David Sullivan

I've just got home from watching this film. I had been looking forward to seeing it ever since I heard about it being made. I was wary when I heard Ridley Scott's reaction to criticism from historians but I like to make my own mind up. Despite a lot of pre-publicity focusing on the battle scenes the central point of the film was the relationship with Josephine. The performance by Vanessa Kirby was outstanding and largely carried the film but good as it was it was not able to bear the leaden weight of Joaquin Phoenix's lifeless acting. The genuine Napoleon's corpse has more life in it than Phoenix's offering. And then we came to the battle scenes, particularly Waterloo. Now let's be clear, this is a film not a re-enactment and I was not expecting such. But what was shown in the film was risible. I haven't seen a more inaccurate depiction of a famous battle since Mel Gibson's laughable Stirling Bridge that had no river ( or even a bridge). Little details were nicely done, such as the elm tree and Wellington denying permission to shoot at Napoleon ( in this case switched to a rifleman which was a nice nod to Rifleman Plunkett ) and his portrayal of the infantry in square was obviously heavily influenced by the famous painting of the 28th in square at Quatre Bras. But Waterloo without Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte, Papelotte and Plancenoit? Waterloo is one of the best documented battles in history and for Ridley Scott to think he knows better and ignore facts is ludicrous. At one point he even has French infantry actually being ordered to leave their trenches and go over the top! I hope Vanessa Kirby receives many nominations and awards for her excellent performance, she thoroughly deserves recognition for her valiant attempts to bring life to this overly ambitious effort from Ridley Scott

Wonderful footage and first hand accounts from people who were there fail to paper over the flaws in this documentary. A poor script as well with massive holes and mistakes in basic history of the Second World War that could easily have been rectified by reading any competent history book of the conflict. For example this documentary carries on repeating the myth that Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany after the fall of France whereas the reality is that at no point in the war did we fight without allies. Repeating this error is frankly insulting to the memory of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans and other members of the Commonwealth who fought with us. Plus the millions of troops from the empire , like India, The Caribbean and Africa and those Free troops from countries conquered by Germany who carried on fighting at our side. A great opportunity missed by Netflix

I tried really hard to enjoy this film. It has a wonderful cast and it's subject matter is fascinating. But what is the point of such a talented, star-studded cast ( and presumably good script) when you can't hear more than one word in ten. The sound design is terrible. I has hoped Christopher Nolan had learned from the problems with Tenet but he hasn't, it's the same slog to understand what is going on

I really wanted to enjoy this film but it wasn't the complicated plot that I found difficult but the poor sound quality. The soundtrack was so loud and the dialogue so muffled it was only possible at times to make out one word in four