunder, as a disheveled Marie Antoinette gets her head chopped off; the audacious young Corporal Bonaparte scrambles to his first military victory; crowds scream; and cannon blasts chew up people and horses alike.
But the picture loses steam as it trots from one historic event to another, helpfully captioned for us. We get glimpses of Robespierre, the master diplomat Talleyrand, Russian Czar Alexander and various other revolutionaries or Prussian and Austrian autocrats—none of them on screen long enough to leave an impression.
The focus of the film is the alleged great love between Bonaparte and the aristocratic Joséphine de Beauharnais, though there is lackluster chemistry between Joaquin Phoenix, with his stiff arrogance trying to shield insecurity, and Vanessa Kirby, playing Joséphine mostly with an air of long-suffering dignity.
Amid world-shaking events, we cut back to the couple playing power games, petting their dog, having a food fight and showing off some grubby sexual calisthenics, which to Napoleon’s frustration, fail to produce a male heir.
My guess is the film makers wanted to show a Great Man of History behind closed doors, when he’s awkward and not posing for portraits and statues. Phoenix is good casting there. But we also want to see the Bonaparte who disrupts nations, defeats armies and bonds with his soldiers.
The picture shines with its vigorous battle scenes, especially the Battle of Austerlitz, with doomed Austrian and Russian troops fighting on ice; and an impressive recreation of Waterloo, the cliffhanger battle that determined European history for a century. Rupert Everett, as a dour Duke of Wellington, rises above the herd of unmemorable supporting actors.
Ridley Scott reportedly is planning a four-hour director’s cut for streaming. Maybe you should wait for that.
Meanwhile, the mediocre “Napoleon” now in theaters rates three stars on a scale of five.