Napoléon

Ridley Scott a Joaquin Phoenix jsou jména, která budou vždy automaticky vzbuzovat očekávání. Rozhodně nemůžu říct, že bych se nudila, protože výprava, scény z bitevního pole jsou velmi poutavé. Méně je ale někdy více, a Ridley se ku škodě snažil o to více. Napoleon je takový nabušený sestřih nejzásadnějších Bonapartových bitev a výprav, prokládaný "romantickou" linkou s Jozefínou. Mnohem víc bych ocenila zaměření na jedno/dvě konkrétní období a bitvy, a hlavně bych do toho nacpala mnohem víc psychologie a politiky... jít mnohem víc do hloubky v charakteru postav, protože upřímně mi takto podaný Napoleon přišel strašně plochý a bezduchý, i přes to, že Joaquin hraje standardně dobře. Víc bych se ponořila do jeho motivů a komplexů. Vztah s Jozefínou působí strašně nedotaženě, protože na jedné straně máme oboustranné láskyplné dopisy plné úcty a na straně druhé, před kamerou, vidíme jakýsi chladný vztah, kde láska a úcta není vidět ani ze vzdáleného rychlíku. Je to škoda, myslím, že by diváky mnohem víc zaujala hlubší analýza samotné postavy Napoleona, vzít již stokrát viděné a předvést to trochu jinak... tak jak jsme to viděli třeba u Phillipsova Jokera. Chybí mi tu prostě nějaká přidaná hodnota. Ale docela by mě ve finále i zajímala ta režisérská verze, protože až teď mi došlo, že jsem v úvodních titulcích zahlédla francouzskou herečku Ludivine Sagnier, která v této kino verzi není vůbec :D Takže co všechno vlastně Director's Cut skrývá? (21/11/2023)

Ridley Scott a décidément le tour pour ce genre de spectacles historiques et Napoléon s'est avéré exactement comme je l'imaginais avant la projection – en bien comme en mal. Commençons par le pire. Malheureusement, même avec une durée de deux heures et demie, le film est une sorte de course à travers la vie et la carrière de Bonaparte, sautant parfois trop rapidement d'une scène à l'autre, tandis que les intrigues et personnages secondaires apparaissent et disparaissent, laissant des liens inachevés. C'est un problème que j'espère voir résolu dans la version promise de quatre heures et demie sur Apple TV+. Comme toujours avec Scott, les scènes de guerre sont excellentes, et la stylisation d'époque dans le film fonctionne parfaitement, ce qui plonge vraiment le spectateur dans l'Europe sauvage du tournant entre le 18e et le 19e siècle. Joaquin Phoenix aborde la figure légendaire de l'histoire mondiale avec une interprétation très naturelle et son Napoléon nous captive sur toute sa durée à l'écran. Et je suis sûr qu'il en sera de même dans la version étendue de deux heures. Globalement satisfait, malgré les quelques réserves. (21/11/2023)

Short. Scott's a stud, but he might as well have made Napoleon a trilogy instead of skipping through his life like a rushed history lesson. Phoenix is great, his Napoleon oscillates between aspiring strategist and lovelorn naif. But Kirby doesn't have enough space, so she comes across as weird. The leap from infatuation to divorce is very rushed. The battles, Toulon, Austerlitz and Waterloo, are exquisite, though. There's black humour, poking fun at politicians and their lies. Also, that brute force and tactics are above all, but are useless when it rains. P.S.: Almost on the anniversary of the Battle of Austerlitz. (03/12/2023)

The cinematic cut turned out as it probably had to: as an obviously incomplete fragment of a larger work. It's hard to rate it, it's like reading a novel and skipping every ten pages. What is in the cinema cut is fine, but it doesn't coalesce into a comprehensive experience. Napoleon's personal life is there, the battles are there, but the "politics" between them are missing, so you don't really know why any given battle is happening. Quite absurdly, from the cinematic cut, the character of Napoleon doesn't actually strike me as an active instigator of all this wartime fury, nor as a figure that the rest of Europe feared. (23/11/2023)

Ridley Scott and another historical romp. This time he chose the historical icon Napoleon and, according to the previews, it was expected to be an adept for the film of the year, but according to the current rating of 72%, it will definitely not be and I was expecting more. It is still a great cinematic and genre event, though, especially since we don't get many huge historical films (when we do get one, it's usually without battles), so I thank Scott for this one. But the film suffers a lot from being a shortened version (it would have benefited from being split into two films), because even at 4 and a half hours, I don't think it can fully hold your attention. Joaquin Phoenix is of course excellent, he gives a great performance, and Vanessa Kirby follows suit. Surprisingly, the rest of the characters don't have much to work with here, they have small roles and no one else manages to impress in such a small space. The production design and craftsmanship are of course top notch, what the film presents historically seems to be true (the traditions, the coronation, the wedding, the paternity test). The are only three battles are they could have been longer (I'm sure they will be in the extended version). I was most impressed by the battle of Waterloo, where the strategy and tactics were nice. The battle itself is not that gripping, it's spectacular, but I missed proper gore, dirtiness and a bleak atmosphere, it's just not the same as the wrestling as with knights or vikings (at least there was one awesome gore scene with a horse right in the beginning, that was over the top), in short I've seen better, but I'm glad for this one too. The politics are dealt with rather quickly, with unfortunately no big intrigue. But what disappoints the most is that the emotions are completely absent, the film doesn't do much with the viewer. Napoleon's relationship with Josephine is cold, and I missed a downright memorable moment. I had a great time though, the film held my attention for the whole two and a half hours (maybe I was more entertained than in Oppenheimer), and it's definitely better than Fincher's The Killer – I haven't seen Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, but I don't trust it to justify the running time at all. We'll see what the extended version brings. While this is not the movie of the year, it's still above average and deserves the big screen. 75% (24/11/2023)