FILM REVIEW: Napoleon - thread
Phoenix plays the titular Bonaparte and his ascension to Emperor following the civil unrest following the French Revolution in 1789. There is pomp and circumstance, amazing costumes, vicious action scenes, and horses getting hit by canon balls, not to mention people marching in the street also getting hit by canon balls, and through all of this, his beloved Josephine steals the scenes, and his heart.
Cut to him rushing home and scolding her, and then Josephine putting him back in his place. Then the next scene is of revolting peasants getting shot to pieces. It is a lot to cram into a fairly long run time. It was simultaneously too big and not big enough. There wasn’t the quiet, contemplative journey of a man becoming an Emperor, nor was there the scale of total war.