What Critics Are Saying About Ridley Scott's Napoleon

From the beheading of Marie Antoinette through the Reign of Terror and on to the Battle of Waterloo, Ridley Scott's Napoleon, hitting theaters Thursday before heading to Apple TV+, charts the dramatic rise of French military commander and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who is often regarded as a military genius. However, that's not the picture painted by this R-rated epic, starring Joaquin Phoenix, which has a 62% rating from critics and audiences via Rotten Tomatoes. Here's what critics are saying:

• It's "a dryly efficient hit job," meant "to treat this Corsican outsider's ascent into the upper echelons of French politics as a spectacularly bad joke." But too often, "Napoleon's withering condemnation of its subject feels less like a meaningful conclusion than a narrative dodge, a convenient way to sidestep a more trenchant, complicated look at Napoleon's political legacy," writes Justin Chang at the Los Angeles Times. Still, there are episodes of "genuine comedy," a "mesmerizing" portrayal of Napoleon's first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais by Vanessa Kirby, and "a few authentically thrilling battle sequences" to enjoy.
• "Scott has promised that an extended version will debut on Apple TV+ someday, but I think the abridged version works—Napoleon gives viewers a quick sense of the man's nervy vibe and then plunges them into the tremendous depths of his martial exploits," writes David Sims at the Atlantic. Ultimately, it's "another enjoyable extravaganza" from Scott, who presents Napoleon "as equal parts confident and arrogant, making for a roller coaster of the ego that's surprisingly full of laughs."

• "Even when it goes off the rails," the film is "never less than hypnotic," writes ABC News critic Peter Travers. Scott's battle scenes are "time capsule-worthy." Plus, there's "a big acting swing from Joaquin Phoenix in a beast of a role that will keep you riveted." "Most actors would get lost in all the smoke and cannon fire. Not Phoenix," Travers writes. He "high dives right into Napoleon's bruised psyche" and "plays the comic hell out of him." Kirby is "dynamite," too.
• Unfortunately, the film "fails on some basic fundamentals," writes Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post, noting it sometimes feels "like a mash-up of Leo Tolstoy, Edward Albee and Wikipedia." Napoleon finds its rhythm with the appearance of Kirby, who is indeed "mesmerizing," but soon "settles into monotony" with battle scenes that "lose impact as they pile up." Yet "the biggest flaw in Napoleon, it turns out, is the actor who plays him." Phoenix is "stiff and expressionless," writes Hornaday, who gives the film 1.5 stars out of four.

(More movie review stories.)