Ethan T

I went into Napoleon feeling excited, however, I came out confused, unable to think or connect with what I just watched. There were a small amount of factors that made this film not as good as it could have been. Aspects that this film captivated and mastered were the outside and basis of emotion Napoleon felt around the time, the cinematography captured the great epic scenes that were displayed, captivating the 'action' title it holds. The representation of the era from the French Revolution to 1815 was excellent, which uplifted considerably the feeling of the movie and what we were there to see. The acting from Joaquin Phoenix allowed the audience to connect with how Napoleon was reserved in terms of emotions, with this emotion only shown little in the movie, regarding his relationships and on the battlefield, otherwise he was seen as a calm and composed person who didn't let his emotions get in the way of his actions. The best aspect that this film captured were the battle scenes, carried by the diegetic sound injected to create a sense of action, with the camera shots also establishing this action considerably well, displaying these battles like wandering into death and staring it in the eyes. Factors that brought down this movie was the speed of the plot. At some points, the plot was not thoroughly developed, and it felt like you were skipping through a book whilst skipping pages. The dialogue in some aspects lacked deeper meaning, not unveiling a considerable amount of significance in terms of the plot, apart from the pride that the French soldiers displayed to France. Overall, I feel this movie was good, but not great. If further significance was embedded into the dialogue and plot and the plot was further developed carefully rather than skipping through parts, this would be great. Definitely a great movie though, and worth watching if you like the development and reference to historical characters, events, era, and society's attitudes in France at the time.