Sometimes reviewing a historical film gets difficult. Mainly because you dont know from which perspective you should review it. If the priority is on the historical accuracy and other associated technical detailings like costumes, language, cinematography, sets etc then Napoleon is definitely a masterpiece. Whereas if it is about having a strong core message from the current generation's perspective and most importantly for me- having a "soul" in its story, then Napoleon is lacking in many areas.
Joaquin Phienix tried hard, but fell short of his Joker feat. Perhaps even he was searching for the soul in the script to connect himself better with the most enigmatic character in modern history.
Eventually, the story lacks to interpret a multi layered character like Napoleon. What was he? An arrogant dictator? A mass murderer and invader? Or a pawn of the political circumstances and a patriot who was heavily misunderstood? The Movie fails to answer or even attempts to seek answer to any of these questions. It shows the total fatalities of Napoleon's war efforts in the end as an information, making us feel that it wants to convey the evils of war, however, throughout the movie what it did was just to justify one war after another. And funnily, each one of them conveniently ignoring the complexities that the character of Napoleon might have gone through while taking a call; he neither looks like a power hungry dictator nor a motherland loving patriot, but a confused soul who writes his day to day military achievements to his otherwise lukewarmly related wife.
In the end, you get a great cinematographic delight, leaving the cinema hall wondering what exactly was missing in the magnum opus.
6/10. One time watch. Recommend some pre-watch reading of The French Revolution and its background.