Dustin Guerra

I had a chance to see "Napoleon" this morning. Now, Napoleon, the man, has a thousand different stories you could tell about his life, so Ridley Scott decided to tell them all. This caused a movie with a hundred loosely connected scenes with very little context causing any emotional scenes to seem flat and disingenuous. "What is it about?" You may ask. "Is it about Napoleon and Josephine?" Yes "Is it about his rise to power?" Yes, a little "Is it about his battles?" Some "Is it about his invasion of Egypt?" A little "Is it about his return from Elba?" Yes "Is it about his death and exile on St. Helena?" Yes "Is it about the 100 Days?" No "Is it about his conquest of Italy?" No "Is it about his invasion of Russia?" Yes They try to put too much in the movie without really making it about anything but Napoleon. His love affair with Josephine is not fully developed, so you really don't understand the love he has for her. Some characters are named while others are not and so it causes the viewer to feel lost. Essentially, there is too much with not a strong connecting theme. The acting was good overall, but the writing and editing was lacking. Overall, I'm not afraid of movies that are not historically accurate, like Mel Gibson's "Patriot", so that aspect of "Napoleon" didn't bother me. It was just a badly edited film that minimized important scenes and generally left the viewer wondering what the point of it all and why Napoleon is important. Or in summary, if I need to go to the bathroom in the middle of a movie, the question for me throughout the movie is whether the movie keeps me engrossed enough that I don't think about it. I spent most of this movie not only thinking about going to the bathroom but whether this was a good time to go to the bathroom. Like Napoleon's dream of a united Europe under a French flag, it fell short. Furthermore, when on his deathbed, Napoleon was heard to have said, "They wanted me to be another Washington." For me, I just want another movie.