Napoleon, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott, follows the historical figure, played by Academy award winner Joaquin Phoenix, as he sets out to conquer land and fall in love with a woman named Josephine, played by Vanessa Kirby.

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting with this film. Ridley Scott is an exceptional director. At his age, his level of production quality is insanely talented. While I was still excited, I reserved some of that due to the reviews I saw going into it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to see it until this past Sunday (life has been busy with moving), but I do think I would still have the same thoughts I do even if I didn’t see all of the reviews. The best way to explain this film? It’s a historical epic with a tone of Vice and The Wolf of Wall Street. Bizarre, I know, but let me explain.

First off, Joaquin Phoenix can truly do no wrong. While I wouldn’t see he’s in my top 10, or 20, favorite actors of all time, he still knows how to pick good projects and he truly gives it his all each and every single time. He is exceptional in the lead role as Napoleon, who portrays him as a man-baby. That’s what feels similar to the other movies I used as examples. The problem with that is that the movie fails to capitalize on his characterization. He can be manipulative in the worst of ways, but he is also quite good in warfare. It didn’t make much sense to me how he was able to balance the two, nor why he cared in the first place. He has no motives nor antagonists. By the end of the film, there’s text explaining all of the people who died because of Napoleon. The truth is that the movie never conveys the idea of who Napoleon really is for us to really care about, so when we have text explaining things, are we really supposed to care if the movie never really made him out to be a hero or a villain in the first place? The blend of comedy & action blends in an uncertain final product.

And that’s really where the problems lie. I want to get the cons out of the way as they have been wearing on me more than the pros. Typically, it would be the other way around, but I am making an exception this time. There is a flawless perfect film here that may just exist when the extended cut eventually comes out on Apple TV+. I will still watch that version, because while I found the film to be still quite good, a lot is cut out for the sake of time, resulting in rushed stories and little to no characterization. Any time something interesting was about to happen, months, or even years, flew by. There is also an important death for a character that feels abrupt and not serviceable to the writing or the talent of the character. I get it though. You want a good runtime that entertains viewers. Quite frankly, the pacing was pretty good, which may be the reason why the runtime was cut down. Honestly, this feels similar to Scott’s House of Gucci where that was also rushed. Slow. Down.

Now that I got all of those negative out of the way, I do want to highlight the positives, because they make up more than enough for its faults. The battle sequences are amazing and never hold back. They felt real and engaging. It has been a long time since I felt that way with a historical epic. For Scott, he has more energy than ever in these scenes.

There is also the talent of Phoenix & Kirby. Phoenix is just about as good in anything he does. It’s Kirby that gets the spotlight. She is incredible in this role and rightly deserves the attention. Her character is rightfully reserved, but you also understand everything she does. There aren’t many other A-List talents other than the two; however, I still think the supporting cast gives it their all. If it is something that Scott can do and do well, it is directing talent to the finish line in historical epics.

The last thing I want to touch base on is the cinematography. It has hands down one of the best in films of the year, and has even inspired me to make a top 10 list for cinematography of the year (keep an eye out for that as I do year in review stuff on my Instagram). It’s just done exceptionally well. Nearly every shot looks like a still image that you could hang on the wall. Mix that with the color palettes chosen and you get something quite wonderful.

Overall, Napoleon is about as good as you may think it is, even with all of its problems. Its battle sequences show why Scott is one one of the best working directors today, while its dramatics lie more at the fault of the writing. If you take the editing into account as well, you really just have a movie that feels like it was made based on someone’s favorite parts of a history book.

VERDICT: Pretty Good