The Oscar debut of Ridley Scott’s epic drama Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon and Vanessa Kirby as Empress Joséphine, comes after Christopher Nolan’s Oscar candidate Oppenheimer broke $1 billion. This dramatically shortened 2-hour and 38-minute theatrical version of Napoleon does not make up for its flaws. A 4-hour, 10-minute version will be accessible on AppleTV+.
Napoleon must recoup its $200 million production expenditure with box office receipts. Although one could contend that this is essentially a streaming film from a studio uninterested in other factors like ticket sales, we’ve already covered my reasons for wanting to examine box office data from several angles, including the purely commercial aspects of theatrical distribution as a major force behind the motion picture industry as a whole. Killer of the Flower Moon by Apple Studio has only generated $146 million globally.
Wish, a Disney animation, is expected to outperform Napoleon by earning more money both domestically and internationally during the long Thanksgiving weekend. My expectations are $20–25 million, but I wouldn’t be astonished if it exceeded $25–30 million.
Napoleon’s long-term prospects are bright if it gets favourable reviews, gains momentum over the upcoming vacation weeks, and capitalises on award season. Despite Oppenheimer’s predicted multiple Oscar wins, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, and more, Napoleon is expected to be a topic of discussion at the Oscars. It will require attention, particularly nods.
It won’t be as successful as Oppenheimer’s breakthrough release. Despite the fact that it requires those statistics more than Nolan’s movie, this one doesn’t aim to meet them, given its budget. I don’t think $300 million is going overboard. $200–250 million seems more feasible to me, assuming nothing unforeseen happens elsewhere.
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It’s weird to review this movie for a number of reasons. Even without the knowledge that AppleTV will thankfully release a full-length version later this year, I felt uneasy watching only half of a movie. The film’s structure creates the impression of witnessing a storyline rather than experiencing the complete epic, and it satirizes love stories and royal history by incorporating elements of the great combat scene.
As I viewed the film, I was always aware of its shortcomings, leading me to believe that the choices made regarding what to show and how to portray it were carefully considered before being included in the finished result. I understand that the struggle I witness is essential to Napoleon’s ascent and descent.
Why are we witnessing this war? What feelings should we have when we watch a large-scale, highly dramatic, expertly produced, and most likely extremely accurate battle scene?
The scale and portrayal of the battle are amazing, but I’m tired of watching scenes in films and TV shows across all genres where two massive armies engage in ‘dirt on the camera realism’ since they are cliches for showcasing exciting, large-scale combat and are rarely necessary to the storyline.
Napoleon executed it with elegance. This film has a tonne of amazing action sequences. Apart from their technical temporal placement, they felt disconnected from the film. This absurdist comedy, which parodies a well-known historical love story, merely shows the highlights and doesn’t give its stars enough credit.
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Switching a scene over a few moments later would result in the loss of the entire suspense and urgency of the plot. Again, the 4-hour, 10-minute AppleTV+ version will most likely go into more detail on the early findings and the events that follow that result in reversals. The theatrical version’s sudden direction shifts nevertheless cause whiplash, even at its own expense.
The courtship between Napoleon and Joséphine throughout their awkward and amusing meetings and separations drives the drama. Chaplin may have enjoyed Phoenix’s awkward, emotional, and loving romance. He becomes arrogant and uncompromising before battle. Phoenix plays a humorous, well-acted character who deliberately lacks self-awareness in both roles.
Vanessa Kirby gives a flat character the weary air of a lady who has witnessed innumerable power conflicts in addition to the highs and lows of her own personal success. Between crying fits of mournful amazement and bitter, knowing awareness, Joséphine often finds it hard to breathe. Although she has little control over Napoleon, she primarily plays with his impulses by manipulating him in a playful way. In this heavily cut version of the film, the audience views her as an object and denies her the opportunity to react or evolve into a distinct individual.
Removing the details that associate those incidents with a particular person and time frame simplifies the story to “this happened, and then this happened.” This is ridiculous, since the two hours and forty-eight minutes that the movie lasts cover the entire tale.
The plot was cut in half, but I think the satire would have been stronger and the story would have made more sense if it had focused more on his rise to prominence and his relationship with Joséphine than his combat adventures.
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More time may have been dedicated to everyday leadership and the personal relationship as a result.
A film depicting Napoleon’s rise and collapse might have incorporated the events leading up to his marriage, coronation, and exile from France, utilising wartime satire to reinforce and amplify the main focus on his battles.
However, the combination makes the two approaches so much simpler that they are ineffective when employed separately or together. It’s particularly unnerving because there’s enough information here to identify the gaps and determine how most of the issues with this theatrical presentation could—and probably do—get fixed.
A historical parody on Napoleon that lasts four hours and ten minutes cannot be cut down to little over half of its original runtime because of the numerous power gains and losses, six major battle scenes, and a tonne of romantic absurdist humour. A few minor spoilers are in store.
This exercise shows why a filmmaker like Ridley Scott working with Apple Studios may pursue a creative notion like this without any limitations on length or marketing, and why trying to combine this with a theatrical release and excessive trimming may backfire.
I know that Scott wanted a theatrical release and that Apple wants to have a bigger impact in theatres. A theatrical release allows the film to be seen before it closes and makes it eligible for awards in the days to come.
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However, a lot of well-known directors have stated that the widely held notion that films not screened in cinemas aren’t as good, serious, or even “real” is primarily to blame for this. I disagree, and I believe that having someone like Scott, who has understood for decades what theatres and studios need from trimmed versions of his films, would be more crucial at this time.
This is particularly relevant because, in my opinion, the decision to create films in his own unique style and only distribute the breathtaking four-hour versions on streaming services has transformed The Counsellor into a separate film.
Despite my noble intentions, I must say that Napoleon does not receive a high rating from me. All that I see of Scott’s four and a half-hour story is the opening few minutes. I might come back early to share my opinions about AppleTV+ and declare my love for it, in the vein of The Counsellor.
Napoleon breaks down and shrinks, causing him to stop expressing himself. And that weakens Napoleon. While there are parts of it that I find appealing and some that aren’t “bad,” a lot of it reads like a collection of skillfully written but brief pieces that never quite work together and don’t really convey much.
- There are several other movies about Napoleon.
- ‘Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian’ (2009)
- The Story of Mankind’ (1957)
- Love and Death’ (1975)
- Désirée’ (1954)
- ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ (1989)
- ‘Time Bandits’ (1981)
- ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ (2002)
- ‘Waterloo’ (1970)
- ‘Napoléon’ (1927)
- ‘War and Peace’ (1965)
General information about Napoleon
Napoleon I, or Napoléon Bonaparte, was a military commander and statesman from France. Napoleon was the first French consul (1799–1804), the first French emperor (1804–14/15), and he was a major figure in the French Revolution (1789–99). Many regard Napoleon as one of the best military leaders in history.
Following a string of military setbacks in 1812 and 1813, Napoleon resigned from the French throne on April 6, 1814. In early 1815, Napoleon regained power, but on June 22, 1815, he was overthrown once again. In October 1815, authorities banished Napoleon to the isolated island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, where he lived as a vagrant until his death on May 5, 1821, at the age of 51.
Not only did Napoleon put down rebellions against the government and win battles in Italy, but he also gained the respect of his men by displaying courage in the face of difficulty, meticulous preparation, and a unique style of warfare, making him a revered master strategist.
On June 18, 1815, Napoleon’s French Army fought Wellington and Blücher’s alliance at Waterloo. This decisive fight ended a 23-year war, destroyed Napoleon’s imperial strength, and ended French dominance over Europe.
From 1821 until 1840, King Louis-Philippe decided to move Napoleon’s remains from Saint Helena Island to Les Invalides in Paris. Major excavation work was done by architect Visconti to make room for the imperial mausoleum inside the dome.
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