Napoleon Review: Joaquin Phoenix Reigns in One of the Finest Movies Studded With Outstanding Music

Napoleon Review: The historical biographical movie stars Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Ben Miles, Ludivine Sagnier, Matthew Needham, John Hollingworth, and others. Written by David Scarpa, the Apple TV+ film is directed by Ridley Scott. The cinematography is by Dariusz Wolski, and the music is composed by Martin Phipps. The runtime is approximately 157 minutes.

Napoleon Trailer

Napoleon Review Contains No Spoilers

Ridley Scott’s movie starts with Napoleon Bonaparte being the military commander until his obsession to save France ruins him. The story is filled with lots of battle scenes, tough love and marriage, humour, and defeats. The French emperor has always been a good quip in pop culture. Ridley has opted for a humorous, intense, and tragic balance to tell the story that brings the best out of Joaquin Phoenix.

It’s never easy to recreate history on screen and fit it in within a time span of two hours. But Ridley’s linear approach by integrating Napoleon’s personal and occupational mishaps offered us a compelling viewing experience. Let’s talk about love first, because deep down, it’s a love story, whether it’s for the woman or his country.

Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby (as Empress Josephine) have palpable chemistry on screen. What starts as a fairytale romance turns into infidelity and tragedy towards the end. Every scene they share together offers a powerful depiction of what love or marriage should or shouldn’t be. The same applies to Napoleon’s love for France. He doesn’t know where to stop. He believes he has too much power and control over it, until he realises he doesn’t. 

It seems like Ridley Scott had no hurry to say ‘cut’ while filming war sequences. They’re bloody, gory, brutal, and authentic. The screams of the men dying, the swords clashing and piercing through the human bodies and the horses feel so real. Yet, somehow, despite knowing that wars are ugly and one of the worst things humans do to each other, you can’t help but marvel at it. It brings the best of Ridley’s direction and Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography. Their mind and vision blended together to give us a view of how gloomy and barbaric beautiful landscapes can turn into, just because men are drunk in power.

Napoleon’s complex narrative is held together or makes sense, and impacts you gravely because of the background music. Martin Phipps has bared his soul in creating some of the finest tunes to advance the narrative on screen. There’s a hint of joy, insanity, and tragedy layered into every tune he composed for the Apple TV+ movie. However, it’s during the final battle scene that you get to see Martin fully embracing his God mode and making you experience the heavens of all the musical chords together. 

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The movie truly belongs to Joaquin Phoenix. The actor can shapeshift into anything and convince you that there’s no other side to him as a person. Napoleon says some absurd things with such sincerity, and it is commendable of Joaquin to perform them with such conviction. He brings a tremendous balance to Bonaparte’s drastic range of emotions and physicality in front of his wife and his men. Time and again, the actor has demonstrated that a terrific performance is the right mix of emotional and physical efforts, and he’s done the same in Ridley’s movie.

Napoleon Review: Final Thoughts

Overall, if historical dramas interest you, you should definitely watch the movie. Yes, it’s a bit long, due to the never-ending war sequences. But once you get past its monotony, you will be thrilled with power-packed performances, conversations, some fine filmmaking, and great music.

Let us know your thoughts on the movie in the comments below.

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